CHILD OF MY HEART

This is a brave book matched by a brave performance. Even for a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist such as McDermott, it was risky to build her next book around the day-to-day ministrations of a 15-year-old Long Island babysitter. But McDermott's writing is so lyrical, her insights so powerful and affecting that you find yourself looking forward to spending more time with her protagonist, Theresa, just as her wards do. Theresa is remarkably competent and kind, far more so than the parents of the children she tends. She is also precisely on the bridge between her own childhood and adulthood. Sheryl Bernstein captures this quality perfectly, but even more astounding is how, by lightening her voice, she portrays the novel's children, rendering them tenderly but not sugary. M.O. (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine [Published: APR/MAY 03]