The Invisible Wall

Bernstein's remarkable memoir of an obscure Lancashire mill town before, during, and after WWI would be a daunting task for any narrator. John Lee superbly captures the intricacies of various accents--the young Russian rabbi, the guest from Leeds, the headmaster of the fancy school, the drunk shopkeepers. The one place he falters is in his pronunciation of a few Hebrew words, but that can easily be forgiven in this masterful presentation. Writing when he was already in his 90s, Bernstein is one of the last people alive who can recall the smallest details, the gestures and innuendos, of a landscape and culture already extinct. R.R. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine