WHEN THE DOVES DISAPPEARED

That this audiobook presents challenges for the listener is in no way caused by Enn Reitel's sensitive, accomplished, and penetrating narration. Oksanen has a morally complex tale to tell, and she doesn't oversimplify with anything so obvious as chronological order. Her Baltic canvas, mostly Estonian, is tramped over first by the Soviets, then by the Wehrmacht, then by the Soviets again, and the story goes back and forth from the '40s to decades later. Close attention is needed to know where you are in time, since you can't flip back pages, but Oksanen's story of bravery, complicity, duplicity, and suspense is scathing, and Reitel's skill with accents and talent for expressing the personalities of many characters intertwined down generations make the experience shocking and memorable. B.G. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine [Published: JUNE 2015]