All Aunt Hagar's Children

Peter Francis James's melodious baritone is beautifully suited to this fine collection of short stories by Edward P. Jones, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his earlier novel, THE KNOWN WORLD. The stories are predominantly about Southerners moving North to Washington, D.C., in the early and mid-twentieth century; although set relatively recently, they are replete with passages that seem as if they should begin "once upon a time." Accordingly, James speaks with a warmth and rhythm that invite listeners to settle back and listen. His pacing, particularly his use of telling pauses, is adept. And he shades characters with just enough personality to color the already-vivid scenes. A.C.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine

September 4, 2006
Coming after the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Known World, Jones's second collection of stories journeys the length and breadth of Washington, D.C., past and present, for inspiration. James, stentorian and assured, sounds like an East Coast version of Charlton Heston's Moses, intoning Jones's prose like a contemporary version of the 10 Commandments. There is an odd disjunction between James's mostly uninflected reading and the heavily accented dialect he provides for Jones's characters when they speak, but James makes it work. Jones, acclaimed as one of the most talented American writers currently at work, composes smooth, measured prose that demands a reader like James, who follows the ebb and flow of Jones's stories like the score of an opera.

November 20, 2006
Coming after the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Known World, Jones's second collection of stories journeys the length and breadth of Washington, D.C., past and present, for inspiration. James, stentorian and assured, sounds like an East Coast version of Charlton Heston's Moses, intoning Jones's prose like a contemporary version of the 10 Commandments. There is an odd disjunction between James's mostly uninflected reading and the heavily accented dialect he provides for Jones's characters when they speak, but James makes it work. Jones, acclaimed as one of the most talented American writers currently at work, composes smooth, measured prose that demands a reader like James, who follows the ebb and flow of Jones's stories like the score of an opera.

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