The Woman in the Lake

By: Nicola Cornick

Narrated by: Malk Williams, Charlie Sanderson, Rebecca Courtney, Imogen Church

Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

From the best-selling author of House of Shadows and The Phantom Tree comes a spellbinding tale of jealousy, greed, plotting and revenge - part history, part mystery - for fans of Kate Morton, Susanna Kearsley and Barbara Erskine

London, 1765

Lady Isabella Gerard, a respectable member of Georgian society, orders her maid to take her new golden gown and destroy it, its shimmering beauty tainted by the actions of her brutal husband the night before.

Three months later, Lord Gerard stands at the shoreline of the lake, looking down at a woman wearing the golden gown. As the body slowly rolls over to reveal her face, it’s clear this was not his intended victim…

250 Years Later…

When a gown she stole from a historic home as a child is mysteriously returned to Fenella Brightwell, it begins to possess her in exactly the same way that it did as a girl. Soon the fragile new life Fen has created for herself away from her abusive ex-husband is threatened at its foundations by the gown’s power over her until she can't tell what is real and what is imaginary.

As Fen uncovers more about the gown and Isabella’s story, she begins to see the parallels with her own life. When each piece of history is revealed, the gown - and its past - seems to possess her more and more, culminating in a dramatic revelation set to destroy her sanity.

©2019 Nicola Cornick (P)2019 HarperCollins Publishers, Limited

Good read

Good story with easy along. Great book to listen to while at work or in the car.

Another good one

Another good book from Nicola Cornick. I enjoy her timeslip stories, the back-and-forth between present and past, the lines she draws connecting people who live hundreds of years apart. I always try to figure out who’s connected. Sometimes I’m right; sometimes I’m not. I was half right in this one. The narrators did a great job and I enjoyed listening to them.

Intriguing time tale!

Fun to listen to...although I had trouble finding the right speed for the narration. Nothing sounded quite natural. Still, a satisfying time travel tale...in the vein of ones I write myself!

Who, what, when?

Too many plots. There are at least three great ideas for a story line. Why write them all together?

Listened to stories separately. Much better.

I started listening to this as it is written but it was difficult to keep the many characters and the stories straight. I decided to listen to the historical stories first. So the order I used was to skip every other chapter. So I listened to all of Candace and Lady Isabella first and then went to the modern day Finnela’s story. I thoroughly enjoyed it this way. The narrators are all top drawer. Wonderful actors. The story was excellent as well. I love Nicola Cornick’s writing. *****

Good read.

I enjoyed the story and especially liked the narrators. I wish the author would use a different word than said when she’s writing dialogue.

Fun mystery

This was an easy book to listen too. I was interested in the characters and how they fit together. I’d give it five stars if the author hadn’t used the word “said” so many times.

I enjoyed it!

This book was easy to listen to and the narrators were great, I truly enjoyed it. It was a good escape from real life - takes you back in time and gives you a bit of history.

A page turner!

I loved it. Just the right mix of fantasy and reality. Performers were great. Lots of plot twists.

Don't waste your money

This novel is poorly executed. I loved the concept but disliked the way its written. Clumsy.