SCRIBE

Alyson Hagy places listeners in an Appalachian community ravaged by nationwide illness and a manipulative local tyrant after an unnamed civil war. Narrator Shannon McManus's thoughtful performance and soft Southern cadence elicit the tenacity and vulnerability of a central unnamed woman throughout her personal and public trials. Alone on family property save for her dogs, the woman provides space for displaced persons on her land and writes atoning letters for paying penitents. McManus contributes to the story's meditative quality with her steady characterizations of residents and the itinerant stranger who insists the woman scribe his letter. As disconcerting events unfold, sometimes dipping back into memory, listeners share the woman's apprehension and pain. Transgression and redemption are equally entrenched, elusive, and surprising in this hardscrabble landscape. J.R.T. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine [Published: NOVEMBER 2018]