List $34.99

Written by Jane Hamilton - Audio book performed by Richard Poe - Unabridged Fiction - 9 COMPACT DISCS - 11 hours

Publisher, Recorded Books (July 2006)

When Aaron MacIver's beautiful young wife, Madeline, suffers brain damage in a bike accident, she is left with the intellectual powers of a seven-year-old. In the years that follow, Aaron and his second wife care for Madeline with deep tenderness and devotion as they raise two children of their own.

Narrated by Aaron’s son Mac, When Madeline Was Young chronicles the MacIver family through the decades, from Mac’s childhood growing up in Wisconsin with Madeline and his cousin Buddy, through the Vietnam War, his years as a husband with children of his own, and his cousin’s involvement in the subsequent Gulf Wars. Jane Hamilton, with not only her usual keen observations of human relationships but also her humor, deftly explores the MacIvers'’ unusual situation as she examines notions of childhood (through Mac and Buddy’s actual youth as well as Madeline’s infantilization) and a rivalry between Buddy’s and Mac’s families that spans decades and various wars. She captures the pleasures and frustrations of marriage and family and exposes the role that past relationships, rivalries, and regrets inevitably play in the lives of adults.

Inspired in part by Elizabeth Spencer’s The Light in the Piazza, Hamilton offers an honest, exquisite portrait of how a family tragedy forever shapes and alters the boundaries of love.

About the Author: Jane Hamilton is the author of The Book of Ruth, winner of the PEN/Hemingway Award for First Fiction; A Map of the World, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and named one of the top ten books of the year by Entertainment Weekly, Publishers Weekly, Miami Herald, and People magazine; Disobedience; and The Short History of a Prince. She lives in Rochester, Wisconsin.

About the Performer: Richard Poe has been a Recorded Books narrator since 1988, when he was asked to record Eric Hansen’s Stranger in the Forest, the story of one man’s journey on foot across the island of Borneo. He recalls the daunting word list that greeted his first day as a reader. It included a seemingly endless string of Malaysian and aboriginal phrases. But coached and encouraged by the supportive staff in the recording studio, he made it to the end, and now includes it among his favorite performances.

After this positive first experience, Richard was delighted to be asked back to read two Margaret Truman mysteries: Murder at the Kennedy Center and Murder in the CIA. Since then, he has narrated dozens of books. He has read histories, biographies and essays. He has also narrated best-sellers, including, Richard Ford’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Independence Day. Most recently, he has narrated several romances. His rich voice adds a dramatic intensity to works such as Season of the Swan.

Born in northern California, Richard has an active career in theater, film, and television. His favorite roles on Broadway have included John Hancock in a recent hit revival of the musical 1776. In Our Country’s Good, an exploration of the founding of Australia as a British penal colony, he played the dual roles of a convict and the governor of a new land. He was the gun-happy gangster boss Steve Crandall in George Abbott’s twenties hit, Broadway, directed by the author on his 100th birthday. Richard Poe has appeared on Broadway in M. Butterfly, Execution of Justice, and (with Carol Burnett) in Moon Over Buffalo.

In addition to his theater work, Richard has appeared in many popular television shows and movies. Fans of Star Trek will remember him as Gul Evek, the Cardassian officer, on The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and the pilot episode of Voyager. He appears periodically as Chopper Dave, the Eye in the Sky for Traffic on Frasier. He has had roles on A Whole New Ballgame, and The Five Mrs. Buchanans, and appeared in the movie-of the-week A Promise To Keep. Other television appearances include several episodes of Law and Order, the HBO film Jackie Presser, Teamster Boss, and in Alex Haley’s miniseries, Queen. On film, he has had featured roles in Born on the Fourth of July, Presumed Innocent, The Jackal, The Night We Never Met, The Peacemaker, and Speechless.

His extensive experience has helped Richard Poe develop truly unique skills as a narrator. He hopes his listeners get as much enjoyment from his recordings as he gets from making them. Listeners assure us that they do. One writes: “Richard Poe is a master. His ability to create voices is amazing. His creation of moods makes the book more fun than reading.”