WITHOUT HER

Narrator Alison Larkin presents a novel that takes place between the 1960s and the present. Claudia and Hannah meet at an English boarding school and become lifelong friends despite opposite personalities. Later, listeners accompany Claudia to France after she receives a pleading phone call from Hannah's husband, Philip, telling her that Hannah has mysteriously disappeared. As Claudia reflects, she realizes Hannah is possibly doing what she often did when she was young--vanishing for reasons of her own. Larkin's skillfully rendered accents, evocative descriptions, and portrayal of the painfully ill Hannah are the best parts of a story featuring inactivity and unappealing characters. Most frustrating are Philip's dithering, and Claudia's lover's shallowness. Larkin's performance stabilizes the story's frequent shifts in time and unexpected conclusion. S.G.B. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine [Published: MARCH 2020]