ONCE UPON A RIVER

Narrator Susan Bennett’s voice—intimate, pensive, and, at times, tentative—seems a perfect fit for the character of young Margo Crane. The quiet and somber Margo comes of age in Campbell’s imaginative story of an awkward teenager who, after the violent death of her father, travels the Stark River in Michigan in search of her absent mother. Margo encounters an eclectic assortment of personalities that range from the rough and earthy to the eccentric and odd. Disappointingly, Campbell’s rich characters demand more variety, texture, and individuality from Bennett’s voice than she gives. They all sound much like Margo herself. But the author’s strong writing will still carry the listener along the twists and turns of this memorable tale. S.K.G. © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine [Published: SEPTEMBER 2011]