CONSEQUENCES

Josephine Bailey gives a subtle, respectful, and low-key performance of this elegiac novel about the consequences of a chance encounter. Matt, an artist, and Lorna, a reluctant debutante from an entirely different milieu in class-bound prewar England, meet on a park bench, fall in love, and marry despite family consternation. Matt dies in the war, Lorna in childbirth, and the story moves to their daughter, and then to her daughter. One could quibble that Bailey sometimes fails to convey effectively the many shifts in the narrative indicated on the page by space breaks, which can make for some disorientation. Lively tends to use that white space to create a drama of what is not being said. In every other way, though, it's a lovely production. B.G. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC 07/ JAN 08]