JOE JONES is Anne Lamotts raucous novel of lives gathered around Jessies Café, "the sort of broken-down waterfront dive one might expect to find in Steinbeck." Jessie, "thin, stooped and gorgeous at seventy-nine," inherited the café years before and it has become home to a remarkable family of characters: Louise, the cook and vortex, Joe, devoted and unfaithful; Willie, Jessies gay grandson; Georgia, an empress dowager who never speaks; and a dozen others all living together in the sweet everyday. Multiple Audie® Award winner Barbara Rosenblat has been named a "Voice of the Twentieth Century" by AudioFile magazine. The New York Times writes,"Watch Ms. Rosenblat work...and you get the sense that even an Oscar winner might not be able to pull this off." She created the role of "Mrs. Medlock" in the Tony® Award-winning Broadway musical The Secret Garden . ANNE LAMOTT is the best-selling author of Operating Instructions, Bird by Bird , and Blude Shoe . She lives in Northern California with her son, Sam. Imagine a café facing a waterfront. Then imagine Jessie and Georgia (who have 160 or so years between them) holding court for the customers at the "regulars'" table. Georgia, the luscious cook, reigns from the kitchen. Willie, Jessie's gay grandson, moons over his new love as he bakes the specialty of the day. Listeners can leave the rest to Barbara Rosenblat, who delights in telling of the lives in these pages. Rosenblat's craft in reading is a security blanket for the listener: You know that every character is true to the author's wishes and that Rosenblat will never let go of the center of each individual. You feel a part of the entire production and carry the joy of having heard it . . . maybe forever. J.P. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine Used Book in Good Condition