Tomorrow River

Author Lesley Kagen succeeds as narrator with a solid performance of this audiobook, a literary thriller set in 1969 in rural Virginia. It's a first-person narrative, told from the point of view of Shenandoah, an enterprising, observant tween whose vocabulary is peppered with legal jargon. Her twin sister, Woody, lacks the same emotional fortitude and, triggered by their mom's disappearance, has withdrawn into a silent world. As the mystery progresses, the teens learn dark secrets about their drunk of a dad (a local judge) and their off-kilter Southern family. There are moments when the listener may wonder what a professional narrator would have done with the same material, but Kagen (who has voice-over experience) succeeds by carefully balancing an author's sense of intimacy with a narrator's sense of drama. R.W.S. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine

Starred review from March 15, 2010
Set during the summer of '69 in rural Virginia, Kagen's stellar third novel, her first in hardcover, chronicles the dramatic changes in the lives of 11-year-old Shenny Carmody and her twin sister, Woody, nearly a year after their mother's disappearance. Woody hasn't spoken since, and their father, a renowned judge, spends most of his nights in a drunken stupor at Lilyfield, their Rockbridge County estate, often turning violent and cruel toward his two daughters. Shenny, adventurous and bright, takes it upon herself to locate their beloved Mama and discover why she left them. In her quest for the truth, Shenny learns many heart-wrenching lessons, not least among them that first impressions “can be dead wrong.” Kagen (Whistling in the Dark
) not only delivers a spellbinding story but also takes a deep look into the mores, values, and shams of a small Southern community in an era of change.