Love the One You’re With

Kathleen McInerney’s reading as first-person narrator Ellen is sensitive, nuanced and multilayered, laying bare the conflicting emotions and contradictions in Ellen’s heart as she’s torn between her loving husband and the old flame seeking to rekindle their former romance. She sounds like she’s genuinely thinking out loud, her voice tinged with guilt as she searches for the right words to articulate her confused feelings. McInerney is also spot-on when it comes to adapting vocal directions from the text itself. Listeners are told at various times that a character’s voice is “weary and very wary” or that he speaks “wryly, with a suppressed smile in his voice.” In every case, McInerney’s reading conveys exactly what the text calls for. This excellent production brings out the best in the book. A St. Martin’s hardcover (Reviews, Mar. 17). (June)