Time Will Darken It

By: William Maxwell

Narrated by: Jonathan Davis

Pregnant with her second child, Martha King finds her marriage to lawyer Austin King more and more frustrating when her husband befriends his young foster cousin, Nora, and, in the process, unwittingly jeopardizes his marriage, career, and place in the community.

Cover image copyright by Science and Society Picture Library

©1948, 1976 William Maxwell (P)2019 Audible, Inc.

A great American novel

The narrative peters out toward the end, but on the whole, this is a remarkable, wise book.

I have never had such mixed feelings about a reader. He does a truly superb job with the dialogue, which is no easy feat with so many characters, of varying backgrounds and genders. My favorite bits of this book, though, are the reflective interludes in the voice of the third-person omniscient narrator, and the way Maxwell sets and colors his scenes. Oddly enough, the reading of these sections was unsatisfying. I often felt like the wrong words were being emphasized, the wrong tone struck.