The Excellent Lombards

Narrator Erin Cottrell captures the emotional range of 11-year-old Mary Francis "Frankie" Lombard, who is in love with her family's life, farm, and history--but who is becoming aware that change is coming. Cottrell lets us hear Frankie's frustration and worry as she senses that her dream of running the farm forever with her brother is in jeopardy. The confusing, tangled web that is the large Lombard family and other forces threatening family farms are portrayed in Frankie's thoughts as she treasures her past and worries about the future. More than a paean to farm life, the story is a celebration of how place anchors us to who we are. N.E.M. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine