Many authors are terrible narrators. They mumble, they lose pace, or they lack the theatrical range to differentiate characters. Donna Tartt is the exception. Her Southern drawl—honeyed, slow, and deliberate—is the perfect vessel for the story’s narrator, Richard Papen.
She resurrects the snowy fields of Vermont, the clink of wine glasses at a secluded mansion, and the final, terrible scream that echoes through a ravine. donna tartt the secret history audiobook
If you have only read the text, you have only seen the bones of the story. The audiobook gives it blood, breath, and a whisper of winter wind. The most critical element of any audiobook is the narrator. For The Secret History , the producer made a choice that seems both obvious and brilliant in retrospect: they selected Donna Tartt herself to read the novel. Many authors are terrible narrators