CLARA CALLAN

Told through letters and journal entries, this novel spans four years in the lives of two very different sisters from a small Canadian town during the 1930s. Narrators Anne Twomey and Joanna P. Adler each take the part of one sister, enhancing the exploration of contrast between the extroverted, ambitious radio star, Nora, and the reflective, reserved, and old-fashioned schoolteacher, Clara. Each reader renders her character sensitively, without resorting to sentimentality. Built on the details of daily life, the story illuminates the emotional drama that underlies the ordinary while exploring the societal restraints against which independent women of the 1930s struggled. Written in prose that is simple and poetic, CLARA CALLAN is rich in historical detail, psychological insight, humor, and tragedy--a moving work of literature, read with appropriate subtlety. E.S. (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine [Published: APR/MAY 03]