BLACK AND BLUE

Repeatedly beaten by her husband, a Brooklyn cop, Fran Benedetto secretly relocates to Florida with her 10-year-old son. As Beth, she starts a new life--complete with job, friends and love interest. It's only a matter of time, of course, before she's found, with heart-wrenching consequences. Telling the story five years later, Fran/Beth still sounds like a victimized, shell-shocked Northerner. Despite the many good things that have since happened, she can't get by the sadness in her life. Reader Taylor does better with New York City accents than she does with small-town Southern. Gaps in time, perhaps caused by the abridgment, could have been made clearer by pauses. These reservations notwithstanding, this is a powerful tale credibly told. J.B.G. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/SEP 98]