FIREFLY SUMMER

This BBC full-cast radio dramatization of Binchy's novel is told entirely through dialogue. In just about three hours, the listener is caught up in the dramatic story of a rich American who's determined to build a hotel in an Irish village. The story, with its wide net of complex characters, climaxes with a great tragedy. The actors all have rich and distinct voices and, overall, do a superb job, evoking the strong emotions of Binchy's characters with enough intensity to absorb the listener without being overwrought. Only the performances of the Irish actors narrating the two American children are flawed—they need to improve their Yankee accents. Nonetheless, this is storytelling at its best. R.L.G. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine [Published: AUGUST 2009]