THE BRASS DOLPHIN

Joanna Trollope is critically acclaimed on both sides of the Atlantic for her crisply sympathetic novels about English life. In this novel, written under the pen name Caroline Harvey, she shifts into a romantic genre with a passionate novel of a young woman coming to terms with life, love, and loss on the island of Malta during WWII. No matter that the story often slips into predictability; narrator Virgina Leishman excels. Her fine, textured reading turns an enjoyable, yet predictable, novel into a wonderful listening experience. Her intelligent use of inflection and shaded changes of tone keep the listener involved and committed to the characters. Even guessing how the story would be resolved did not stop this listener from being engrossed by the narrator's version of this romantic tale. Leishman is a captivating talent. A.C.S. © AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC/JAN 01]