Mirror Mirror - Audio CD - Unabridged Author:Gregory Maguire, John McDonough (Narrator), Kate Forbes (Narrator), Barbara Rosenblat (Narrator), Richard Ferrone (Narrator) Similar to the classic Snow White story, this version takes place in Renaissance Italy. The year is 1502, and seven-year-old Bianca de Nevada lives perched high above the rolling hills and valleys of Tuscany and Umbria at Montefiore, the farm of her beloved father, Don Vincente. — But one day a noble entourage makes its way up the winding slopes ... more »to the farm -- and the world comes to Montefiore. In the presence of Cesare Borgia and his sister, the lovely and vain Lucrezia -- decadent children of a wicked pope -- no one can claim innocence for long. When Borgia sends Don Vicente on a years-long quest to reclaim a relic of the original Tree of Knowledge, he leaves Bianca under the care -- so to speak -- of Lucrezia. She plots a dire fate for the young girl in the woods below the farm, but in the dark forest there can be found salvation as well . . .
The eye is always caught by light, but shadows have more to say.
Audio Review:
Known for his clever revisions of fairy tales, Gregory Maguire uses the story of Snow White as the basis for his intriguing new novel. John McDonough's highly expressive voice guides us expertly through Maguire's blending of the fairy tale with the political intrigue of Renaissance Italy. Characters include the young Bianca; her exiled father; her dangerous caretaker, Lucrezia Borgia; and the dwarves that attend her. Narrators Barbara Rosenblat, Richard Ferrone, and Kate Forbes step in briefly for chapters told in the first person and, although their narration is well done, the switches in voices are distracting after hearing McDonough read those same characters' voices in dialogue. -- AudioFile