THE STONE DIARIES

With little direct action and almost no conversation, Shields's 1993 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel lends itself beautifully to the audio format. Sara Botsford's voice sounds tender and caring throughout the first third of the book as she relates the story of Daisy, a motherless child. Botsford then does a more than credible job at capturing the distinctly individual inflections of various male and female letter writers. Simply noting the date of a letter permits huge events--a bridegroom's death, a nervous breakdown, a father's almost comical second marriage--to be narrated with a straightforward lightness. This is an abridged audiobook, but listeners will be hard-pressed to guess what's been left out. R.R. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC 06/ JAN 07]