WUTHERING HEIGHTS

Emily Brontë's only novel has an unusual structure: It is narrated by two rather minor characters in the story. In this smartly abridged recording, Prunella Scales (of "Fawlty Towers" fame) gets the bulk of the narrative duties as Nelly Dean, the housekeeper. Scales's son, Samuel West, reads the parts of Mr. Lockwood, the tenant whose curiosity sets this haunting tale in motion. Both actors are restrained and eloquent in their joint performance, and both do an admirable job of capturing the mood of the novel and rendering the Yorkshire dialect used by some of its characters. D.B. © AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine [Published: APR/MAY 00]