Three Lives

Read by Laurel Lefkow & Trei Taylor

unabridged

Gertrude Stein’s pioneering triptych Three Lives portrays the lives of three working-class women in the fictional American town of Bridgepoint (Baltimore). A progenitor of the ‘stream of consciousness’ technique later adopted by Joyce and Woolf, Stein takes us into the minds of three distinct women, who are each trapped in their societal positions. ‘The Good Anna’ follows a stern but kind German immigrant, ‘Melanctha’ the tragic life of an African-American woman of the same name, and ‘The Gentle Lena’ a dreamy and unopinionated servant whose passiveness becomes her undoing. The non-linear narratives, with their syntactical repetition and de-emphasis on plot, were unique for their time and owed much to the author’s friendships with the artists Cézanne, Picasso and Matisse.

Running Time: 8 h 49 m

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More product details

Digital ISBN:	978-1-78198-400-0
Cat. no.:	NA0536
Produced by:	John Foley (‘The Good Anna’ and ‘The Gentle Lena’) and Aubree Wisley (‘Melanctha’)
Edited by:	‘The Good Anna’ and ‘The Gentle Lena’: edited and mastered by Andrew Riches. ‘Melanctha’: edited by Bob Evoniuk, mastered by Andrew Riches
BISAC:	FIC004000
BIC:	FC
Released:	June 22

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Laurel Lefkow

Laurel Lefkow is an accomplished stage, television and radio actress. She has won awards for a number of her audio books and was nominated for best supporting actress for her performance in A Shayna Maidel in London’s West End. Other theatre roles include Alison in Look Back in Anger, Irina in The Three Sisters and Rose in Slow dance on the Killing Ground. Her television and film credits include In Suspicious Circumstances, The Tracey Ullman Show, Spy Game, Inside the Twin Towers and A Perfect Family. She was born in Washington D C and grew up in India, Kenya and France where her father worked as an American Diplomat. She trained at the Webber Douglas Academy in London. Laurel also has an extensive and successful career as a voice-over artist in many well known cartoons and advertising campaigns.

Titles read by Laurel Lefkow

Titles read by Laurel Lefkow: The Age of Innocence (unabridged); The Custom of the Country (unabridged); The House of Mirth (unabridged); Little Women (unabridged); O Pioneers! (unabridged); Pollyanna (abridged); Sister Carrie (unabridged); Summer (unabridged); Three Lives (unabridged); What Katy Did (abridged); What Katy Did at School (abridged); Wieland (unabridged)

Trei Taylor

Trei Taylor has been a professional singer and voiceover artist for a combined 25-plus years. She has extensive experience in live musical performance, narration, audio production, directing and radio imaging. She has read nearly 100 audiobooks, and her credits include Audible bestsellers.

Titles read by Trei Taylor

Titles read by Trei Taylor: Three Lives (unabridged)

Reviews

Laurel Lefkow and Trei Taylor share the narration of this story collection with equal skill. In each of the three stories, Taylor or Lefkow delivers a portrait of a life. In ‘The Good Anna’ and ‘The Gentle Lena’, Lefkow offers confident, precise performances. Her voice and pace are consistent and easy to follow. In ‘Melanctha’, Taylor shows similar talents; her voice is beautiful and alive with emotion. Stein’s style may work well for some listeners, but others may find that the works drag. Details are often minute and repetitive, and even the most skilled narrator might struggle to keep listeners engaged. Nonetheless, this production could serve as an accessible introduction to Stein.

L.B.F., AudioFile

Gertrude Stein