Jun 17, 2011 ARCHIVES | Entertainment | COLUMNS Daisy Goodwin
Unabridged, MacMillan Audio
ISBN NA
NA pages
$13 hours, 11 CDs, $39.99
Reviewed by Katherine A. Powers
Here is a novel that is just too silly for words: an ideal summer folly. The aptly named Cora Cash is 19, American, and longing to be free of her domineering mother. Suffice it to say that she ends up marrying into the English aristocracy, to a snooty but impoverished duke. Cora gives him an heir, and her money restores his ancient demesne and crumbling pile. But lavish interiors, breath-taking landscapes and elaborate feasts in the company of bluebloods do not compensate the young woman for her husband's chilliness. Who does he think he is, an unredeemed Mr. Darcy? An old suitor appears on the scene. What will happen? We don't really care, but we are definitely amused. Katherine Kellgren, a truly accomplished voice actress, affects a la-di-da intercontinental accent for the narration of this puree of Edith Wharton, "Downton Abbey" and pulp romance. In merely uttering the expression "the mansions of Newport," she conveys all the ravenous snobbery and envious fantasy to which the novel caters in its irresistibly shameless way.
Katherine A. Powers regularly reviews audio books for The Washington Post.
Copyright 2011 Washington Post Writers Group
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