The Queen of Hearts - Kimmery Martin

Written by Kimmery Martin
Read by Shannon McManus, Catherine Taber
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 64 Kbps

Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
Release date: February 13, 2018
Duration: 11:38:58

Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2018 by Southern Living, Elite Daily, and Writer’s Digest

A debut novel set against a background of hospital rounds and life-or-death decisions that pulses with humor and empathy and explores the heart’s capacity for forgiveness…

Zadie Anson and Emma Colley have been best friends since their early twenties, when they first began navigating serious romantic relationships amid the intensity of medical school. Now they’re happily married wives and mothers with successful careers—Zadie as a pediatric cardiologist and Emma as a trauma surgeon. Their lives in Charlotte, North Carolina are chaotic but fulfilling, until the return of a former colleague unearths a secret one of them has been harboring for years.

As chief resident, Nick Xenokostas was the center of Zadie’s life—both professionally and personally—throughout a tragic chain of events in her third year of medical school that she has long since put behind her. Nick’s unexpected reappearance during a time of new professional crisis shocks both women into a deeper look at the difficult choices they made at the beginning of their careers. As it becomes evident that Emma must have known more than she revealed about circumstances that nearly derailed both their lives, Zadie starts to question everything she thought she knew about her closest friend.

Narrators Shannon McManus and Catherine Taber provide dynamic performances with voices that are as different as the friends they portray. Sadie and Emma are now wives and mothers with successful careers, but news that a former colleague is returning has the two women swept back to decade-old memories surrounding their tragic third year of medical school. As Emma, Faber uses pauses to depict calmness despite descriptions of her mental chaos, a technique that reflects the character’s disconnect with her emotions. McManus gives Sadie a slight twang and warm intonations that convey the emotions others see in her and her innate liability. Squeals of laughter and comedic dialogue between her children bring much needed moments of levity. This audiobook will captivate listeners. A.L.C. � AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine