EVENINGS AT FIVE

Gail Godwin's low, warm Southern voice is the perfect medium for this brief novel about a woman mourning the death of her long-term love, and the loss, as well, of the shared habits and customs of their life together. For Christina, the emblematic ritual that stands for all of them is the cocktail hour, which Rudy would begin by announcing that the Pope has called to tell them it was time. (If they were detained somewhere when the hour arrived, Rudy would say darkly that the Pope has probably had to leave the message on the answering machine.) Both the book and the performance constitute a moving elegy for a lost life. B.G. (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine [Published: OCT/ NOV 03]