ISLANDS

Narrator Dana Ivey is perfectly suited for this novel set in Charleston. Ivey reads the narrative passages in an authentic, understated Southern accent and is masterful in her vocalization of "the Scrubs," a group of lifelong friends. Her depiction of the group's informal leader, Camilla, puts the listener right in the seat of a horse-drawn carriage on Charleston's Battery. The "other" Charleston is personified in Camilla's unlikely assistant, Gaynelle, a motorcycle-riding country girl, for whom Ivey applies a nonaristocratic Low Country tone. Told from the viewpoint of Scrubs newcomer, Anny, the story takes a turn when the group must face some startling truths as their idyllic lives turn sour. J.J.B. (c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/ SEP 04]