CITY OF SECRETS

Narrator Edoardo Ballerini brings a rhythmic elegiac tone to O'Nan's fine new novel, which encourages long listening and lends a timeless quality to a story set in post-WWII Jerusalem. Brand, a Latvian prison-camp refugee, arrives in the city unsure how to live again. Soon, he is driving a taxi; has joined one of the many factions fighting for Israeli independence; and has fallen in love with Eva, a prostitute and member of his cell. As Brand tries to navigate everyone's conflicting loyalties, he feels like a pawn in a chess game he doesn't control. Ballerini's tightening voice helps build the tension as Brand struggles to discover what's really going on. His subtle characterizations color the characters with courage, despair, passion, honesty, and moral ambiguity. A.C.S. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine [Published: MAY 2016]