LITTLE DORRIT

Why do we never tire of Dickens? Isn’t it because of his characters and their crazy worlds? Science fiction was never so strange! Reader Robert Whitfield catches this zaniness and infects us with it. Whitfield is at once the delicate and sensitive heroine, Little Dorrit, as she humors the illusions of her father; he is that same father, presiding like nobility over his fellow debtors in the Marshalsea prison. He is the crafty Frenchman, Monsieur Rigaud, who is blackmailing old Mrs. Clenham. He is the pompous Mrs. Merdle, the asinine Mr. Sparkler, and the young Mr. Barnacle, who has attached himself to the annoying government Circumlocution Office to make certain nothing jolly well ever gets done. Crazy? Yes, completely, but nonetheless real as Whitfield, with a unique voice and vision for each character, casts Dickens’s spell of mystery and intrigue. Dickens fans should not miss this almost perfect performance of his most mature work. P.E.F. Winner of AUDIOFILE Earphones Award. © AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine [Published: APR/MAY 00]