THE PEACH THIEF

Harrie Dobby transports listeners to the 1850 Edenic garden of a British earl and into the perspective of 13-year-old orphan Scilla. Scilla has escaped a workhouse in the guise of a boy and is fearful of being discovered. Dobby balances this fear with her enraptured responses to the earl's lavish, nurturing garden and her desire to learn all she can from the head gardener, Mr. Layton. Especially intriguing is Dobby's depiction of Scilla's insecurity in response to Mr. Layton's gruff tones, which reveal her trauma and losses. Listeners will note her growing confidence, as well as her trepidation that her blossoming womanhood will betray her and she will lose the place and people she's come to love. S.W. © AudioFile 2025, Portland, Maine [Published: JUNE 2025]