A SHORT HISTORY OF WOMEN

Spanning the twentieth century, this novel explores acts of self-assertion carried out by various women in one family, beginning with a British suffragist who starves herself for her cause. The use of multiple narrators helps the listener keep the characters straight, especially as the story moves back and forth between generations (and there are two Dorothys to keep track of). Ruth Moore gives the budding suffragist a suitably spirited voice, and Nicola Barber uses a meditative tone and precise delivery to portray the self-contained Evelyn, who becomes a scientist in the U.S. after WWI. Narrator Eliza Foss shines as she expresses the anger felt by Dorothy Barrett, a woman in late middle age whose son dies of cancer. This is a slow-paced but engaging story. A.E.B. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine [Published: JUNE 2010]