MARIGOLD AND ROSE

Narrating her own work, the Nobel Prize-winning poet Louise Glück offers her first work of fiction, a meditation on language, identity, motherhood, and death as experienced by not-yet-one-year-old twins Marigold and Rose. The pair are opposites: Rose is the "good" baby--pretty, happy, and social--whereas, Marigold is "difficult" and introspective. But Marigold is also a writer who is gathering material to write about their mother's childhood once she has the words. Glück's narration, weathered and tender, reveals her gift for storytelling. Her poetic roots are manifest as she dwells on gemlike realizations, which range from the recognition that books and animals do not judge to the desirability of adulthood's "vast cargo of words." This brief but penetrating audio is a treasure, illuminating new insights at every turn. S.A.H. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine [Published: NOVEMBER 2022]