HOMETOWN LEGEND

When life gets too hard, some people need a break, and some need to persevere. In Athens City, Alabama, a football coach whose son died on the field takes a 12-year break. The president of the town's biggest, and failing, business perseveres. Then the men join to face their demons and move on, helping others to do the same. Tom Stechschulte's honey-coated, gravelly voice softens easily in portraying young women, and takes a keen edge for a shrewish old maid. He brings educated steadiness to the company president, and harsh pain to the tortured coach. Stechschulte's mastery of comic and narrative passages unifies the whole, and resists the author's temptation to preach. And his light Southern accent adds exactly the right flavor. R.P.L. (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC 02/ JAN 03]