THE IVORY SWING

The first novel by Australian-Canadian writer Hospital has aged well. Hospital's tale follows a Canadian family's stay in south India. Lise Rodgers captures the pace and poetry of the author's narrative and does an excellent job with the many Indian voices. Her accents not only sound genuine, but they reflect the playfulness with which Hospital treats these characters in the novel. One technical quibble: Though digitally recorded, the sound is rather poor, with more tape hiss than is tolerated comfortably. D.B. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC/JAN 99]