JENNIE CHURCHILL Winston's American Mother

Joanna David's initial delivery captures the energetic pace of Jennie's early years as she gallops through Manhattan in her father's carriage and whirls across Parisian ballrooms filled with rich gowns and crystal chandeliers that light up a fairy-tale world. David's enthusiastic narration, occasionally colored by a half-laugh of gaiety, lends much to passionate quotes from Randolph Churchill's love letters and to descriptions of young Jennie's American impetuousness and verve. After their marriage, David's pace slows as Randolph's mental illness sets in and his career dives. Anger colors David's speech as Jennie struggles with poverty, prejudice, rumors, and her willful son, Winston. David reads the period of Winston's young adulthood and Jennie's later life with a leisurely elegance that contrasts with the crises of the earlier times. S.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine [Published: DECEMBER 2008]