LAMBRUSCO

On a trek to find her son, a partisan who is on the run in WWII-ravaged Italy, Lucia Fantini, opera singer and restaurateur, revisits her life in a series of vignettes that will have listeners feeling as though they're looking through a 1940s photograph album whose pictures are sepia and slightly faded. Cassandra Campbell narrates, giving the first-person voice of Lucia the gentlest trace of an Italian accent--just right for the elegant singer. Campbell never resorts to stereotypes when portraying the many unique characters that fill Lucia's life. She creates people distinctly different from the narrator and from one another. Ellen Cooney offers a lyrical reminiscence of a time and place, a group of people with real lives, and a memorable woman. Cassandra Campbell is the perfect complement. S.J.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine [Published: JULY 2008]