THE FINAL CONFESSION OF MABEL STARK

With materials from the Circus World Museum, personal letters, and interviews, Robert Hough spins a saga as sprawling as the circus itself. In this “fictional autobiography” of the most famous female tiger trainer of all time, listeners are treated to Betty Bobbitt’s performance of the indomitable, unconventional Mabel Stark. As a child from “the flat end of Kentucky,” Mary Haynie ran away with the circus. First a trick rider and belly dancer, Haynie, a.k.a. Stark, rose to become a headliner with Ringling Brothers, preferring Rajah, her five-hundred-pound Bengal tiger, to most of the men in her life. Bobbitt’s raspy voice and full-throated chuckle perfectly draw Mabel’s sassy attitude, complete with period diction, circus lore, and Kentucky twang. Earthy and graphic, this book is not for the provincial. S.J.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC 04/ JAN 05]