TARA ROAD

Maeve Binchy has a deft touch with her characters and effortlessly involves her readers in the multiple layers of their lives. In the audio format, skilled narrator Terry Donnelly unfolds the story of Ria Lynch and her home on Tara Road, Dublin. She uses shades of subtle characterizations, as the many people of differing ages take part in the life on Tara Road. It's clear Donnelly has an inside track to the characters who inhabit the Dublin suburbia of her own childhood. Her smooth Irish voices are right at home. The reason for musical bridges in the abridged version is justified, but still irritating as the plot must advance in the given time frame. R.F.W. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: APR/MAY 99]