SAY WHAT YOU WILL

Amy, a high school senior with cerebral palsy, uses a talking board to communicate. Rebecca Lowman’s gift for nuance flavors the narrative and Amy’s dialogue with humor, wit, hidden desires, delight, and sometimes despair. Amy’s isolated life changes when she’s allowed to choose peer caretakers, one of whom is Matthew. Matthew’s obsessive-compulsive disorder has made him an equal outcast, and Lowman expresses both the torment of his insecurities and the way his hopelessness shifts when Amy drives him to betterment. These sensitive portrayals are strengthened by Lowman’s skill in evoking the intensity of Matthew and Amy’s struggles to be themselves and, at the same time, find a path to a genuine relationship. Ultimately, Lowman lets listeners feel the full triumph of their hard-won love. S.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine [Published: SEPTEMBER 2014]