REINDEER MOON

“My story is not a big story,” Yanan says, but she’s wrong. Though living only a brief life in central Siberia twenty thousand years ago, she creates for us a window onto a world of struggle with cold, hunger, death and all the passions that long have been part of our lives. We too can hunt the mammoths, sit with the family spirits at the smoke holes of lodges and huddle for warmth below. We too carry off our child-heavy bodies to give birth under the pine trees near riverbanks. Alyssa Bresnahan’s resonant, alto voice matches perfectly the voice of the courageous, young narrator. It’s strong and controlled, even when Yanan’s life seems most threatened by hostile forces, yet tender and wistful, befitting this poignant, Paleolithic self-portrait. P.E.F. © AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/SEP 00]