THE RED DAUGHTER

Svetlana Alliluyeva, Joseph Stalin’s daughter, may be mostly forgotten now, but narrator Kathleen Gati brings her to life in this audiobook. The audiobook tells her story through her fictional journals. Narrator Mark Bramhall is equally fine as the fictionalized lawyer who brings Svetlana to the U.S. The novel is mostly true to history, with a few changed names, and the narrators are so convincing that listeners may have to remind themselves that these are not the real historical figures. Gati, in particular, portrays a woman who is difficult, changeable, and passionate—with few constants in her life other than the tangled threads of her impossible family. It is a bravura performance, balanced by Bramhall's calm, restrained, even repressed, portrayal of Svetlana’s lawyer. D.M.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine [Published: JUNE 2019]