CAUCASIA

January LaVoy, usually a skilled narrator, turns in a lackluster performance of this audiobook. The novel begins disappointingly as a meandering story of a biracial child living in Boston who is trying to find her place in the world, but eventually the story unfolds into a compelling coming-of-age New England adventure. LaVoy's voices for the occasional Boston and New Hampshire characters are spot-on, but there is no real animation of Birdie or her mother to make these protagonists memorable. Emotions between mother and daughter run high as they spend years pretending to be people they are not while staying true to their bond. But their struggle does not come through in the narration--a lost opportunity. M.P.P. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine [Published: FEBRUARY 2019]