The Morningside

Obreht (Inland) transports listeners to the near future and to the Morningside, an apartment tower in Island City where 11-year-old Silvia and her mother have settled as participants in the repopulation program. Silvia’s aunt Ena, the building superintendent, immerses her in old-world fantasies and fables, regaling her with family history, while her mother, a pragmatic survivor, sees no value in dwelling on the past. Silvia is terminally lonely until Mila arrives and becomes her companion. Meanwhile, the enigmatic artist Bezi Duras captures Silvia’s imagination, leading her to suspect that Bezi has supernatural powers as a Vila, a “spirit of the mountain” from the Old Country, accompanied by a trio of shapeshifting dogs. Carlotta Brentan’s narration is glorious, with accents and pacing that differentiate the range of characters while maintaining the dreamlike quality presented through the text’s beautiful imagery.