OUR LADY OF THE FOREST

In an economically depressed timber-rich region of Washington State, a runaway 16-year-old girl sees a vision of the Virgin Mary in the forest. The vision forces a reaction on the part of many in the community, among them a local priest who struggles with faith and desire, an out-of-work logger who has made himself detestable to all who might have loved him, and the girl's older, cynical friend and caretaker. Blair glides easily from one to another, not by doing voices, but by communicating personality characteristics. She identifies and then reflects what is most essential in each, whether piety, skepticism, anger, or scorn. M.O.
(c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine [Published: APR/MAY 04]