Skellig

David Almond's breathy reading of his own prize-winning story is captivating from the first moment. Without the distancing created by studiol overproduction or actorly delivery it is intimate, allowing the listener to feel it is being read for them alone. Almond reads fast, capturing the mood of Michael's suppressed anger caused both by the derelict state of his new home and by his fear for the health of the new baby. Dialogue is snappy; descriptions kept terse and unemotional so that the words speak for themselves. Michael's discovery of the strange creature in the dilapidated garage remains pleasingly mysterious. Even the incidental music is utterly appropriate.