PAST IMPERFECT

Julian Fellowes recreates the posh world of 1960s London, in which the upper classes cling to their titles while attempting to stave off the social changes taking place all around them. This is a novel of two worlds: one of debutante balls, the other of “hash” brownies. The unnamed chronicler, voiced by Richard Morant with an appropriate upper-crust tone, must revisit his youth when a former friend contacts him seeking assistance to find his illegitimate child. The man is terminally ill and wants an heir. Morant creates multiple believable female characters, including a drunk and avaricious American and a soft-spoken Moravian princess, but his finest portrayal is that of the desperately sick and regretful Damian. Morant makes the most of the abundant humor but can only do his best with the stilted dialogue, which contains too much story explication. A.B. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine [Published: MARCH 2010]