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The Hangman's Daughter  By  cover art

The Hangman's Daughter

By: Oliver Pötzsch, Lee Chadeayne - translator
Narrated by: Grover Gardner
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Publisher's summary

Germany, 1660: When a dying boy is pulled from the river with a mark crudely tattooed on his shoulder, hangman Jakob Kuisl is called upon to investigate whether witchcraft is at play in his small Bavarian town. Whispers and dark memories of witch trials and the women burned at the stake just seventy years earlier still haunt the streets of Schongau. When more children disappear and an orphan boy is found dead - marked by the same tattoo - the mounting hysteria threatens to erupt into chaos.

Before the unrest forces him to torture and execute the very woman who aided in the birth of his children, Jakob must unravel the truth. With the help of his clever daughter, Magdelena, and Simon, the university-educated son of the town’s physician, Jakob discovers that a devil is indeed loose in Schongau. But it may be too late to prevent bloodshed.

A brilliantly detailed, fast-paced historical thriller, The Hangman’s Daughter is the first novel from German television screenwriter Oliver Pötzsch, a descendent of the Kuisls, a famous Bavarian executioner clan.

©2011 Oliver Pötzsch, Lee Chadeayne (translation) (P)2011 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

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What listeners say about The Hangman's Daughter

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  • 4 out of 5 stars
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I love this book!

This story is amazing. I read the book years ago then bought it on Audible. The narrator is wonderful so I bought the entire series. This author brings the characters to life. You'll fall in love with the Kuisel family.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Great Story

This book has a great story. I enjoyed it from beginning to end. In addition to the great story, several subplots were intriguing. The setting in Germany with all the descriptions and names enhanced the book. The narration was excellent.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Great Bed Time Read

I want to start by saying this book was good. For me the story was slow and It took a while to become fully engaged. Had this 448 page book been 200 pages I think I would have loved it. I also want to give a content warning, there are a few short graphic scenes that could be disturbing to some readers.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Not enough to get me excited about a whole series

Kind of fun mystery novel with some medieval atmosphere, but I wouldn't say the characters made me so interested that I want to read more in the series. Although, if I was taking a trip back to Germany, I might pick up some of the sequels to get me in the mood.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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one of my favorites

amazing story, I was on edge the entire time. also a good choice in choosing the narrator

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Everything I like in a book

This book had everything for me: history, a gripping mystery, and fascinating characters. It might be a little extreme for some as far as the descriptions of torture and death, but I didn't mind. The narrator, Grover Gardner is my absolute favorite on audible and I actually found this book because he performed. I own most of the books he narrates and I think his voice improves the experience for me every time.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Hocus-pocus is real in the uneducated mind

The Hangman’s Daughter was not exactly what I was expecting although I really didn’t have any expectations based on anything other than the title. The book ventured in the 1600s post European Witch trials to the superstitions and fantasy of witches in the aftermath. From the view of a hangman, the book moved between reality and fantasy in such away that it blend well with the story. Hysteria and the logical mind played a large roll in weaving the plot into a believable scenario that played out to the end. It introduced Walpurgis, the May Festival and other ancient Celts traditions that lend way to the myths and legends hidden in the old forlorn that helped enhance a story that started off slowly but picked up as it developed. It at times was difficult to tell if the devil was real or only distinguishable through gossip and paranoia. Nightshade, hemlock, magic save and mystical creature of the night make hocus-pocus real in the uneducated mind. Worth reading.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent book

I thought this series was going to be a fantasy series, but it turns out it is actually historical fiction. But it is just as good as fantasy, even if all the magic is just in people’s minds. The historical detail is mind-boggling. But beware – torture plays a major role in this story. And, while the hangman, who has to do the torturing, does everything in his power to put it off as long as possible, the mystery doesn’t get solved quickly enough to avoid it altogether and the story doesn’t back away from it when it happens.

A boy is found drowned in the river. He is an orphan who has been taken in by some family in the town. When a strange mark is found on his shoulder, everyone at once jumps to the conclusion that it is a witch’s mark. Someone else further observes that the boy and his closest playmates spent a lot of time hanging out at the local midwife’s. They don’t trust the midwife much anyway (although she delivered most of them or their children), so they attack her house and have her imprisoned.

The town council believes that if she can be persuaded to confess to being a witch so they can burn her and get the incident behind them, everything will be all right. They refer to an incident seventy years previously when an accusation of witchcraft spread through the town and dozens of women were accused of witchcraft and many executed as something they don’t want to be repeated. When a second child is found dead, the council is beside themselves to have the witch executed, even though the midwife was locked in the town jail when this murder happened.

The town hangman, Jakob Kuisl, is not only the town’s executioner, but also their chief torturer, and the council pressures him to get the confession out of her as soon as possible. The hangman is pretty sure the midwife is not a witch and does everything in his power to postpone the torture hoping to clear her before he has to do permanent damage. He and Simon, the son of the town’s doctor, are curious to know what really happened to the boy, and they set about trying to find out.

The story pits Jakob, Simon, and the hangman’s daughter, Magdalena, who becomes romantically involved with Simon, against the town council, some of the more gullible citizens, and some unsavory strangers, one of whom acquires the nickname of ‘The Devil’ because he appears to have a hand made of exposed bones. As more orphans die and others disappear, it becomes a race against time to try to save the midwife and the remaining children.

Narrator Grover Gardner does a good job overall. He is about average with the female characters but is excellent with the rough voices of the hangman and the devil.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

A typical murder mystery with history mixed in

This wasn't the best or worst book I've listened to. If you're expecting a riveting adventure, or some sort of fantasy novel, this likely isn't the book for you. If you're a fan of classic murder mysteries like Agatha Christie's books, then add in some little interesting bits of German witch-hunting history similar to what we've come to associate with Salem, MA, and you'll have this novel here. I wouldn't listen to it again, but I'm not a huge fan of mystery as a genre.

That said, the narrator did a pretty good job overall. Some of the characters are easy to confuse, but only if it's hard for you to follow German names with similar sounds. The main characters' names and the narrator's voices for them are different enough that it's easy to know them apart.

My overall review is 4-stars. Anything less is a discredit to the author, but anything more is giving the storyline and execution more credit than it deserves.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Engaging historical fiction

Don’t let the gruesome first few pages put you off this masterful historical novel. As a physician, I found this story involving A village from the middle ages Bavaria and early medical knowledge to be fascinating.

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