THE RATHBONES

The narrations for this mesmerizing literary sleightof-hand trick, which mimics ancient epics or folktales, are uneven. Mercy Rathbone is a young woman of the mid-nineteenth century, the last of a mythically strange New England whaling family. She is determined to learn who she is and what she has come from, and her quest drives the story, but Erin Spencer's diction is too contemporary for the piece, more "NYPD Blue" than MOBY-DICK. The other three narrators are perfectly cast and perform with admirable skill; whoever does the voice of Mercy's lost brother, Gideon, is either an actual 7-year-old boy with sensational acting skills, or a flat-out genius. Except for the one casting misstep, this is a marvelous production of a remarkable text. B.G. © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine [Published: AUGUST 2013]