Fred and Edie.

Jill Dawson. 2000/2001. Read by Patricia Gallimore. 7 tapes. 10 hrs. Clipper Audio, Recorded Books. 1-84197-253-3. $63.00. Vinyl; plot notes. SA

The novelization of a true story of passion and murder takes place in 1922, in Ilford, England. The story is mainly told by Edith Thompson, currently held as an accessory in the murder of her husband, killed by her younger lover Fredrick Bywaters. Narrator Gallimore's light, pleasing voice neatly captures Edie's innocent questioning tone, puzzled at her suddenly dire circumstances, as she tells her side of the story in letters written from her cell. Interspersed are excerpts in a "professional" voice from local and national newspapers carrying the sensational story.

Edie's tone in the letters she writes to Freddy, hut cannot send, changes over the course of the narrative, inadvertently revealing more of the actual facts of the case, both of the murder and her relationship to Fred, as her denial becomes increasingly difficult to maintain. A story that has held the imagination since 1922, Fred & Edie is being made into the movie Another Life. A good listen and examination of human frailty. E.B. Boatner, Writer Twin Cities, MN