THE SECRET GUESTS

This audiobook imagines the Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret having been sent to Clonmillis Hall in neutral Ireland during the London Blitz. Narrator Barrie Kreinik tackles this alternative history with admirable skill, giving the girls, "Ellen" and "Mary," believable voices. Ellen already has the imperial, no-nonsense voice of the future queen, while Mary moves through a range of emotions, always letting her feelings show. Kreinik is also skilled at portraying the many Irish characters with unique voices. The Duke of Edenmore, the unwilling host to the girls, his housekeeper, the kitchen help, and the stable boy also become real individuals. The townspeople, some of whom lost family members to British bullets, display an array of Irish lilts as tensions rise and they voice suspicions about the girls' true identities. N.E.M. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine [Published: MARCH 2020]