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Women on the verge
REVIEWS BY SUKEY HOWARD
By Bret Lott Simon & Schuster Audio, $23 6 hours ISBN 0671043080
Now and then Two stories parallel each other in Sue Miller's While I Was Gone and then collide. Both are about Jo Becker -- Jo now, a successful veterinarian in a small New England town with an admirable, loving husband and three grown daughters, and Jo then, when she was living in a group house in Cambridge, reveling in the intense camaraderie and the new found freedom of the '60s. If she sometimes wonders what became of the young woman she was, what harm could that do? Not much -- until one of her old housemates moves into town. He wants to see her, talk of the past and the harrowing event that sent them all away. Jo wants this too, and perhaps they both want more. Moving seemlessly back and forth in time, Miller looks closely at marriage and fidelity and the devastating power of secrets, kept and revealed. Blair Brown's fine narration catches every emotional nuance.
By Sue Miller Random House Audiobooks, $24 5 hours ISBN 0375405631
Friends forever Laura and Claire, best friends since childhood, lead fascinating, creative lives. Though Claire's marriage to a French virologist ended in bitter divorce, she has a wonderful teenage daughter; Laura's career as an art advisor to the rich and famous is thriving, and her marriage to a handsome, successful lawyer seems perfect. Like every woman (even Laura's savvy octogenarian grandmother) in a Barbara Taylor Bradford novel, Laura and Claire are sleek, chic, gorgeous, and well-to-do. But, as we learn anew in A Sudden Change of Heart, pain and sorrow are blind to good looks and money. When tragedy strikes, three generations of women join together to share their strength and love, and there's as much to make you glad as there is to make you sad. As always, Ms. Bradford delights in the details of her tales -- great clothes, sumptuous interiors, menus at swank restaurants -- and her legion of fans will delight in her new novel.
By Barbara Taylor Bradford BDD Audio, $25 6 hours ISBN 0553525999
Lost and found
By Stuart Hamilton Brilliance, unabridged, $39.95 13 hours ISBN 1567404006
Perfect crime? Who killed JonBenet Ramsey? That's the question, but the answer, more than two years after the grisly murder of the pretty little six-year-old, is as elusive as ever. Lawrence Schiller, best-selling author and true crime explicator extraordinaire, has brought his investigative ingenuity and reportorial resources to Boulder, Colorado, the "perfect town," and sets his sights on solving the "perfect murder." Schiller and his team conducted over 500 interviews; combed police reports, memos, press clippings, and TV transcripts; and mulled over every piece of evidence they could find to produce Perfect Town, Perfect Murder. Here's the nitty gritty of the battle between Boulder police officials and the DA's office; who said what to whom, when; how reporters, serious and scuzzy, carried on their campaigns; the agonizing over parental culpability and motive. Maybe Patsy Ramsey killed her daughter, maybe her husband helped, maybe it was an intruder. Now, armed with as much information as anyone else has, you'll be able to draw your own conclusion -- maybe.
By Lawrence Schiller HarperAudio, $25 6 hours ISBN 0694520411
Sukey Howard reports on spoken word audio each month.
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If you're looking for an affecting, moving story of intense motherly love, Jewel, convincingly read by Celia Watson, is it. In creating Jewel, the character and the novel, author Bret Lott succeeds in bringing to life a memorable woman and the world she lived in - the sharply segregated Mississippi of the '40s. Jewel, brave and determined in the face of life's grim trials, had, by the summer of 1943, a home and a family to be proud of. That summer, her sixth and last child was born, a late grace note to the life she and her husband worked so hard for. But Brenda Kay was born with Down's syndrome, a veritable death sentence in those days. Mobilizing every ounce of her will, discovering joy in the shadows of sorrow, Jewel found the patience and the passion to create the loving home that allowed Brenda Kay to live a happy life.
The soaring, elegant bird that gives The Snow Falcon, Stuart Hamilton's dramatic debut novel, its name, also brings an unusual, unexpected gift to three people who have lost the essence of their lives. Michael, who lost his family and job and lived for years in his own private hell, returns to the small town in British Columbia where he grew up. There's no welcome waiting for him, just a dilapidated house and his father's empty store. Susan lost her husband in a hunting accident, and her young son, Jamie, lost his ability to speak and his interest in the world as he watched his father die. The snow falcon, winged by a money-grubbing ne'er-do-well, has lost the power to fly north to her natural habitat. Michael finds the wounded bird and finds that helping her recover gives him the purpose he needs. Jamie, drawn to Michael and the bird, learns to trust in life again, and Susan, watching all three struggle their own struggles, finds that she can love again. And you'll find romance and high adventure.