IN MOROCCO

Armchair travelers and history buffs will delight in this recording. Wharton's language alternates between unimpassioned frankness and voluptuous description of Morocco's staggering natural and cultural beauty. Anna Fields takes her cue from the text, delivering a clipped and assured reading when Wharton discusses conveyance, history and other mundane matters, and an unhurried, even dreamy, reading of Wharton's sensuous and evocative descriptions. Those who have visited or lived in Morocco will feel immediately transported to familiar sites during these descriptive passages. The listening experience is made the more interesting because Wharton's account was written during one month of travel in the final year of WW I and first published eight decades ago. More recent travelers, who will discover much that is familiar here, are likely to enjoy the description more than the recitation of history. T.B. © AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC/JAN 00]