MIDWIVES

This heartrending tale of a midwife's worst nightmare brought to life moves back and forth between two speakers: the daughter who relates the events in her family's lives when she was 14, and her mother, the midwife whose journal entries are interspersed throughout the story. Kate Burton's reading of this tense tale is superb. Her clear, warm tone and straightforward delivery are in direct contrast to the author's suspenseful technique. The result is a heightening of the drama and tensionalready pervasive in the story. We are left on the edge of our seats until the surprising conclusion, which finally lets us go, limp and saddened, but also relieved. J.J.F. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: JUN/JUL 99]