GRACE NOTES

"Oh, the sound of it! The room filled with pain and love, joy and loss." The "sound" here is a piano being masterfully played, but it could apply equally to the poetic prose in this award winning novel. In fact, the story of Catherine--a struggling young composer from Northern Ireland--resonates with sound: "the metallic screech of a gull," "the exhaling of a steam iron," "the deep, mahagony voice of a priest." These are all especially effective in audio. Because we are listening instead of reading--and because the narrative voice is so believable--what we hear becomes almost as real as the sound effects in a radio drama. But most memorable is the effect of Frances Tomelty's lilting Irish cadence in describing the inspiring music that Catherine herself is creating from her own troubled life. J.C. Winner of AUDIOFILE Earphones Award ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB/MAR 99]