A CONSTELLATION OF VITAL PHENOMENA

Narrator Colette Whitaker does a beautiful job with this stunningly accomplished first novel. Set in a tiny Chechen village during the wars, the story deals with human beings under the worst kinds of pressure life or art can devise, and looks at them straight on, with sympathy and depth and mercy. Whitaker must deal with Russian and Chechen accents; voices of men, women, and children; and characters that seem at first to be irredeemable but whose humanity is never in doubt. Again and again in this remarkable work you think you know what has happened and what it means, only to have it go wider and deeper. Whitaker’s voice is lovely, and her command of her craft is deft and sure. You won’t soon forget it. B.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine [Published: JUNE 2013]