LOCAL GIRLS

Laural Merlington and Aasne Vigesaa alternate voices. The local girls are teenaged Gretel; her wildish cousin, Margot; her best friend, Jill; and, most important, Gretel's mother, Franny, who is beset with a bitter divorce and cancer. Hoffman can be funny one moment and evoke tears the next, and readers Merlington and Vigesaa adapt beautifully to these excellently crafted portraits of four women. The narrators add much to the story, vocally capturing its wry qualities, its ironies, its pathos, its humor. Only three marvelously read cassettes--these tales of Long Island local girls merit listening. This is fine work by writer and readers. T.H. © AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: OCT/NOV 99]