THE BOLEYN INHERITANCE

A trio of narrators views Henry VIII's mid-life, measuring the results of Ann Boleyn's recklessness. Davina Porter employs tight, bitter tones for her recounting of dissatisfied courtier Jane Boleyn, 30-year-old widow of the beheaded brother of Ann. Bianca Amato is Queen Anne of Cleves, Henry's newest wife. Her controlled, steady voice reflects her stringent upbringing and the tension of facing a foreign court without knowledge of language or culture. There is a tone of mournful loneliness as she fears rejection, inquiry, and death, and a strength after she's sent from court and recognizes "the spark that is uniquely me." Charlotte Parry 's Katherine Howard is a lilting, bubbly animation of a silly teenager who lives only for gowns, dancing, and flirting and who dies with a high-strung hysteria. S.W. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine [Published: APR/ MAY 07]