Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!

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This 2008 Newbery Medal winner features 21 dramatic narratives that introduce characters living in and near a medieval manor. This outstanding audio production combines a cast of expert narrators with interludes of sprightly period music. As reader of the introduction and occasional snippets of historical background information, Christina Moore’s confiding and authorial voice is both brisk and inviting. The meticulously assembled cast is breathtakingly perfect. Firdous Bamji plays various roles, including that of Hugo, the lord’s nephew, who quakes while approaching a boar on his first hunt; Simon, the angry knight’s son on his way to becoming a monk; and Drogo, who celebrates the pleasure of earthy (and somewhat smelly) work. Taggot, the blacksmith’s daughter, is voiced by the extraordinarily skilled Katherine Kellgren, who also portrays crafty survivor Mogg and slightly bawdy “sniggler” (one who catches eels by dangling bait) Nelly. Bianca Amato blends a beautiful but suitably untrained singing voice into Alice’s sorrowful speech and reveals Barbary as the angry but rueful mudslinger. Thomas, as played by John Keating, is a sly master of duplicity. Keating also voices a “moon-calf” half-wit, a hopeful but hungry runaway, and an artful beggar. Greg Steinbruner’s lightly pitched tones are ideal for such rough and tumble characters as a cynical miller’s son, a desperate falconer, and an impatient glassblower’s apprentice. Charlotte Parry moves with ease from pilgrim Constance to the lord’s daughter. Parry also reads a humorous dissertation on fleas. A near-perfect audio experience. Let the applause begin: Bravo! Bravo! Well done!