All the Lives We Ever Lived

Brittany Pressley's stunning narration captures the difficult process of a cancer diagnosis, hospice care, and, ultimately, losing a parent--all of which is heard through a loving analysis of the writing of Virginia Woolf. As a young college student, Smyth studies the works of Woolf and also comes face to face with the diagnosis of her father's bladder cancer. Pressley steps through the words of this literary memoir with great care, providing just the right emphasis for the difficult passages about loss before powerfully delivering the elegant passages from some of Woolf's greatest works. It can be difficult to keep tragedy and hope balanced in the delivery of a memoir, but Pressley provides the perfect blend in this performance. V.B. � AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine