EDGES

Seventeen-year-old Luke escapes his sorrows over his mother’s death and his father’s descent into alcoholism by fleeing to Moab, Utah, where he works at the Moonflower Hostel. Nineteen-year-old Ava uses alcohol to avoid feelings about her grandmother's death and the way her parents have deserted her to open the Moonflower Hostel. The parallel lives of the two characters become linked in this story of serendipity and strange connections. Their alternating viewpoints benefit from a dual reading by Cynthia Holloway and Ryan Gesell. Gesell’s portrayal of Luke is breathy and dreamy as befits a boy who is moved by magical landscapes and mystical experiences. Holloway's depiction of Ava is more forceful as she depicts the young woman's search for sobriety and family love. S.W. © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine [Published: MARCH 2011]