JACOB’S LADDER

Though overlong, this multi-charactered and multi-plotted novel about the Civil War in Virginia pays dividends to historical buffs willing to stay the course. Mulatto slave Maggie; her white lover, Duncan (son of her master); and the black husband she is forced to marry when she gets pregnant by Duncan are the principals in the main plot, but there are other characters and stories of substantial interest. Narrator George Guidall handles the narrating tasks with his usual consummate skill, capturing dialects of black and white, slave and master, poor and rich, with exceptional consistency and compelling focus. It’s a flawless performance that lessens the burden of too much telling and too little showing that mars McCaig's writing. T. H. © AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/SEP 00]