THE SONNET LOVER

This baroquely plotted drama is almost likable in spite of itself. The titular Sonnet Lover is either the narrator, Renaissance sonnet professor Rose Asher, or Shakespeare's Dark Lady, whom Asher comes to believe was a Tuscan stone mason's uneducated teenaged daughter, who briefly visited England and slept with Shakespeare and thereafter wrote him deathless sonnets in flawless, mostly modern, English. If you question the likelihood of that, you may also doubt that Professor Asher, given her education and experience, should ceaselessly employ such sloppy diction as "ornje" for "orange" and "ahso" for "also" and be unable to pronounce "Lombardy" or "Fiesole." Nor are Jen Taylor's acting skills broad. Mostly she indicates drama by squeaking, which is monotonous. Her British and Aussie accents are quite good though. B.G. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC 07/ JAN 08]