Nikiya Palombi to Narrate Audiobook of Jean Ryan’s ‘Strange Company’
I’m very excited to announce that we’ve contracted with narrator Nikiya Palombi for the audiobook edition of Jean Ryan’s Strange Company, with a March 31 release date. Nikiya has the perfect voice to bring Ryan’s book to life, with just the right textures, emphases and an immediate understanding of the author’s nuances, as well as her humor and insight.
In Strange Company, a delightful collection of short essays, Jean Ryan brings us closer to the natural world. From lizards to lady bugs, from the inscrutable sloth to the resplendent quetzal, Ryan reveals some of our commonalities with earth’s creatures and hints at the lessons we might learn from them.
Do lizards fall in love? What do sloths think about all day? Why is the blood of a horseshoe crab so valuable? Do starlings flock for fun? Can a parrot serve as a therapist? Do turtles ever grow bored with their long lives? Why would a crow foster a kitten? Can snails be fearless?
These are just a few of the questions Ryan poses in Strange Company as she invites the reader on a wild journey through land, sea and sky. While these essays acknowledge our responsibility to Mother Nature, the insights they offer are affirmative and heartening. With her precise, elegant prose, Ryan draws us into the tantalizing world of animals and their oddities.
Mark McNease
MadeMark Publishing