Domestic Affairs

By: Eileen Goudge

Narrated by: Susan Ericksen

Length: 18 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's Summary

Rosie and Abigail are like family, Ina Merriweather used to say. That is, until the day Ina abruptly cast out her housekeeper, Rosie, and her 15-year-old daughter, Abigail. Abigail felt deeply betrayed, especially by Ina's daughter, Lila, who was her closest friend. Only Lila's twin brother, Vaughn, with whom Abigail had been exploring the joys and heartaches of first love, showed any compassion.

Now, 25 years later, an old score is about to be settled - and an old love rekindled. Abigail is now a self-made woman who has built an empire out of the homemaking skills she learned from her mother. When Lila, who married well and for decades lived the glittering life of a Park Avenue socialite, suffers a tragic reversal of fortune, an opportunity to right an old wrong lands squarely in Abigail's lap. In a collision of fate, the women are thrown together and must unite to save one another.

©2008 Eileen Goudge (P)2008 BBC Audiobooks America

WAY too long

This is just my HUMBLE opinion, but this book seriously needed a good editor. By part three, I was getting rather sick of the unbearably long scenes and ticked off that a lazy or incompetent editor was unwilling to move paragraphs/chapters around to make a tighter, more compelling story. At 15 hours, I longed for it to wrap up. Since I had put in the time to listen to parts one and two, I felt I needed to see it to the end. Hence, fast forward worked nicely. I don't think I missed anything critical for several hours of listening that way. And I managed to get to the rather predictable ending. Don't waste your credit even if you love Eileen Goudge.

2 people found this helpful

Narrator needs a valium

Maybe it's the writing, but my real problem with this book is that the narrator sounds like every word is a life or death situation. I listened to a few chapters and then had to stop - I couldn't take the voice anymore. I just wanted her to relax and tell the story without so much power behind her voice. I enjoyed reading (rather than listening to) A Woman in Red - another book by Eileen Goudge, but this one suffers as much from the narration as it may from the writing.