THORNHEDGE

Jennifer Blom narrates an adaptation of Sleeping Beauty that asks what if the fairy godmother desperately needs to keep the princess asleep to protect all others? Listeners hear the weariness in the fairy Toadling's voice as she stands guard at the tower, in both her unobtrusive human form and her toad form, watching the world change around her over the centuries. When Halim, a gentle knight voiced with quiet gruffness, arrives, he informs Toadling of his quest to fight through the brambles and free the maiden within, and they form an unlikely friendship. Though some mispronunciations detract from the production, Blom's subdued narration matches Toadling's character and the fairy-tale-laced horror story she slowly reveals. E.E.C. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine [Published: AUGUST 2023]