A STRONG WEST WIND

Nicole Poole's voice is a register too high to be narrating the memoir of Baby Boomer Gail Caldwell. Poole sounds as if she is reading an aunt's story, not a story she herself lived. The song titles and other references to the fifties and sixties sound like ancient histories, not living memories. Caldwell was a rebellious daughter with the drive to educate herself and move on. Her childhood is reflected in her battles with her father while her mother only emerges near the end of the book. As a successful adult, Caldwell contemplates the forces that blew her, sometimes despite herself, into a career of words as a critic for the BOSTON GLOBE. B.H.B. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB/ MAR 08]