Other People’s Clothes

Henkel’s captivating debut takes listeners on an unsettling ride through the twists and turns of two art students’ rapidly disintegrating lives. While studying abroad in Berlin, Zoe, grieving the recent murder of her best friend, connects with impulsive, privileged Hailey. At first, Zoe and Hailey are hopelessly awkward outsiders in the vibrant Berlin party scene, but everything changes when they sublet an apartment from popular author Beatrice Becks and her mother. The new apartment becomes a glittering locus point for wild, drug-and-sex-filled parties, pulling both women into an increasingly disorienting lifestyle. Their once stable relationship shifts into tension and paranoia, where nothing is as it seems. Narrator Lauryn Allman’s low, steady voice is a perfect foil for the book’s spiraling events, to which she brings a balancing note of melancholy. Allman’s characterizations are superb, capturing a range of emotions, from the women’s heady party-planning excitement to the sharp darkness of their growing suspicion and distrust. Hailey is particularly well-voiced, conveying her neediness and infectious optimism.