VENICE FOR LOVERS

Take two well-known writers, novelist Louis Begley and his biographer wife, Anka Muhlstein, give them two decades of summer writing in Venice, add their passion for food and skillful observations about local color, and you've got the makings for great listening. The promise is fulfilled with Malcolm Hillgartner's facile pronunciations, his ease in uniting three short pieces of different genres, and his liveliness, which will capture listeners whether they've experienced the magic of Venice or not. The production’s wide variety includes Muhlstein's enticing descriptions of four Venetian restaurants and the owners who seduced the pair of appreciative diners; Begley's nonfiction accounts of Venice's power over Henry James, Marcel Proust, and Thomas Mann; and Begley's novella about a young man who parlays unrequited sex into an ardor for Venice. S.W. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine [Published: APRIL 2009]