SILAS MARNER

What a pleasure revisiting Silas Marner in audio and hearing those hearty English country folk come alive once again! Andrew Sachs is simply magic. Listen to old Squire Cass bluster angrily at his hapless son, Godfrey, and to the throaty laugh of the hearty Miss Priscilla, easy and happy in her role as homely older sister. The gentle Dolly Winthrop cautiously helps Silas dress Eppie, his newfound gold, the orphaned child who has fallen asleep at his hearth. But Sachs's greatest achievement is Silas himself. At the outset, his voice, made broken and pathetic by his closest friend's betrayal, is barely audible. With the loss of his money and the arrival of Eppie shortly after, some of it gradually returns. But only when threatened with her loss does Silas's voice finally bloom. Thus, pace and tone are maintained by Sachs's reading of Silas, whose redemption is both audible and palpable. P.E.F. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB/MAR 01]