Book World: The best audiobooks to listen to this month Katherine A. Powers, The Washington Post March 8, 2021 FacebookTwitterEmail The Nature of Fragile Things Susan Meissner's latest novel is an absorbing, cleverly plotted historical tale of perfidy and pluck. Set chiefly in the first decade of the 20th century, it encompasses the great San Francisco earthquake of 1906 and the subsequent inferno, linked catastrophes that are horrifyingly conjured. At the center is Sophie Whalen, an immigrant from Northern Ireland who has answered an ad placed by a widower seeking a wife and mother for his 5-year-old daughter. The book begins ominously with a transcript of Sophie, 22, being questioned by a U.S. marshal about her husband's whereabouts and activities. Jason Culp narrates this and a later section, bringing an authoritative approach to a tale that is filled with formidable twists, duplicity and stunning revelations. Alana Kerr Collins, herself a native of Northern Ireland, narrates the bulk of the book in a gentle voice as befits Sophie, a caring stepmother and resourceful friend to women, who, it turns out, need her more than she expected. (Penguin Audio, Unabridged. 10