THE HANGMAN'S DAUGHTER

Jacob Kuisl, the hangman of Schongau, a small town in rural Bavaria, is based on the author’s ancestor. Grover Gardner’s performance deposits listeners directly into the heart of seventeenth-century Germany with all its superstitions, brutalities, miseries, stupidities, and political corruption. When a child is found murdered, an occult sign tattooed on his shoulder, Gardner expertly conveys the town’s paranoia as it grows to fever pitch. He keeps every moment believable, especially when more children die. The frenzied locals insist upon the arrest and torture of midwife Martha Stechlin, who is known to use “devil’s potions” and to have consorted with the children. As Kuisl and his daughter, Magdalena, set out to prove Stechlin’s innocence, Gardner keeps the tension high and the characters memorable. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine [Published: SEPTEMBER 2011]