The Peach Keeper

A Novel

By: Sarah Addison Allen

Narrated by: Karen White

Length: 7 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

The New York Times bestselling author of The Girl Who Chased the Moon welcomes you to her newest locale: Walls of Water, North Carolina, where the secrets are thicker than the fog from the town’s famous waterfalls, and the stuff of superstition is just as real as you want it to be. It’s the dubious distinction of thirty-year-old Willa Jackson to hail from a fine old Southern family of means that met with financial ruin generations ago. The Blue Ridge Madam—built by Willa’s great-great-grandfather during Walls of Water’s heyday, and once the town’s grandest home—has stood for years as a lonely monument to misfortune and scandal. And Willa herself has long strived to build a life beyond the brooding Jackson family shadow. No easy task in a town shaped by years of tradition and the well-marked boundaries of the haves and have-nots. But Willa has lately learned that an old classmate—socialite do-gooder Paxton Osgood—of the very prominent Osgood family, has restored the Blue Ridge Madam to her former glory, with plans to open a top-flight inn. Maybe, at last, the troubled past can be laid to rest while something new and wonderful rises from its ashes. But what rises instead is a skeleton, found buried beneath the property’s lone peach tree, and certain to drag up dire consequences along with it. For the bones—those of charismatic traveling salesman Tucker Devlin, who worked his dark charms on Walls of Water seventy-five years ago—are not all that lay hidden out of sight and mind. Long-kept secrets surrounding the troubling remains have also come to light, seemingly heralded by a spate of sudden strange occurrences throughout the town. Now, thrust together in an unlikely friendship, united by a full-blooded mystery, Willa and Paxton must confront the dangerous passions and tragic betrayals that once bound their families—and uncover truths of the long-dead that have transcended time and defied the grave to touch the hearts and souls of the living. Resonant with insight into the deep and lasting power of friendship, love, and tradition, The Peach Keeper is a portrait of the unshakable bonds that—in good times and bad, from one generation to the next—endure forever.

©2011 Sarah Addison Allen (P)2011 Random House

Critic reviews

"Allen juggles smalltown history and mystical thriller, character development and eerie magical realism in a fine Southern gothic drama. The underlying tension will please and unnerve readers, as well as leave them eager for Allen's next." (Publisher's Weekly)

Another tale of love

A Peach Tree once grew here. Few remember how it got here. But two old bitties do and their younger kin bond over the secret. Allen does it again with a double romance. Her characters are genuine and almost real (maybe a little too kind to be entirely real). Peaches is a mysterious stranger who changed everything then disappeared. In a small town, mysterious deaths are called accidents and no one is accused, but one woman knows what she did, and the other woman remembers that to have a friend, she really must be one. Garden Spells is my favorite Addison Allen book, but this one is a sweet and quirky tale of two young women from different "backgrounds" who are changed by their experiences, mature as women, and find true love.

Just Okay

Would you try another book from Sarah Addison Allen and/or Karen White?

This was an okay listen, but it was just okay. I wasn't terribly captivated by any of the characters. It certainly wasn't a waste of time, but it's been a couple of months since I listened to it and I can hardly remember it.

Another great SAS book.

It took a little while for all the pieces of the story to develop, but once it does it is a wonderful story about generations and connections. The narrator took some getting used too, but it wouldn't keep me from listening again....the voice just doesn't quite fit. Overall, worth the credit.

Sweet and surprising

After seeing the reviews I was questioning myself as to purchasing this book. I took the chance and was greatly surprised! The story was wonderful and the narrating was better than the reviews I thought. It was like you were supposed to be on a front porch sipping sweet tea while listening, soft and sweet. The end of chapter thirteen made me gasp, several times I giggled and was surprised as well, and the end wasn't what I expected at all.

Pretty Good Listen

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

Interesting story, some what predictible

Who was your favorite character and why?

I did not have a favorite character.

What about Karen White’s performance did you like?

I loved her voicing of the characters

Who was the most memorable character of The Peach Keeper and why?

Paxton's gramdmother. A true southern lady from a time gone by.

Any additional comments?

Sweet story.

Warm story about friendship.

The Peach Keeper is a good read. The author relies less heavily on her magic elements for the plot and the characters are better developed than in some other of her novels. A little fluffy and romantic, but enjoyable.

The narrator is sing songy, but give het a chance. She did a good job and you get used to it.

#SquadGoals

"There's no avoiding me now, you know," she said. "You know my secrets. You maced people for me. You've got me for life."

I love the friendship between Willa and Paxton! Sarah Addison Allen weaves a story with the ties of friendship, romantic love, and that intrinsic connection all women share. This is a tale of magic and superstition, an epic friendship that has lasted through the decades, and a new one that promises to be just as strong.

A Light Peach Daiquiri Read

Every so often, I feel the need for the simplicity of a Sarah Addison Allen. Her books are comforting. They are interesting. They are light, but delightful pastimes. I suppose, in a way, she is our touch stone of how we wish things were. She and the narrator Karen White always make for a fun couple of evenings. The slight touch of understated magic is enough to tantalize without bugging us with things like werewolves and wizards. The romance is predictable and sometimes frustratingly obvious, but the soft southern feel rounds out the edges. And, as all good daiquiris do, they leave a little buzz before climbing under the covers at night for a good night's sleep.

Allen ruined by White

How did the narrator detract from the book?

I love Sarah Addison Allen as an author. I have read several of her books and find her language and character development to be a true joy. She is whimsical, funny and has an ability to make magic happen on the page. Often it is like catching a glimpse of a fairy in the woods. Karen White tore the wings off the fairy and stomped on them. She was too breathy and her inflections and cadence were completely off. It was so distracting. Not to mention that the differences between female and male voices were so unnoticeable that I had a hard time figuring out who was supposed to be flirting with whom. The only characters that she seemed to pull off half successfully were the old women/grandmother’s voices and even those were weak. It was genuine disappointment and a disservice to Sarah Addison Allen as a writer.

Makes you want to visit

Rarely do you hear a story that sucks you in and delights you with each mouthful. This is one though.