The Keepers of the House

By: Shirley Ann Grau

Narrated by: Anna Fields

Length: 9 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

Abigail was the last keeper of the house, the last to know the Howland family's secrets. Now, in the name of all her brothers and sisters, she must take her bitter revenge on the small-minded Southern town that shamed them, persecuted them, but could never destroy them.

Shirley Ann Grau is a major American author whose works are often set in New Orleans and Louisiana's Creole region. She often reflects the isolated bayous and their French-speaking residents, but her fiction is equally at home with the fiercely independent people of small Southern towns or the sophisticated life of the New Orleans' upper class. The Keepers of the House won her the Pulitzer Prize in 1965.

©1964 Shirley Ann Grau (P)1996 Blackstone Audiobooks

Critic reviews

• Pulitzer Prize Winner, Fiction, 1965

"Shirley Ann Grau is one of those rare writers who create a world, draw the reader into it, and make him somehow happy there, no matter what goes on....One comes to the novel's end with a sense of loss, and leaves that world with reluctance." (Newsweek)

Impressively Satisfying!

What an impressively satisfying book! Chilling in places, beautiful in others, especially when describing the land. The reader’s laconic speaking style only adds to the tension. Well worth a listen!

Excellent!

If only more would have her strength to stand against cancel culture!
What a beautiful story of earlier America and sad part of our culture that continues to this day.

A treasure

I listened to this on a whim.
Fell in love with the story. So much truth in it and it always amazes me how recent in our history that this was ‘normal’
And the narrator is fantastic. I was so sad to learn she had passed away.

Excellent

The reader does a great job and the writing is superb. History the south and race and love and memory and dependence

Slow

This story is slow and can get confusing on which character is the subject of each chapter. The story is slow until the very end. Good ending, but it’ll take 12 hrs to get there.

Perfect Narration

Anna Fields has a convincing accent. Her voice matched the protagonists cold and vindictive mindset.

Pure art in storytelling

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

It was a treat for the senses. An engrossing and artfully told story. The narrator perfectly conveyed the subtle nuances of the characters and situations. The writing is of a quality that is seldom seen in current fiction. Crisp efficient, very descriptive, and engaging. The story flows effortlessly drawing the listener back to another time and place.

What about Anna Fields’s performance did you like?

Her ability to convey the tone and substance of the story was remarkable. Flawless performance.

If you could take any character from The Keepers of the House out to dinner, who would it be and why?

Abigail, her strength and straightforward candor would be a breath of fresh air.

Interesting Story Line

Would you consider the audio edition of The Keepers of the House to be better than the print version?

Haven't read the print version

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Keepers of the House?

The chapter where the town people turned on the featured family

What about Anna Fields’s performance did you like?

Good narrative skills and voice inflections

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

When the main character's wife resigned herself to death

Any additional comments?

Very good narrative covering a large swath of time. Very entertaining and kept me engrossed in listening.

The Pulitzer Committee Got It Right

A beautifully written story, with rich imagery and character development, The Keepers tells the multi-generation story of a southern family and moves away from the trite coast confederate-sympathizing stories of earlier Pulitzer winners and tells a compelling, modern story. Fields did a great job narrating.

Wonderful story

Don’t give up on the beginning! It’s important to learn the caricatures and there role in the story! The narrator was fabulous! I just love the sound of her voice! As with many books I was sad to see it end!