The Orphan of Cemetery Hill

By: Hester Fox

Narrated by: Lauren Ezzo

Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

The dead won't bother you if you don’t give them permission.

Boston, 1844.

Tabby has a peculiar gift: She can communicate with the recently departed. It makes her special, but it also makes her dangerous.

As an orphaned child, she fled with her sister, Alice, from their charlatan aunt Bellefonte, who wanted only to exploit Tabby's gift so she could profit from the recent craze for seances.

Now a young woman and tragically separated from Alice, Tabby works with her adopted father, Eli, the kind caretaker of a large Boston cemetery. When a series of macabre grave robberies begins to plague the city, Tabby is ensnared in a deadly plot by the perpetrators, known only as the "Resurrection Men".

In the end, Tabby's gift will either save both her and the cemetery - or bring about her own destruction.

©2020 Hester Fox (P)2020 Harlequin Enterprises, Limited

A bit slow in the beginning

After a few chapters, it started to pick up. I liked the characters and the plot but for me my interest waned. It got interesting when all were gathered at the event. I don’t want to give it away.

Great listen

Liked the book and the narrator did a great job. I love how everything toed together in the end

Favorite Hester Fox book to date

Just finished my 4th listen and it was just as good as the first time. A must read for historical horror!

Romance and adventure, but something missing

It was an entertaining read, and kept my interest up, but the sample was much more promising. The boy in the tree could have become a more important topic. But overall, it feels as if the abilities of the protagonist and other interesting topics were left mostly unexplored, and were used as plot devices for adventure.

loved it

I have loved Hester Fox's writing voice since she released The Witch of Willow Hall. This book did not disappoint me. I loved the Boston atmosphere and the atmospheric vibes. If you like gothic novels definitely give her a try.

Soooo Good!! Perfect Mix

Perfect mix of Historical Fiction, Bit of Paranormal and Strong Women!
My Favorite. I think I like this more than the The Physick book of Deliverance Dane!! Omgosh thid book was sooo good!!

Interesting story

I enjoyed the story because it was very different. The Narrator was very stiff though and kind of jerky in her speech so that was constantly distracting. Her character voices were pretty good though. Overall it was a good book.

i bet you can guess the ending

I'm not sorry that I spent the time to listen to this book, but I found it rather banal and predictable. With the exception of Tabby and Caleb, there's character growth and all but the bad guys are likeable. This is a boy meets girl, girl finds herself in peril, boy rescues her, all the while thinking they love each other after having four or five brief conversations with each other, The premise of the book: a young woman who can commune with the dead is a good one and doesn't fail to disappoint, The same is true for the central conflict, when Tabby's clairvoyance becomes entangled with resurrection men. While listening, I ignored the triteness, and enjoyed the premise.

Some books are better read, some better listened to. This novel is undoubtedly better read. The narration is abominable. The reader's voice is whiny and breathy and most of her male voices sound similar. There's a character from the South, but his voice has no Southern inflection. Sometimes, a listen starts out with a somewhat irritating narration, but then levels out as I get accustomed to it. Not so with this narrator. To my ear, she never improved.

If the theme is your cup of tea, then go with this novel. Listen to the sample first, though, to see if you can tolerate the reading.

It was a good story

I would really give it 3 and 3/4 rating. Hester Fox had another book that I read, that I LOVED. This one didn't have that effect on me.