CALL UPON THE WATER

Boris Hiestand does the lion's share of the narration in this expansive historical novel detailing a seventeenth-century British project to drain the eastern Fenlands. "Gentlemen adventurers" plan to drain the Great Level of the Fens in order to turn the fertile bottomland into profitable plantations. They hire skilled Dutch mathematician/engineer Jan Brunt, an expert at water containment. Hiestand quietly recounts Brunt's unwavering commitment to the challenging project, even though it means the destruction of the natural environment, eventually displacing those who live there. Hiestand raises his intensity when presenting Brunt's passionate attachment to Eliza, a woman of the fens. However, it's not until the final section of the book that Maggie Service fills listeners in on Eliza's life with a lovely, upbeat performance. Intelligent, thoughtful listening. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine [Published: DECEMBER 2019]