IF NOBODY SPEAKS OF REMARKABLE THINGS

Set in the North Country, this debut novel continues the glum genre of British working-class fiction. Here we get a whole city block of plain folk of varying backgrounds and worldviews. All are described in the third person, except for a young woman who, unmarried and pregnant, tells her own story. We begin with a horrific event and a flashback to the events of the day that preceded it. The romanticized characters are vivified by the acutely expressive and poetic interpretation of Jilly Bond. She takes her cue from the words of one of the characters, who asks, “If nobody speaks of remarkable things, how will anyone know they’re remarkable?” Bond makes the small lives she limns sound remarkable, as they would seem to a child experiencing them for the first time. Y.R. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/ SEP 04]