RUN THE BLOCKADE

This exciting young adult sea tale concerns the exploits of the British-built blockade runner BANSHEE which, for a time, eluded the federal blockade around Wilmington, North Carolina, during the Civil War. This story is told from the viewpoint of Henry Severn, an Irish lad barely in his teens who is the ship's boy, as well as a lookout. Although the account here has taken liberties with the tale of the actual BANSHEE, Wisler certainly does a fine job in depicting the excitement and terror of running the blockade. Doyle's performance is superb. From the very beginning his clear voice brings us into Henry's life of hardship: The loss of his father at sea, his family's poverty and rescue by an English cousin, his adventures at sea, and the descriptions of wartime Wilmington, as well as Nassau in the Bahamas, are all read with great skill and verve. Doyle's English and Irish accents are impeccable. Southern accents are also done well. M.T.F. (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/SEP 02]