THE MAIDEN OF ALL OUR DESIRES

Soft-voiced Anne Flosnik narrates this fourteenth-century tale of a convent in England. In the aftermath of the Black Death, the aging Mother John, abbess of Gaerdegen, leads her nuns, using the controversial Book of Ursula, much to the dismay of the local priest-confessor. Flosnik's steady voice allows this story, filled with long-winded backstories of the nuns' lives, the priest's crimes, and the convent's founding, to unfold over a single day, which is divided by the Liturgy of the Hours. Flosnik employs subtle British accents, and her unemotional performance never waivers as the nuns confront a blizzard and a test of faith on that singular day. M.B.K. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine [Published: JULY 2022]