ONCE PERSUADED, TWICE SHY

Narrator Rachel Perry will convince listeners that no retelling of Jane Austen's PERSUASION can be complete without a resident attack goose. Anne Elliott, director of Niagara-on-the-Lake's theater company, thinks Ben Wentworth is just a memory--until he returns to help with his aunt and uncle's winery on former Elliott property. Perry portrays Anne as deeply interior, full of pain and repressed longing. This emotional, husky reading is not for prosaic people. But for hopeless romantics, Perry's expressions of Anne's angst juxtaposed with Ben's quiet, low rejoinders will be satisfying listening fodder. Perry situates Edwards's small-town humor alongside the melodrama of historical reenactors chasing manic geese at the annual pumpkin festival. Austen fans cannot go wrong with this listen. C.A. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine [Published: MAY 2024]