Beneath the Shadows

By: Sara Foster

Narrated by: Lorna Bennett

Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's Summary

In this thrilling gothic suspense debut by Sara Foster in the tradition of Rosamund Lupton and Sophie Hannah, a young mother searches Yorkshire’s windswept moors for the truth behind her husband’s mysterious disappearance.

The answers are hiding Beneath the Shadows

When Grace’s husband, Adam, inherits an isolated North Yorkshire cottage, they leave the bustle of London behind to try a new life. A week later, Adam vanishes without a trace, leaving their baby daughter, Millie, in her stroller on the doorstep. The following year, Grace returns to the tiny village on the untamed heath. Everyone - the police, her parents, even her best friend and younger sister - is convinced that Adam left her. But Grace, unable to let go of her memories of their love and life together, cannot accept this explanation. She is desperate for answers, but the slumbering, deeply superstitious hamlet is unwilling to give up its secrets. 

As Grace hunts through forgotten corners of the cottage searching for clues and digs deeper into the lives of the locals, strange dreams begin to haunt her. Are the villagers hiding something, or is she becoming increasingly paranoid? Only as snowfall threatens to cut her and Millie off from the rest of the world does Grace make a terrible discovery. She has been looking in the wrong place for answers all along, and she and her daughter will be in terrible danger if she cannot get them away in time.

©2011 by Sara Foster (P)2019 by Blackstone Publishing

Yes! Without a doubt LISTEN TO THIS BOOK!

No spoilers!! Here is how I would listen to this wonderful book of he next time. Start on a Wednesday night after work, getting through the first 27 to 30 chapters by Friday! Then on Saturday night grab a drink of your choice and finish it because it will be better than ANY MOVIE you will find on NETFLIX! Just my opinion, but this is how I will take it in for the second time for sure! Wonderfully crafted and suspenseful at the end! Have fun with it!

Every painstaking detail, so much filler

The story reads more like a screenplay than a book . she couldn’t just walk to the cupboard she has to “Pause to think and reminisce, and raise her hand and touching the cupboard, Feeling it’s smooth surface,and then grasp the handle open it slowly”. Every single thing that anyone did was in pain staking, unnecessary detail. Throughout the book, It was just all so much filler..It’s amazing that I got through it. Not much happens until the end.

Just Get this One

This was a thoroughly enjoyable book! Understated, but concise. Those last few chapters were stunners.

Just OK For Me

This book is guilty of way too many words and not enough action. Unsurprising ending, so much extended hand wringing and whinging leading up to a predictable end, with excruciatingly bad writing. I don’t need six lines describing how she got into the car, turned on the heater, put the wipers on to clear the windscreen, and felt the cold as she waited for the car to warm.
I felt like nothing really happened from the first chapter to the last hour when you finally find out what happened to Adam. Finally. Everything in between felt like pure fluff with very uninteresting characters. I lost my patience at the last 90 minutes of the book and fast forwarded until I got the answer, and then ended it because I really didn't care enough about this book to bother to finish it. Sorry, just a snore. The narrator is good though.

Terrific

An engrossing mystery with a touch of romance. Set in a small village on the Yorkshire Moors the story revolves around two families, their forebears and dependents, and an intriguing tale of duplicity and ultimately retribution. Excellent narration.

Juvenile writing

Really unsophisticated, clunky writing. Unsurprising ending, so much extended hand wringing and whinging leading up to a predictable end, with excruciatingly bad writing. I don’t need six lines describing how she got into the car, turned on the heater, put the wipers on to clear the windscreen, and felt the cold as she waited for the car to warm. And the narration made the sister relationship sound combative. I did not enjoy the book or the narration and I do not recommend it for anyone over the age of 13. It is seriously written as if for children.

I enjoyed it

a few twists and turns a wee bit predictable. Glad i read it, i recommend it.

Mixed Up Family Mystery

Thank you audible for gifting subscribers this story. I enjoyed all the characters, and the narration was outstanding. The answer to a missing person mystery was saved until the very end when pieces fell into place. I did not guess the ending and enjoyed the progression of the story step by step. I will look for other books by this author.

Loved it!

This book kept me interested from beginning to end. Normally I could figure out the plot within a few chapters, but this book, no had me to the end! Narrator is wonderful!

Mixed feeling about this book.

The writing in this book is good. The characters interesting and well fleshed out. I could easily picture the place from her descriptions. The issue with the book is that not enough actually happens. It’s a lot of description. I would definitely try another book by this author but wasn’t unhappy to see this one wrap up.

Sadly not a book I could recommend to the average UK listener

Whilst I thought the overall plot was reasonably robust the telling of it jarred for me. This story is based in Yorkshire with British characters but the language is inconsistent. Examples being ‘stroller’ and ‘flashlight’…..the contrived accents and monotone delivery further strip this listen of anything that could recommend it. Sorry to be harsh but that is honestly my view.

Unsatisfying and annoying

This started out as an intriguing mystery, setting up a number of questions that I wanted the answers to. What happened to Adam? Is the cottage haunted? Are the weird family up to no good? Are Grace and Millie in danger? I was keen to follow the clues and find out.
By approx halfway through, I had new questions: Why did the author spend so long detailing things (grandfather clocks, cellars full of crap, scratching noises) that ultimately had NO RELEVANCE to anything whatsoever? Will Millie ever meet her developmental milestones? Why can't Grace ever just look at things instead of "surveying" them? Why do these apparently English people keep talking about windshields, strollers, flashlights etc etc?
Also why do so many characters have accents that make me wish they would fall down a well (except for Meredith who hilariously sounds like The Duchess in "My Dad wrote a Porno)
Eventually I did not really care to find out the answers as the book limped towards the finale. I am proud of my stamina for getting through this. well done me

Fabulous story!

Found this story gripping from beginning to end. Well worth a listen. Likeable characters. Great narration. Super storyline. Undetectable twists and turns. All winds tied up by the end. Loved it!

Excellent book!

I downloaded this for free, and I can honestly say that this is one of the best books I’ve listened to on audible so far. I listened to it in 2 days between working. The plot was good, I enjoyed the characters and the setting. The narrator kept my interest throughout. This is the first book I have read/listened to by this author and will definitely be exploring more titles. If you like books with a ghostly setting and gets you thinking, then this is for you!

A twisty tale

A twisty tale that takes a bit of following. But a good story, well read.

Really enjoyed this

Atmospheric, good narration. Found it thoroughly enjoyable especially listening to on a cold winters day! Would recommend.

Mediocre, nothing much happens

Struggled to finish, had to speed it up.
Can't complain it was free but it held a lot of promise at the beginning and sort of tailed off into nothing

gripping

I was totally hooked on this mystery. absolutely enjoyed every minute of it, would definitely recommend

a bit slow but enjoyable

easy listening..I enjoyed the book .. not too taxing on the brain .
very good descriptions ..I was transported to the scenes very easily

Enjoyable but…

There was a couple of characters who I couldn’t connect with. The story was good, if not a little predictable but worth a listen.