GOBLIN MARKET

Tavia Gilbert skillfully narrates this dark tale featuring two sisters in long-ago Poland, based on an 1862 poem by Christina Rossetti. At the market, beautiful, outgoing Minka is enchanted by Emil, a goblin disguised as a handsome boy who offers her forbidden fruit. Lizzie, Minka's sister, is smart, frank, and likely autistic. After eating the fruit, Minka falls sick. Gilbert conveys Minka's illness by infusing her kind voice with a dreamlike detachment and portrays Lizzie with a lack of emotion. As the story progresses, Lizzie becomes more assertive but maintains her innate matter-of-fact tone. Gilbert also reflects Emil's mercurial temperament, speaking in enticing tones to Minka and to Lizzie with dismissiveness, disdain, and, finally, deadly menace. Haunting music during tense moments adds suspense. L.T. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine [Published: DECEMBER 2023]