The Oracle Glass

By: Judith Merkle Riley

Narrated by: Linda Bruno

For a handful of gold, Madame de Morville will read your future in a glass of swirling water. You'll believe her, because you know she's more than 150 years old and a witch, and she has all of Paris in the palm of her hand. But Madame de Morville hides more behind her black robes than you know. Her real age, the mother and uncle who left her for dead, the inner workings of the most secret society of Parisian witches: None of these truths would help her outwit the rich who so desperately want the promise of the future. After all, it's her own future she must control, no matter how much it is painted with uncertainty and clouded by vengeance.

"Take a full cup of wit, two teaspoons of brimstone, and a dash of poison, and you have Judith Merkle Riley's mordant, compelling tale of an ambitious young woman who disguises herself as an ancient prophetess in order to gain entry into the dangerous, scheming glamour of the Sun King's court. Based on scandalous true events, The Oracle Glass brims with our human foibles, passions, and eccentricities; it's a classic of the genre and unlike any historical novel you have ever read." (C. W. Gortner, author of The Confessions of Catherine de Medici)

©2012 Judith Merkle Riley (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Absorbing and arresting." ( The New York Times)

"Fascinating and factual." ( Los Angeles Times)

"Chilly, witty, and completely engrossing ... great, good fun." ( Kirkus Reviews)

this was a good book but the end was rushed

I found the story intriguing but quite a few mispronounciations (of English words) were a little jarring at times. otherwise the narrator was pleasant to listen to .
The end seemed a little rushed but I will re-listen to the final chapter again in case I missed something.

Great book ruined by narrator

Okay. The writing, the overall story, the amount of historical detail, are all very good. It’s a fictionalized retelling of a real life scandal from the court of the Sun King. A story of murder by poison, the occult and the scandalous French court. I recommend it for lovers of historical fiction .
HOWEVER, the narrator is egregiously awful. Not only does she mispronounce relatively simple words, she, get this, uses an American southern accent for a Paris shop girl. I’m not kidding. Her idea of a lower class Parisienne accent is Scarlett O’Hara. It’s truly awful.
The shame of it is, if this were performed by real talent, this book would be fantastic. I’ve returned audiobooks for awful narration before, but this story is so good that I’m keeping it. So, if you are irritated by that kind of thing, this will drive you absolutely nuts. If you can overlook the dismal narration, it’s a very entertaining, fun historical romp through one of the most debauched courts in European history.

Terrific book flawed by imperfect reading

I have read this book several times, but hearing it read in this version was an annoying experience. The reader not only can’t pronounce French words, but has trouble with English. For the first half of the book, she pronounces “hearth” to rhyme with “birth”, then suddenly she stared pronouncing it right. But several other words were consistently pronounced wrong, like “impudent” with the emphasis on the second syllable. A couple of times, words were just garbled. What a shame for a well-written and extremely entertaining book. Judith Merkle Riley is a wonder of a writer of historical fiction, taking us places we could hardly have imagined, but through her words can be there with all the sights, sounds and feelings experienced by her characters.

Poor Reading of a great book

I'm a big fan of J. M. Riley, and this is my favorite of her books. I got this so that I could read while sewing/crafting, and so that I could hear the French bits as they are supposed to be pronounced, not as I think they're said. I was sadly disappointed.

I listen to audiobooks all the time, and know that the right narrator can make a book thoroughly enjoyable, and I've listened to hundreds of books. I'm a teacher, and value good oral reading. This book is not.

Why? At first, it was the somewhat flat reading. There was very little emphasis on the sentences, and no differentiation between characters' dialogue, rendering it difficult to determine just who was speaking. The pace of the reading is pretty much the same throughout, with little pausing for emphasis or emotions. And, worst of all, she mispronounced many ordinary English words/terms, which was not only annoying, but distracting. I gave up on the reading yesterday and finished reading with my copy of the book.

The worst thing about the mispronunciation is that is was frequent enough to make me question the pronunciation of French names and terms, which was one of the reasons I wanted to listen to it!

I thoroughly recommend you read the book, but discourage you from listening to this performance. It was very poorly done.

gotta read or gotta listen....you won't regret it

the undercurrent of bemused sarcasm in the readers voice brings the characters to life through the lenses of a very observant young woman.