The Nest

Sweeney’s entertaining saga of the financial and emotional ups and downs of one privileged New York family is performed well by Barron, a stage and television actress with many guest appearances to her credit. All four of the main characters—middle-aged siblings Leo, Jack, Bea, and Melody—are treated with sympathy, even as their joint fixation on their jeopardized family inheritance renders them unsympathetic. Using pitch-perfect comic timing, Barron thrives with Sweeney’s droll observations, bringing the novel’s wit to life. She also excels at a particular kind of “mean-girl” voice that is employed for several minor characters, from Melody’s status-obsessed cohorts in the suburbs to Bea’s fellow “Glitterary Girls” (former up-and-coming writers like Bea). Barron is less successful anytime a character requires a foreign accent, which is especially noticeable in the on-again/off-again British cadence she gives Leo’s former business partner. Overall, however, this is an enjoyable audiobook performance. An Ecco hardcover. (Mar.)