PARK LANE

Susan Duerden gives a perfect performance of the story of Beatrice, a privileged young lady, and one of her housemaids, Grace, who live in London during WWI. Duerden narrates the present-tense writing with an enticing sense of urgency, sweeping the listener into the immediacy of the story. In the beginning, it seems to be a typical story of ladies and housemaids—until Bea begins to take part in a radical suffragette movement. Duerden captures every emotion as Bea moves beyond the suffragettes to seek out danger and excitement during the war, finally realizing the true horror of it. Grace has her own struggles and horrors to deal with. The two women’s lives are very different yet connected during the tumultuous time of war. M.M.G. © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine [Published: JANUARY 2013]