THE CONFUSION OF LANGUAGES

Dual narrators Jorjeana Marie and Lauren Fortgang immerse listeners in the escalating tensions between expat wives Cassie and Margaret, who are both married to servicemen serving abroad. Thrown together as strangers, they report a car accident in Jordan, and nothing goes as they expect. Marie and Fortgang convey the stress of being far from home, where everything is unfamiliar. Listeners with similar life experiences will relate to the competitive, backbiting atmosphere created when people are dislocated from their creature comforts. The pair of narrators give us a range of emotional ups and downs as Cassie and Margaret experience cultural frustrations and thwarted ambitions. Marie and Fortgang play well against each other in building suspense as secrets are revealed that threaten the characters' tenuous new lives. M.R. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine [Published: MARCH 2018]