A PARTIAL HISTORY OF LOST CAUSES

Although the premise of LOST CAUSES seems wrought with anguish, both main characters strive to find meaning in their dissolving lives. Kathe Mazur and Stephen Hoye perform splendid counterpoints to each other, using subtle tones of despair tempered by hints of bewildered irony and cautious emotion. In Russia, world chess champion Bezetov becomes embroiled in post-Cold War dissident politics, risking his life as he pits himself against Vladimir Putin and his policies. Decades later, across the world, Irina Ellison confronts Huntington's disease and the limitations ahead, which she knows all too well since her father died of the disease. She seeks out Bezetov in Russia to respond to her father's unanswered question about persevering in the face of a lost cause—a question that is now intensely personal to Irina. Both characters' fates collide in a triumph of courage, wisdom, and compassion. A.W. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine [Published: MAY 2012]