FALLING

British novelist Elizabeth Jane Howard, author of the acclaimed family-saga series, The Cazalet Chronicles, makes a successful stylistic departure in her new novel. This is a tale of romance told in the voices of two characters: Daisy Langrish, an emotionally vulnerable writer who buys a weekend cottage in the country, and Henry Kent, the charmer who offers to work in her garden. Both are over 60, and each wants something from the other. What they want and what they get--that's the crux of the story. The fine British actors Alan Bates and Diana Quick narrate the tale in alternating first-person chapters. The result is a pas de deux of nuanced, sympathetic reading. Henry Kent's charisma and Daisy's neediness are unforgettable. Neither Bates nor Quick attempts to create significantly different voices for the other characters who pass through the story, though Quick deepens her voice for one character, with mixed results. Instead the narrators create one true voice each for their own characters and capture the reader's imagination. A.C.S. Winner of AUDIOFILE Earphones Award. © AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC/JAN 01]