POSSESSION

A highly cerebral novel, not for everyone, the Booker Prize-winning POSSESSION will charm listeners interested in academic mysteries tinted with love and history, intellectual and romantic passion. Contemporary literary scholars Roland Mitchell and Maud Bailey accidentally come across evidence of what may have been an illicit love affair between two Victorian writers. Their search for the long-hidden "truth" involves them in an examination of their own personal relationships. Reader Virginia Leishman handles the foursome--today's critics, yesterday's writers--with intelligence and grace and does great credit to the sometimes demanding manuscripts Byatt includes in the story. Leishman shifts timeframes with such sufficient skill that listeners are brought along without much difficulty. Properly British, she makes careful distinctions between and among the characters, and she is particularly effective at capturing the timid Roland Mitchell. In sum, a very effective and, for many, an outstanding audiobook. T.H. © AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine [Published: JUN/JUL 00]