The Diviner's Tale

Cassandra Campbell portrays Cassandra Brooks with just the right touch of wonder and edginess. As a single mother of twins with a gift for divining water sources for local landowners, Cassandra has her quiet world upturned when she begins to have inexplicable, horrifying visions that appear to be tied to a missing girl. Campbell voices the many secondary characters with the slightest changes of inflection, tone, and rhythm--from Cassandra's sinister childhood acquaintance to her lively, sarcastic sons. Although listeners may feel some impatience with the protagonist's choices as she unravels the mystery of her divinations, Campbell's gravelly, sage-like reading keeps the story moving forward. F.J.K. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine

November 8, 2010
Cassandra Brooks, who lives in rural upstate New York with her twin sons, ekes out a living substitute teaching and dowsing, or divining, in Morrow's solid gothic-infused tale of family secrets. As a child, Cassandra discovered she possessed the gift to divine water and have "forevisions" of the future, including one the night her beloved older brother, Christopher, was killed. While on a divining job for a new property development, Cassandra sees the body of a teenage girl hanging from a tree, but when she returns with the police, there's no trace of the body. Cassandra wonders what her vision means, especially after a runaway girl, Laura Bryant, surfaces and claims she was kidnapped. Even though the vision dredges up bittersweet memories of Christopher, Cassandra is determined to help Laura, who's in real danger. Morrow (Ariel's Crossing) beautifully evokes Cassandra's inner turmoil, but those expecting a conventional whodunit may be disappointed.

April 15, 2011

Morrow's (www.bradfordmorrow.com) fourth stand-alone novel, after Giovanni's Gift (1997), follows diviner Cassandra Brooks as she travels a twisted path of disturbing "forevisions," intrigue, and old family secrets. Much of this literary mystery/thriller is told through flashbacks, which can get confusing, but they gradually fill in the details of young Cass's traumatic childhood. Actress/narrator Cassandra Campbell strikes the perfect tone for this unusual story, gently drawing listeners deeper into its complex layers. Recommended for fans of Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones and Joyce Carol Oates devotees. ["It's Katherine Howe meets John Irving," read the review of the Houghton Harcourt hc, LJ 10/15/10.--Ed.]--Donna Bachowski, Orange Cty. Lib. Syst., Orlando, FL

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