SPLINTERS OF SCARLET

Kat Rose-Martin's narration leads listeners into the fantastical nineteenth-century world of Marit Olsen. Her delivery gives narrative drive to the first-person story of the Danish orphan whose work as a talented seamstress is enhanced when she uses magic. But magic has a cost, and Rose-Martin captures Marit's fear of dying--as her sister did--from the poison that builds up in those who use their powers. Rose-Martin lingers over lavish details on food, clothing, and jewels, balancing those descriptions with a gripping mystery and themes of corruption, servitude, and racism. Interspersed narratives by a secondary male character would have been less surprising if there had been a second narrator portraying him. S.W. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine [Published: SEPTEMBER 2020]