PAWLEYS ISLAND

Dorothea Benton Frank doesn't do justice to her own prose. She reads her Southern story of marital strife, which is filled with drama and conflict, without much drama in her performance. While she has an interesting husky voice, she reads woodenly. The many characters are all read with the same affect. Children, women, and men are all voiced in the same tone and tempo. Descriptions of the coast go by too quickly to savor Benton Frank's evocative writing, so this novel may be more enjoyable in the print version. R.F. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine [Published: OCT/NOV 05]