A COMPANY OF SWANS

Sail the Amazon with Harriet Morton and her fellow ballerinas. Bound by a promise, the usually prim Harriet escapes her strict 1912 British household to join a Russian ballet company headed for Brazil. Patricia Conolly's delivery of dreamy descriptions of the Amazon jungle will intoxicate listeners. Add to the exotic setting a winsome heroine and her thoughtful lover, Rom, and the result is irresistible. Conolly's voice wends its way through Harriet's tumultuous love story with the fluidity of the Amazon itself. Her tone expertly foreshadows the story's many peregrinations. She also reproduces Rom's calm lilt and the Russian and French accents of the ballet corps, improving upon the text. A COMPANY OF SWANS is a charming mix of Ibbotson's fine brush strokes and Conolly's nuanced reading. C.A. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine [Published: AUGUST 2008]