The Woman Lit by Fireflies

The three novellas in this production depict vastly different landscapes of the human heart. BROWN DOG, narrated by Ray Porter, follows a scavenging diver and his entangled loves. Porter is eminently believable as the tough, hard-drinking B.D., whose strong timbre is filled with intensity as his discovers the preserved body of an Indian chief in the depths of Lake Superior. Harrison's poetic side paints a vivid thriller in SUNSET LIMITED, narrated by Carrington MacDuffie, a story that reunites four 1960s radicals who are called upon to rescue an ex-cohort from a Mexican jail. MacDuffie strikes just the right unaffected yet expressive tones while narrating this compelling tale. In the last piece, Clare, the valiant WOMAN LIT BY FIREFLIES, flees her bigoted husband, ultimately hiding in an Iowa cornfield during a night of soul-searching. Lorna Raver's delivery resonates with Clare's gentle strength as she reflects upon her past. A.W. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine

August 1, 1990
Michigan poet and novelist Harrison ( Sundog ; Dalva ) spins three novellas in this volume. In ``Brown Dog,'' with its traits of an epic tall tale, B.D. is a rough-hewn, hard-drinking diver for an illegal scavenging firm who dredges up the body of an Indian from Lake Superior. Intending to sell the cadaver to a collector, he instead develops a filial bond with the Indian. B.D.'s weakness for fine women further entangles him with urbane anthropologist Shelley, yet he hankers for Rose, his earthy first love who threw pig swill at him. ``Sunset Limited,'' contoured like a thriller, reunites four old friends, a ``wild bunch'' of '60s radicals once jailed for wrecking draft records, who, settled and affluent, must reassess their lives and relationships when called on to rescue an unregenerate ex-cohort from a Mexican jail. The title story depicts Clare, 50, in abrupt flight from her bigoted husband, hiding in an Iowa cornfield during a soul-searching night. In each novella the past rises up to challenge these deeply probed characters, forcing them to make moral choices.