UNDUE INFLUENCE

Anita Brookner's novels are about people on the fringe of society, not due to subversive ideas, but because they are old or shy and time and society has passed them by. This heroine, Claire Pitt, is a mere 29-years old, but she's already a confirmed spinster. Diana Quick's voice, timbre and pace are of an older and whinier woman, so the listener has to remind herself that Claire is a young and attactive woman. This is irksome, because Claire does think and act with a modern outlook toward sexuality, upon which hangs the plot. B.H.B. © AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/SEP 00]