KAROLINA AND THE TORN CURTAIN

Moira Quirk's performance of this novel, set in 1895 Kracow, bristles with period politics and feminist viewpoints while offering a complex mystery and an appealing heroine. When the raped, stabbed body of Zofia Turbotyska's maid, Karolina, is found washed up on a river bank, the police assume Karolina was a prostitute since her body was found in an unsavory area of Kracow. Quirk handles the Polish names and places with ease, adding atmosphere to Szymiczkowa's original plotting. As Zofia moves into Kracow's seedy underworld to investigate, she rubs shoulders with gangsters, ladies of the night, politicos, and socialists. Quirk deftly delivers all the subtleties, conflicting attitudes, and even bits of humor in this unusual mystery. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine [Published: MAY 2021]