The Limits

Freudenberger’s (Lost and Wanted) latest follows independent-minded 15-year-old Pia, who has grown up on a volcanic island off the coast of Tahiti, where her mother works to save endangered coral reefs. Her father, a cardiologist living in New York City, has remarried, and he and his new wife, Kate, a high school teacher, are expecting their first child. Pia is sent to live with her father so she can attend school in person during the pandemic. Pia’s father is caught up in the medical chaos of the pandemic, leaving Kate to parent privileged and rebellious Pia. Meanwhile, Athyna, one of Kate’s students, struggles with conflict at home. An additional storyline traces Pia’s relationship with Raffi, a Tahitian man who has vowed to avenge the damage done to his homeland during decades of nuclear testing. Freudenberger crafts a web of interwoven stories that lay bare the conflicts between work and family, wealth and poverty, and colonialism and independence. Listeners may feel unmoored by the untranslated French phrases in the novel. Even so, Rebecca Lowman narrates skillfully, providing French and other accents as appropriate.