I listened to this story yesterday, then listened to it again today. And then I went home and read it because I do have Clockwork Phoenix 4.
And I have to be honest, each time, I grew more and more disturbed. Which was a feeling I hadn't expected from this story.
I can't put my finger on why, either. It's a gorgeous story and I could easily picture each portrait in my mind. The fact that this is a ghost story didn't bother me...at first. At least, not until the last portrait.
My guess would be that, gathered from the bits and pieces in the notes, I don't think Theresa Rosenbert Latimer had a happy life; in fact, I got a feeling that she was a tortured individual. Wow...that landscape picture where everything is drab and monotonous and painted the same way--if that isn't depression, I don't know what is. Once she started seeing ghosts, that didn't make things any easier. The one with her "highlighted" parents certainly showed that. So the last portrait with herself "highlighted"--right before her suicide-- should have been downright chilling to the anonymous writer of the program notes.
Which I think is the brilliant point of the story. We have a woman who went through much emotional turmoil, and it is all viewed by a dry, clinical, oblivious narrator. I think this one will sit with me for a long time.
Kudos to Peter, though, for an *excellent* reading. There was a point when I really did feel like I was listening to a PBS or an NPR station.