Vita Nostra

Jessica Ball narrates the English translation of this thrilling Russian novel, which falls somewhere between fantasy, sci-fi, and suspense. It takes the magical boarding school trope and roots it firmly in contemporary reality. In an appropriately eerie tone, Ball introduces Sasha, a teenage girl who is recruited to become a student at the mysterious Institute for Special Technologies, where she must perform a series of surreal and fantastic tasks, with grave consequences for failure. Ball distinguishes character voices clearly and handles Russian names with aplomb. Her narrative tone shifts as Sasha's perceptions change throughout her education. Listeners become immersed in her mind, caught up in the often unexplainable nature of her strange transformation. H.C. � AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine