Mrs Moses is a small woman with a big heart and enormous courage. The only survivor of a Cossack raid on her village, she takes with her a big cast-iron frying pan, so heavy that she can only sling it over her back. Yet this is no ordinary frying pan - it's The Family Frying Pan, blessed with a Russian soul. From this frying pan Mrs Moses manages to feed the various refugees who are travelling with her across Russia to freedom. In return, each of the group must tell a story around the campfire at night - stories of compassion and bravery, of human frailty and, above all, of hope.

In the use of a framing device for a collection of stories, Bocaccio and Chaucer are transposed to pre-Revolutionary Russia. As a 16-year-old girl, the author's mother-in-law escaped from a pogrom bearing an iron skillet as cooking tool, weapon, and armor. She not only saved herself, but accumulated a ragtag group of refugees. Before each of their meager evening meals on the road, one member of the band tells a story about food. In this audio, which won an Audie Award in 2002, the framing narrative is read by the protean-voiced Humphrey Bower and the reminiscences, which comprise the bulk of the tome, by the unctuous Melissa Eccleston. This reviewer loves the well-written stories but can barely tolerate Eccleston's phony Russian-Jewish accent, mispronunciations of Yiddish, and strident cadences, despite her dramatic flare. Y.R. (c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine

 

In this audio, which won an Audie Award in 2002, the framing narrative is read by the protean-voiced Humphrey Bower and the reminiscences, which comprise the bulk of the tome, by the unctuous Melissa Eccleston. This reviewer loves the well-written stories.

 

Bryce was born in 1933 in Johannesburg, South Africa, and has lived in Australia for over forty years. He is married with two sons. Bryce wrote his first book, The Power of One, at the age of fifty-five. It has now sold nearly three million copies worldwide! He has had a long and successful advertising career and has won many local and international advertising awards. Bryce is the author of over a dozen bestselling books. Website: www.brycecourtenay.com