THE SCARLET LETTER

Who does not know how the Puritans of colonial Boston forced the spirited adulteress Hester Prynne to wear a red "A" on her bosom as punishment for her sin? Former cinema ingenue Elizabeth McGovern essays this abridgment of Hawthorne's somber, unabridgeable romance of 1850. She delivers the narrative in a quiet, patrician mezzo. Her characterizations are broad. The overall effect is Apollonian and sophisticated, far more so than the text. A satisfactory, if not outstanding, rendition. Y.R. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine [Published: JUN/JUL 01]