TO MARRY AN ENGLISH LORD

Kate Reading has her work cut out for her, narrating a book that is heavily illustrated on the page, and she brings to it an admirable precision. Her diction is crisp, and her attention to detail serves the listener beautifully. The book was an acknowledged source for the insanely popular "Downton Abbey" TV series, and fans will relish the true-life details of the clothes, weddings, births, affairs, joys, and miseries of the American girls who married English (and occasionally Continental) nobility in the late Victorian era. This is rich social history, explaining the cultural differences in the highest society on both sides of the Pond, and while Reading's French accent is a little overdone and she commits the very occasional mispronunciation, her performance thoroughly satisfies. B.G. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine [Published: JULY 2014]