A GREAT AND TERRIBLE BEAUTY

Gemma, who has grown up in colonial India, returns to be educated in the ways of being a proper young woman at boarding school in Victorian London--but India might not be as far away as she thinks. The story has a pervasive, if contrived, atmosphere of lush sensuality--there's a little magic, a little romance, and a lot of intrigue. Listeners who are most familiar with Jo Wyatt as Lyra in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series will be impressed by her range and characterizations here. That the story sometimes feels choppy or abrupt may be the fault of the abridgment, and the ending seems ripe for a sequel. J.M.D. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine [Published: JUNE/JULY 05]