WHAT I HAD BEFORE I HAD YOU

Olivia Reed left Ocean Vista when she was 15. Now, 20 years later, she returns with her two children and finally confronts her past. Narrator Karen White tellis this psychologically intense story in Olivia’s voice, ambling between the past and the present. Olivia’s return to her childhood home finds her distracted by memories, so she fails to notice when her 9-year-old son, Daniel, disappears. As she waits impatiently for the police to find him, her mind travels back to the summer of 1987, reliving the events that led to her running away. White’s narrator voice is neutral while her Jersey accent in dialogue gives characters personality. Tone and pace are uniform, making past and present weave themselves into a seamless tapestry. N.E.M. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine [Published: JULY 2014]