One of our ongoing themes on the CodeX blog is creating legal technology that will streamline legal processes, enabling lawyers to provide better/faster/cheaper/more transparent services for clients (be they conglomerates or individuals). Another part of our goal is to reform the way lawyers and other legal professionals work so that we can, as the saying goes, “have a life”—whether that be spending time with our families, traveling, climbing mountains, entertaining neighbors and friends, diving into music, doing pro bono work, working out, etc., etc.,—or just enjoying the serenity (and education) of reading (or listening to) a good book.

Like many New Yorkers, I split my time between the city and country. Which means that I spend a lot of time driving on the gorgeous Taconic State Parkway. I always have a audio book to accompany me on the trips. With the beauty outside the car and someone telling me a story, it’s a great way to decompress.

Most of the time, I’m listening to books discussing startups, Silicon Valley companies, venture capital and the like. But my next-door neighbor’s newly released book, “What Was Mine,” was my most recent listen. It tells the tale of a kidnapped baby—and the ramifications for the kidnapper, the child, the birth parents, other family members and caregivers. It’s a story about the emotional tsunami created when a woman made a split-second decision to walk out of an IKEA store with someone else’s child.  (O.K., there is just a bit of legal in the story—it briefly addresses legal consequences of kidnapping.)

Helen Klein Ross takes us back before smartphones were ubiquitous and Amber alerts were quickly broadcast. The story starts with a successful woman who desperately wanted to be a mother but couldn’t conceive. Her marriage collapses, and she finds a baby in a shopping cart with no mom in sight. She spontaniously walks out with the child, changing multiple lives for 21 years.

It’s a compelling, nuanced and layered story. The book’s structure introduces the participants who speak in their voices; as the story progresses we begin to understand the characters and their experiences and motives.

In my experience with audio books, especially business books, I’m often frustrated by over-hyped, salesy presentations from the professional actor readers. I usually prefer to hear the author read the book. At a recent book tour event at the The White Hart in Salisbury, Conn.,  Ross told us that her publisher, Simon and Schuster, insisted on using actors for the audio book—and in this case, it was a smart move. The actors’ voices helped deliver the story’s subtle nuances, especially when the “daughter” spoke. Because of the structure of the book, using multiple actors was a terrific decision and enhanced the experience of the book.

So if you want a short break from legal technology and our efforts to save the legal profession and provide justice for all, take a dive into What Was Mine.

★★★★ What Was Mine
By Helen Klein Ross
Simon & Schuster
List price: Trade Paperback: $16.00
Unabridged audio book: $17.99
E-book: $11.99

Monica Bay is a CodeX Fellow and a member of the California Bar. Twitter: @Monica Bay
Email: mbay@codex.stanford.edu.