BETWEEN ME AND THE RIVER Living beyond Cancer

Narrator Renée Raudman honors every step that 40-year-old Carrie Host takes while coping with her rare, and generally lethal, carcinoid cancer. Raudman's delivery is halting as Host doubles over with pain that no doctor can identify. Her tone shifts to one of panic when Host hears her frightening diagnosis, leaves her three children for an operation in another city, and meets terrifying situations that make her feel adrift in a boat that's been swept into a rushing river. But Host searches for the positive in her situation, and Raudman sounds whispery and tender as the author expresses gratitude for "angels" who support her and for her husband's constancy. In the face of continued depressing developments, Raudman projects teary frustration. Happily, the voices of both author and narrator strengthen as Host begins to laugh and hope again, and to recount the startling perceptions she's learned from cancer. S.W. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine [Published: OCTOBER 2009]