A DAUGHTER OF ZION

Rachel Lubetkin has survived the Nazi death camps to join her brother, grandfather, and friends in Jerusalem, in hopes of setting up a new Jewish State. But one of her German captors has recognized her. Suzanne Toren imparts the same thick Yiddish-Middle-Eastern accent to all the Jewish people in the story, regardless of national origin. Her narrative sections breathe life into the predictable plot, especially the passages dealing with the thoughts of the family dog carrying messages to and from the restricted quarter. While Thoene's plot believably brings Jewish and Christian friends together in a struggle for peace, her conversion of the Jews at story's end screams contrivance. Toren's performance tries for credibility in this part, but falls forgivably short. R.P.L. (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine [Published: APR/MAY 03]