RUDE AWAKENINGS OF A JANE AUSTEN ADDICT

In Rigler’s sequel to CONFESSIONS OF A JANE AUSTEN ADDICT, nineteenth-century Jane Mansfield finds herself transformed into 20-something Courtney Stone, who lives in L.A. Kate Reading's pitch and accent are spot-on as Jane’s cultivated British internal voice. Jane’s confusion and fascination with our current era's technology and pace are audible in Reading’s every voicing of Jane’s thoughts. Reading also shifts smoothly from Jane’s thoughts to Courtney's actual L.A. American speaking voice. And in a deft blending of the two periods, Reading delivers the charming formality of Regency language when Courtney is compelled to use such phrases in speaking to her contemporary L.A. friends in her American accent. The bewildering complications of 21st-century romance, employment, social strata, and freedoms are depicted in a story that asks if society has truly evolved for the better. A.W. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine [Published: NOVEMBER 2009]