FORT PILLOW

Turtledove's historical fiction about the Civil War battle over Fort Pillow, Tennessee, presents narrator John Nelson with a particular challenge. The novel shifts among numerous characters, most of whom hail from Tennessee, which means that Nelson cannot rely on different accents to distinguish one from another during the story’s dialogue. But that hardly explains why he voices virtually all of them with exactly the same gravelly—though highly entertaining—delivery. With all the characters, including the legendary Confederate General Bedford Forrest, sounding precisely alike, listeners must quickly memorize names and backgrounds to follow the story. And though the story itself is exciting enough, Nelson chooses a rather bloodless delivery for the narrative. M.O. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine [Published: OCTOBER 2009]