Sarum

Francis Edward Wintle (penname: Edward Rutherfurd) has made a name writing huge, meticulously detailed historical novels, this one and the Russka. In Sarum he traces the ten-thousand-year history of five families on the Salisbury Plain in southern England. The vignettes are not for the squeamish although Wintle avoids elaborate detail in the violence. Nadia May is ideal; her British accents fit the locale, and her pacing and characterizations are smooth, unobtrusive and compelling. The ease of her reading leads the listener to forget she is there, the sign of the perfect narrator. D.W. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine