PEONY IN LOVE

This magical, mystical, floridly romantic ghost story is set in seventeenth-century China. Peony, almost 16 and betrothed to a man she has never met, meets her true love, poet Wu Ren, during a performance of her favorite opera, "The Peony Pavilion." Its heroine, Liniang, dies of "lovesickness." As her marriage approaches, Peony, like Liniang, starves herself to death, discovering, on her deathbed that her husband-to-be is Wu Ren. Peony spends the next 29 years haunting, and helping, Wu Ren's two wives. Sedately paced but lively, enhanced by period music, this ghost story is more entertaining than scary. Jodi Long's solid portrayal of Peony's heartbreaking romantic deprivations goes a long way to suspend disbelief, and Long's feisty older women add comic moments. M.T.B. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine [Published: APR/ MAY 08]