L'AFFAIRE

This breezy novel is quickly read and just as quickly forgotten. It's the story of an American woman on a self-improvement journey in France who gets caught up in affairs, European politics, and inheritance rights. Narrator Kate Reading has just the right voice to make this book worthwhile. She's blithe, smart-alecky, condescending, and regal all at the same time. Her French accent, which she's required to use quite a lot, is very good, and her other characters are pointed and accurate. Reading is very distracting at times, though, because she slides in and out of a pseudo-British accent when delivering narrative, and it's not quite certain if that's deliberate or not. R.I.G. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB/ MAR 06]