Kyra

Justine Eyre reads with the passion this novel's heroine demands. Kyra is haunted by having seen her first husband murdered by her half-brother. But as an architect, she also has enough vision and ardor to create a city. These pull her into a love affair with, Andreas, a man whose torments match her own. When Andreas leaves her, Kyra tries to end her life but heals with the help of a psychiatrist. Eyre embraces the voices of all the characters and captures the themes that give the story depth. As Andrews, Mark Deakins gives an expressive performance. S.W. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

October 22, 2007
Psychologist Gilligan’s landmark study of gender and moral thinking, In a Different Voice (1982), set off a generation’s worth of Mars vs. Venus debates. In Gilligan’s poised debut novel, Kyra is a Cambridge-based architect and professor of architecture who meets Andreas, an opera director, at a friend’s Thanksgiving dinner. Both have lost spouses to political turmoil. They are intrigued by each other, falling first into companionship as he persuades her to design sets for his nontraditional production of Tosca, and later into an affair. When Andreas leaves suddenly to pursue his work, Kyra spirals downward, bottoming out in a dramatic attempt to find out what is “real.” As Kyra begins an unconventional, sometimes combative course of therapy, Andreas floats in and out of her life. The novel’s great strength is Kyra’s voice, which Gilligan renders with assurance and lyricism. The result is a powerful portrait of a complex character.