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)

Woe

You really ought to get a new reader!!! It was poorly preformed and poorly recorded. The story is charming and deserves a better presentation! Do everyone a favor and fix it 🙄

Beautiful story

I love a good story one that draws you in and keeps you listening. Characters are wonderful. Story lovely.

I enjoyed the story...

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

Yes, the story is good and the mystery keep me interested. I liked the 'magic' of love.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Sebastian, because he was himself and had grown comfortable since high school in who he is. He had wise advise. He was charming. And he was genuine.

What three words best describe Karen White’s voice?

I was annoyed by the reading in the beginning. It was clipped and short sounding, like she couldn't find her voice. I couldn't help but think that my kindle mechanical reader would do better. But i hung in there and she soon found her voice and did a good job, though at times the reading still sounded short and choppy, but her characters found their voices!

Lightweight story

A lightweight story but some interesting ideas about friendship and acceptance. Also, characters to care about.

Narrator ruined the story - it's true.

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

Sarah Addison Allen's stories are TOTALLY MAGICAL. I want to be sure that is understood.
The reader made the story go flat - I struggled with this one :(

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Karen White?

my favorite is Kate Reading ,, BUT Sarah A. A. has had other gr8 readers too.

Any additional comments?

Audible + Sarah A. A. = a win !

Loved the book

This is such a fun story and inspiring! The story is well performed and fun to lose your self in it!!!!

Wonderful story

As usual I’m never disappointed with Sarah’s stories. This is a book I’ll definitely listen to again

The story is better than the reader........

I love this author and have read a few of her books, this is the first one I have listened to........very annoying!!
The enunciation was extreme and sing songy, sort of mono-tone. I really thought about not listening and then I eventually got used to it, but this was not the usual standard of Audible.

Ok, but I wasn’t as engaged as I hoped.

Womens fiction with some romance. It’s about two women (Willa and Paxton) becoming friends and finding love. The ending is feel good. There is a little mystery about a dead man buried under a tree. We learn the story about that. But overall I felt the story and plot were lacking. Maybe more interesting characters would have helped.

There are a couple sex scenes referred to no details. There is a mention that some rapes occurred in the past but no details shown.

AUDIOBOOK NARRATOR:
Karen White was awful. She used a high pitched super sweet voice like she was talking to a little baby bird. A few times when it wasn’t the baby talk voice it was a wimpy whiny voice. She has done some other books that I was fine with. I don’t know why she did this book this way.

OTHER BOOKS:
I’ve read the following books by this author.

5 stars. Garden Spells 2007
4 ½ stars. The Sugar Queen 2008
3 stars. The Girl Who Chased the Moon 2010
3 stars. The Peach Keeper 2011
2 ½ stars. Lost Lake 2014 (too much grief)
3 stars. First Frost 2015 (sequel to Garden Spells)

DATA:
Narrative mode: 3rd person. Story length: 273 pages. Swearing language: none. Sexual content: see above - references to sex but no details. Setting: current day Wall of Water, N. Carolina with a 1936 back story. Book copyright: 2011. Genre: womens fiction with some romance.

GREAT LISTEN!!

This is the first book that I've reads from SAA, but I plans to read more. I started listening to this and just couldn't stop listening. I so believe that we find what we need when we need it, and friends come into ours lives at different times for a reason. Remember we shouldn't always judge the book by the cover(or the person). Great book!! Nice that it's based around North Carolina.