BABYLON SISTERS

The conjurer juggles with oranges, and our pleasure in watching springs from the fact that never, even for an instant, is any orange overlooked or sacrificed. So it is listening to Pearl Cleage’s richly layered novel. Catherine Sanderson struggles with the question of when it is time to tell the whole truth to her daughter. As she works toward reconciliation with Phoebe, and with Phoebe’s father, she also narrowly escapes a dangerous liaison with a criminal who runs a prostitution ring of immigrants. Cleage’s pleasing voice is both gentle and strong as she tells this story of spirited African-American women. K.A.T. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/SEP 05]