AFTER LONG SILENCE

Fremont's discovery that her parents were not Catholics, but Jews who escaped the Holocaust, sends her on a pilgrimage to Poland, Israel and Italy in search of her family's history. This horrific tale emerges in segments, separated by present-day confrontations with her parents and aunt, who aren't too happy about having the past unearthed, as well as by conversations with her sister, who is supportive. There's a lot of dialogue here, some real, some imagined from the 1940s, some between the author and herself. Toren handles it all with ease. Her pleasant but incisive narrative voice morphs naturally into the mother's accented, anguished speech or her Italian aunt's hostile questions. European streets and surnames pose no problems either. This may have been a cathartic experience for Fremont (she also reveals her lesbianism to her family), but it didn't happen without a lot of pain, and that is obvious in this excellent presentation. A bonus tape contains an interview with the author. J.B.G. Winner of AUDIOFILE Earphones Award. © AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine [Published: JUN/JUL 00]