INDEPENDENCE

Sneha Mathan's smooth, warm voice immediately engages listeners with Divakaruni's well-researched and moving novel about the 1947 partition of British colonial India into India and Pakistan. Told from the points of view of three sisters who make starkly different choices during that tumultuous time, the story illuminates the era's hopes and terrors in an emotionally intimate way. Mathan interprets the protagonists' distinctive personalities with subtle shifts in tone and timbre that highlight their characters without making them into caricatures. Her composed delivery keeps us listening through the occasional frightening and sad scenes so that we understand the enormity of what's at stake. And when love appears, the yearning in her voice will warm your heart. A.C.S. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine [Published: JANUARY 2023]