The Lost Sisterhood

As Oxford lecturer Diana Morgan, a Greek scholar, sets out on an adventure in the Amazon, narrator Cassandra Campbell's vocal dexterity makes both male and female dialogue believable. She also manages well with the British accents of many of the characters. However, the deliberate inflections and arch tones she uses to characterize Diana can come across as overly dramatic and grating. Happily, this tendency towards melodrama is limited to the scenes connected to the subplot, Diana's search for love. The rest of the story is engaging enough to keep listeners wanting to know what happens to the adventurous heroine. M.R. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine

February 10, 2014
In her second novel, best-selling author Fortier (Juliet) tackles Greek mythology through two densely plotted parallel tales. The first and more compelling story is narrated by Diana Morgan, a modern-day Oxford philologist who studies the Amazons, a "mythical" tribe of women warriors. When a stranger representing a secretive foundation approaches Diana claiming to have proof of the Amazon's actual existence, she leaves immediately for a North African drill site. There, she finds an inscription on a temple wall that reveals the name of the first Amazon queen, Myrina. Diana translates this inscription using notes jotted down by her grandmother, who claimed to be a modern day Amazon and was subsequently diagnosed as a schizophrenic. Morgan begins a complicated and dangerous quest to discover the treasure Queen Myrina stole from Troy, and uncover the truth behind her grandmother's claim. The book is convoluted by a second narrative which follows Queen Myrina centuries earlier as she rescues her Amazon sisters from Greek pirates. Together, these intricate and multi-layered plots are often hard to follow. Still, the novel manages to maintain its appeal: an entertaining tale about smart warrior princess who faces shadowy bad guys, exploding drill sites, and deep-think puzzles, with some enticing romance on the side.