QUEEN OF THE UNDERWORLD

Fresh from journalism school, perky Emma Gant arrives in South Florida in 1959 to become a byline writer for the MIAMI STAR. With a career and a married, older boyfriend, this gal is ahead of her time. Narrator Carrington MacDuffie skillfully paints a picture of Emma: young but self-assured, inexperienced but not afraid to step out in a man's world, beautiful but self-conscious about her worn-down shoes. MacDuffie voices most of the colorful characters with subtlety but provides picturesque Hispanic accents for the many Cubans fleeing Castro. She depicts an up-and-coming writer who sees the world as her oyster. N.M.C. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine [Published: JUN/ JUL 06]