Magnificence, by Lydia Millet
Dreamscape Media
Review: AudioFile Magazine - Earphones Aware
Xe Sands's performance of elderly sisters Milly and Twiss of Spring Green, Wisconsin, charmingly enhances Rasmussen's lovely lyrical prose. Sands balances, in a delicately distinctive manner, both the sisters' coming-of-age story and their current devotion to nursing injured birds. Most profound and moving are Sands's sweet pacing and gentle vocal cadence, which enchantingly convey the author's whimsy and vivid imagery, as well as the characters’ wistful memories. During the summer of 1947, the sisters face their hardscrabble lives after their father has a life-changing accident. They embrace life's joys, hope, and heartbreak, along with the bittersweet empowerment of sisterhood, with the transformative help of visiting cousin Bett. This authentic portrayal of family will haunt listeners long after the last word. A.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award
projects
xe sands
The Art Forger, by B.A. Shapiro
HighBridge Audio
This is a fabulously suspenseful story of a young woman who is in over her head. Narrator Xe Sands does a wonderful job imbuing Claire with emotion, underscoring for the listener just how overwhelmingindeed, terrifyingthis situation is for someone who never anticipated being on the wrong side of the law.
xe sands
featured projects
full project list
Audiobooks:
By Cecile, by Tereska Torres
Finding Mrs. Warnecke, Cindi Rigsbee
Keepsake, Kristina Riggle
My Miserable Lonely Lesbian Pregnancy,
Andrea Askowitz
The Shape of Things to Come, Maud Casey
A Crack in Everything, Angela Gerst
Brooklyn Bones
Hearts of Darkness, Kira Brady
Hearts of Fire, Kira Brady
Hearts of Shadow, Kira Brady
Objects of My Affection, Jill Smolinksi
The Recipe Box, Sandra Lee
Ties That Bind, Marie Bostwick
Arizona Embrace, L. Greenwood
Thrill of the Chase, Christina Crooks
Water Witch, Deborah LeBlanc
When Shadows Fall, Kate Fellowes
Magnificence, Lydia Millet
The Piper, Lynn Hightower
The Sweet Relief of Missing Children,
Sarah Braunstein
The Vanishers, Heidi Julavits
Allies in Healing, Laura Davis
Evil Without a Face, Jordan Dane
Not Lost Forever, Carmina Salcido
Pain, Parties, Work, Elizabeth Winder
Self-Compassion, Kristin Neff, PhD
Is This Tomorrow, Caroline Leavitt
The Art Forger, B.A. Shapiro
Saving Angelfish, Michele Matheson
Step on a Crack, Mary Anderson
The Silence of Trees, Valay Dudycz Lupescu
Deadly Defiance, William Manchee
A Cast-off Coven, Juliette Blackwell
Adam, Jacquelyn Frank
Almost Home, Mariah Stewart
Angelina's Bachelors, Brian O'Reilly
Another Kind of Dead, Kelly Meding
As Lie the Dead, Kelly Meding
Catch of the Day, Kristan Higgins
Coming Home, Mariah Stewart
Controlling People, Patricia Evans
Damien, Jacquelyn Frank
Elijah, Jacquelyn Frank
Fire and Ice, Anne Stuart
Forbidden, Jacquelyn Frank
Forever, Jacquelyn Frank
Freeing You Child from Anxiety,
Tamar Chansky
Gideon, Jacquelyn Frank
Heart of Atlantis, Alyssa Day
Hexes and Hemlines, Juliette Blackwell
Home Again, Mariah Stewart
Home for the Summer, Mariah Stewart
Hometown Girl, Mariah Stewart
Hunting Julian, Jacquelyn Frank
In a Witch's Wardrobe, Juliet Blackwell
Jacob, Jacquelyn Frank
Long Way Home, Mariah Stewart
Memories of the Afterlife, Michael Newton
Midwife's Confession, Diane Chamberlain
Noah, Jacquelyn Frank
On Thin Ice, Anne Stuart
Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids, Laura Markham
Secondhand Spirits, Juliet Blackwell
Stealing Kathryn, Jacquelyn Frank
Tarnished and Torn, Juliet Blackwell
The Bird Sisters, Rebecca Rasmussen
The Bostonians, Henry James
The Cursed, Alyssa Day
The Digital Divide, Mark Bauerlein
Three Days to Dead, Kelly Meding
Unequal Childhoods, Annette Lareau
Video Games / Other Media:
The Great Gatsby, I-Play
The Vanishers, by Heidi Julavits
Dreamscape Media
Reviews: Publishers Weekly, Salon
Custom dictates that the actor who narrates an audiobook be a rough demographic match for the main character: same gender, age and regional accent (if any). But what about the emotional tenor of the narration? Shouldn’t that match as well? Too often it doesn’t. The right fit is, of course, essential when the book in question is written in the first person, like Heidi Julavits’ “The Vanishers,” which has been masterfully performed by Xe Sands.
