BEYOND THE DOOR OF NO RETURN

Diop's love story/epic adventure, written with compassion and skill, is dramatized by a talented team of narrators. Dion Graham portrays Michel Adanson, a French Enlightenment-era botanist; Mark Bramhall, Adenrele Ojo, and Caroline Hewitt portray different members of his family and some friends. Adanson is on a mission to Africa to study plants for a comprehensive book. The Senegalese characters are adeptly portrayed by Graham. Adanson finds himself overwhelmed by love for Maram Seck, a young woman of noble birth from the kingdom of Waalo. She is voiced with extraordinary sensuality by Ojo. Together, the narrators deliver a historical epic of the highest order, based on the richness and lyricism of Senegal's Waalo language rhythms and oral storytelling traditions. R.O. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine [Published: NOVEMBER 2023]