Bleak House

This full-cast dramatization is stunningly good at reproducing the ambience of nineteenth-century London and the emotional texture of Charles Dickens's novel. The musical score enhances the claustrophobic tension of the story. The sound effects are both impressively layered and well chosen to create emotional impact, simulate the passage of time, and, most challenging, give the sense of changing relationships. However, the novel's twisting plot and numerous characters make the production hard to follow at times, so much so that despite its superior quality, this production is recommended primarily to those who already know the novel well. G.T.B. (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine