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By: Orson Scott Card

Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki

Length: 10 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's summary

Damaged Houses
A master craftsman, Don Lark could fix everything except what mattered, his own soul. After tragedy claimed the one thing he loved, he began looking for dilapidated houses to buy, renovate, and resell at a profit, giving these empty shells the second chance at life he denied himself.

Damaged Souls
Then in a quiet Southern town, Lark finds his biggest challenge: a squalid yet sturdy mansion that has suffered decades of abuse at the hands of greedy landlords and transient tenants. While two charming old neighbor ladies ply him with delicious cooking, they offer dire warnings about the house's evil past. But there is something about this building that pushes Lark on, even as its enchantments grow increasingly ominous. Will finishing the house offer Lark redemption, or unleash the darkest forces of damnation upon him?

©1998 Orson Scott Card (P)2006 Audible Inc.

Critic reviews

"A powerful tale of healing and redemption that skillfully balances supernatural horrors with spiritual uplift". (Publishers Weekly)

Great Story

This was a great story that kept me interested until the very end. It would make a great horror movie. The character development was great. They felt very "real." But I think that a little too much time was spend developing minor characters. I kept waiting for them to become major players and they never were.

A hidden treasure!

Wonderful story and interesting characters! I am an avid OSC fan and I'm not sure how I missed coming across this book until now. I've read dozens of OSC books, including every single book in the greater Enderverse multiple times. I'm excited to have this new gem to add to my fiction rotation and recommend to others.

AWESOME

As always Card delivers a wonderful tale of intrique. The narrator was wonderful, wish there were more stories with him narrating. Thank you to all who added to make my enjoyment happen.

Thumbs up

Great book, my son suggested that I read it and I enjoyed it very much.

Surprisingly good!

This book was surprisingly good -- a little long and drawn out, but wonderful nonetheless. There were not many surprises, but the plot development, the character interaction, and the story's speed were all excellent. I'll never look at a house the same way again.I look forward to his next book.

Pleasant story, great characters!

I've read and enjoyed several books by Card, and liked the sound of this one. I took it even though the reviews were somewhat underwhelming. I'm glad I did. The characters were great and the story held my interest right up to the end. I have three main observations about this book: 1) contrary to some other reviewers, I actually liked how he developed the characters and played them off against each other - thought that was ther best part of this book, 2) the change in romantic interest from the real estate agent to the homeless girl didn't work for me - he should have stayed with the agent ... she was hot, and 3) the ending was just a bit much - felt too much like a second rate Hollywood horror film, with gratuitous destruction. Yet, I've listened to much worse on here and this was a nice way to pass the time.

Not so great

Strange book. I think it’s more a romance than anything else. Didn’t care for it, but I liked the scenes of Don working on the old house. I liked the Weird Sisters neighbors.

Excellent

As Card's Enchantment was, so too is this. Delightful from start to finish. Would highly recommend it,

Slow, slow, slow

I love Orson Scott Card. This was not at all what I expected. I was three quarters of the way through and I still kept wondering when it would get interesting. The last three hours are the only part worth listening to and I don't think it was worth listening to the first several hours.

There are so many other books written by him that are much better.

Such a good read!

This was a great story! It had so many twists and turns and just as I think I am figuring it out it changes again. Also the voice actor is really great for this book. Overall I really recommend it!