Slow Dance

Narrator Rebecca Lowman offers an understated yet attuned performance of YA author Rowell’s second adult novel (after Landline). Divorced and living with her mother and two young children, drama teacher Shiloh meets up with her estranged high school best friend Cary, now a naval officer, at their friend Mikey’s second wedding. The years fall away as Shiloh and Cary reconnect, only to be thrown apart as uncomfortable memories from the past surface. Lowman accompanies listeners through the characters’ complicated history, full of misunderstandings, lost chances, and the insecurities of youth. Her reading of the characters’ blossoming relationship in the present is nuanced, communicating the gentle thrill of romantic possibilities combined with self-doubt and the grown-up concerns of family, responsibilities, careers, and money. The nearly palpable longing between Shiloh and Cary is deliciously drawn out and will have listeners rapt, wondering if and how the couple will find their happily ever after.