DREAMERS OF THE DAY

Agnes Shanklin, the spinster at the center of this historical novel, narrates her own story from the afterlife. A schoolteacher who lost her family to influenza in 1919, Agnes acquires financial independence and decides to travel--to Egypt precisely, where she meets various important people of the period, such a T.E. Lawrence and Churchill. As a character, Agnes is both comic and pitiable, an effect that is hard for a narrator to achieve. Ann Marie Lee's careful delivery manages to capture both. The multiple imagined voices that intrude upon Agnes comprise an interior monologue of female voices that Lee carries off to great effect. A slight difficulty is the accent used for the German characters, which does not ring true. Overall though, Lee keeps the listener in tune with the narrative. M.R. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine [Published: JULY 2008]