SHIRLEY

The title character of this provocative audiobook is Shirley Jackson, the mid-twentieth-century author of "The Lottery" and "The Haunting of Hill House." The story is told by Rose, a young wife who, with her professor husband, moves in with Shirley and her husband, the literary critic and Bennington College professor Stanley Heyman. Rose becomes obsessed with Shirley, a complex woman who believes in witchcraft, writes brilliant horror tales, and has her own reasons for wanting Rose nearby. Narrator Lesa Lockford makes a wonderful PAS DE DEUX of the mature cello voice of Shirley and the warm, young, much lighter voice of Rose. She is less reliable when attempting accents. But she artfully creates the psychological drama the story needs to draw the listener into Merrell's speculative tale. B.G. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine [Published: AUGUST 2014]