GLORY O'BRIEN'S HISTORY OF THE FUTURE

From the moment Glory O’Brien and her friend, Ellie, drink beer mixed with petrified bat ashes, an incredible transformation occurs. “We could see the future. We could see the past. We could see everything.” Narrator Christine Lakin makes the magical sound reasonable. When Glory was 4, her mother committed suicide. Now, with high school graduation near, Glory is listless, with no plans for her future. Lakin delivers Glory’s first-person narration with all her teenaged poignancy and pathos in place. Glory foresees a dystopian future, a rigid, restrictive nightmare in which a misogynistic government is in power, young women are sold, and women have few rights. Glory writes it all down, determined to awaken society from its lethargy. Lakin’s sincere, intelligent performance makes it believable. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine [Published: NOVEMBER 2014]