Hiddensee

A Tale of the Once and Future Nutcracker

By: Gregory Maguire

Narrated by: Steven Crossley

Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's summary

In this imaginative novel rooted in the rich soil of early 19th-century German Romanticism, beloved New York Times best-selling author Gregory Maguire twins an origin legend of the famous Nutcracker with the life of Drosselmeier, the toymaker who carves him.

Gregory Maguire's novels have been called "bewitching", "remarkable", "extraordinary", "engrossing", "amazing", and "delicious". Having brought his legions of devoted listeners to Oz in Wicked, Wonderland in After Alice, and Dickensian London in Lost, Maguire now takes us to the Black Forest of Bavaria and Munich of the Brothers Grimm and E. T. A. Hoffman.

Hiddensee recreates the backstory of the Nutcracker, reimaging how this entrancing creature came to be carved and how it magically guided an ailing little girl named Klara through a dreamy paradise on a snowy Christmas Eve. It also brings to life the mysterious godfather Drosselmeier - the ominous, canny, one-eyed toymaker made immortal by Petipa and Tchaikovsky's ballet - who presents the once and future Nutcracker to Klara, his goddaughter.

But Hiddensee is not just a retelling of a classic story. Maguire discovers in the flowering of German Romanticism a migrating strain of a Hellenic mystery-cult and ponders a profound question: how a person who is abused by life, short-changed, and challenged can access secrets that benefit the disadvantaged and powerless. Ultimately, Hiddensee offers a message of hope. If the compromised godfather Drosselmeier can bring an enchanted Nutcracker to a young girl in distress, perhaps everyone, however lonely or marginalized on the eve of a winter holiday, has something precious to share.

©2017 Gregory Maguire (P)2017 HarperCollins Publishers

Enthralling!!!!!

Loved it! As usual, Gregory has made a fabulous story!! Never have I been unhappy with his writing!

Hidden see

This was enjoyable....a tale for adults. The ending made this long tale worth waiting for.

Disappointed

It was a great premise, but fell flat in the writing. There were interesting descriptions and turn of phrases at times, but the character development was so poor that the ideas were lost the last 15 to 20% of the book finally caught my attention as the toy maker Started to develop close relationships and the story came to a fruition.

Glad I stuck with it

I had a hard time connecting with the main character at first., and I was a little disappointed that there was less fantasy. I found myself wanting a little bit more like in many of his other novels. The story however was wonderful and all of the characters who grew on me in short order . My very favorite part of this story are the overlaps of Hiddensee and the nutcracker I know from my childhood.

Loved it!

I loved this story. Gregory McGuire is brilliant. So glad I found this writer! I am working my way through his library.

Not a Christmas Story

People kept telling me it was a great story with Christmas undertones. I severely question those people idea of Christmas and Good now. I kept hoping it would get better or at least the writer intentions would be revealed... just not my cup of tea, I guess.

A classic Christmas story with a twist

This book is a weird exception from the general rule - at least my general rule - of hooking the reader in the first 5 pages. I admit, it did not do that for me. I found it to be awkward and a bit too gloomy for my taste, but I kept reading and I am so glad I did! Because it turned out to be a magnificent experience, one that truly surprised me. It is quite philosophical and psychological but the plot and characters are also very engaging.

Hiddensee is a novel about many things: childhood (both traumatic and happy), growing up, love, hope, memory and dreams, and it digs deep into its character's souls. It is at heart a re-imagining of a classic Christmas story, just like the subtitle says: a tale of the once and future Nutcracker. Godfather Drosselmeier becomes the hero of this Bildungsroman, an origin story, if you will.

I felt like the novel followed the basic structure of a classical music piece, with themes repeating and developing over time until we reach the final the part, the Coda, where everything comes together and makes perfect sense.

Definitely worth reading!

A lovely Christmas time book

I love the imagination of the author. At times the book seems to drag on but it holds the reader’s interest to the end.
The narrator is superb.

Nutcracker's Drosselmeyer's Back Story

I really enjoyed listening to Steven Crossley read Gregory Maguire's Hiddensee. He did really well making the characters distinct for me, and even when I was reading the physical book without the audio, I could still hear the characters' voices in my head as I read along.

As for the story, it was very interesting. I have read other works by Gregory Maguire, and while this was not my favorite of his, I still liked how he gave the Nutcracker's Drosselmeyer a back story that starts from the dark forest of the Grimm Brothers' tales to becoming the godfather to Klara Stahlbaum.

I especially enjoyed learning of Drosselmeyer's time in the woods living with the Old Man and Old Woman, his meeting and time with Nastaran, and his time spent with Klara and Fritz. With these interactions, I felt you really got to know Dirk's inner thoughts and feelings. And while his story was a tragic one, it was a very nice read.

So so

Not my favorite book from him. At times it was hard to follow along, had to re-listen to parts of it twice.