THE MANOR HOUSE GOVERNESS

Cloud Quinn gives a beguiling performance of this queer and atmospheric ode to Jane Austen. Bron is queer, gender fluid, lonely, and obsessed with Austen, Brontë, and other nineteenth-century British authors. After he's rejected from Oxford, he takes a job as a governess for Ada, a spirited girl who lives in a massive manor house. Soon he's knee deep in the family's secrets and caught up in the orbit of Ada's mysterious older brother, Darcy. Quinn's narration is expressive and wonderfully wide ranging. He voices Bron with a mix of breathy excitement, languid reflection, huffy indignation, and dramatic flair. He easily slips into the voices of Bron's young pupil, her gruff but kind father, and the prim but alluring Darcy. A lively, suspenseful production. L.S. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine [Published: DECEMBER 2023]