THE ORCHARD

Robertson's memoir of her efforts to save and be saved by the land during the Depression is especially poignant in these days of high unemployment and back-to-the-land movements. Gallagher's reading is excellent and compensates somewhat for the incompatibility of her gentle voice with the feisty character she portrays. She reads with sensitivity and genuine involvement. The conclusion by Robertson's granddaughter smoothly covers the abrupt ending of the journal. Ragtime music, bracketing the story, strikes a note discordant to the struggle in THE ORCHARD. Such a "period" touch threatens the delicately timeless mood set by both writer and reader. S.B.S. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB 97]