cover image A Certain Slant of Light

A Certain Slant of Light

Laura Whitcomb, , read by Lauren Molina. . Listening Library, $45 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-307-28610-9

By turns whispery, giddy and urgent, Molina's voice skillfully rides the emotional roller coaster of this gothic-style romance carried on by Victorian-era ghosts who come to inhabit nubile 21st-century teenage bodies. Helen, a passionate lover of literature who's been "light" since her death 130 years ago, has spiritually attached herself, invisible, to human hosts for decades. But when she is one day seen by a kindred spirit—literally—in James, a ghost now inhabiting a teen junkie's form, everything changes. Helen takes over the body of Jenny, the "empty" daughter of strict fundamentalist Christians. As humans, the two ghosts experience new sensations; they navigate contemporary social and romantic mores and also remember more about their own past lives among the living. The intriguing premise and eerie execution of this tale will arrest romance and ghost story fans alike. A few expletives and some graphic sexual encounters keep this firmly in the older listener category. Ages 14-up. (June)