WHEN MADELINE WAS YOUNG

When young bride Madeline suffers brain damage during a bicycle accident, her husband Aaron remarries; he and his new wife, Julia, then care for Madeline as if she were their own daughter. As their son Mac tells us, it all seemed to make sense, however unusual it was amid 1950s conformist society. Richard Poe gives a fine and nuanced performance of Mac's tale about his odd, but loving family. As young Mac, he reads with an exuberance that implies youth, then slows to his well-known gravelly warmth as Mac ages. He's equally skilled with women's voices, making them real without a squeak. And his even, clear pace matches the book's atmosphere of remembrance. A.C.S. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC 06/ JAN 07]