Ghostwalk

By: Rebecca Stott

Narrated by: Rosalyn Landor

Length: 11 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

A Cambridge historian, Elizabeth Vogelsang, is found drowned, clutching a glass prism in her hand. The book she was writing about Isaac Newton’s involvement with alchemy - the culmination of her lifelong obsession with the 17th century - remains unfinished. When her son, Cameron, asks his former lover, Lydia Brooke, to ghostwrite the missing final chapters of his mother’s book, Lydia agrees and moves into Elizabeth’s house - a studio in an orchard where the light moves restlessly across the walls.

Soon Lydia discovers that the shadow of violence that has fallen across present-day Cambridge, which escalates to a series of murders, may have its origins in the troubling evidence that Elizabeth’s research has unearthed. As Lydia becomes ensnared in a dangerous conspiracy that reawakens ghosts of the past, the 17th century slowly seeps into the 21st, with the city of Cambridge the bridge between them.

Filled with evocative descriptions of Cambridge, past and present, Ghostwalk centers around a real historical mystery that Rebecca Stott has uncovered involving Newton’s alchemy. In it, time and relationships are entangled - the present with the 17th century, and figures from the past with the love-torn 21st century woman who is trying to discover their secrets.

A stunningly original display of scholarship and imagination, and a gripping story of desire and obsession, Ghostwalk is a rare debut that will change the way most of us think about scientific innovation, the force of history, and time itself.

©2007 Rebecca Stott (P)2007 Books on Tape

Critic reviews

"British historian Stott makes a stunning debut with this hypnotic and intelligent thriller....Much more than a clever whodunit, this taut, atmospheric novel with its twisty interconnections between past and present will leave readers hoping Stott has many more stories in her future." (Publishers Weekly)

“Mesmerizing...Ghostwalk has an all-too-rare scholarly authority and imaginative sparkle...Rebecca Stott has accomplished something distinctively fresh with what she calls ‘a grubby little set of murders in Cambridge.’ Along the way, she manages to invoke both the non-causal entanglements of quantum physics and the paranoid conspiracies of Pynchon and DeLillo. Her home terrain, however is the river-riven landscape of the human heart.” (New York Times Book Review)

“Fiercely intelligent...You won’t have time to reflect on Stott’s metaphysics, at least not on the first read - you’ll be too eager to solve the murders. Ghostwalk works beautifully on both levels, leaving a lingering impression of a world richer, and more precarious, than we imagine.” (Janice P. Nimura, Los Angeles Times)

Too much romantic fluff not enough history

For the most part I enjoyed this book, however,I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more if there had been less "romantic fluff" going on inside the main characters head, and more content around Newton and alchemy. All of her supposition and wistful wonderings about her lover just seemed to over shadow the historical parts of the story.

Not Very Good

Although I somewhat enjoyed this book, it just wasn't all that great. The story is completely unbelievable and has giant holes that don't make a whole lot of sense. I kept waiting for the story to get better, but it didn't. It tried too hard to mix too many ideas together in one place, and the mixing of the stories didn't come together like a beautiful ballet, but more like a forced crash. There were some redeeming factors, and I did enjoy some parts of the story, but it was too much for one book.

More of a stroll

Hard to explain this one. Liked: the sinister mood it evoked. It reminded me of the film "Don't Look Now", and not just with the red-cloaked figure of evil lurking about in the shadows. It carefully built a really sustained mood of spookiness.

But the characters were very hard to like; I had almost no sympathy for any of them, least of all for the main character....but I am also not sure I was really meant to have any sympathy for her.

The story focuses in part on lab animals who are sacrificed for medical research, and it really felt like the characters in this novel all got sacrificed for some greater purpose...but I am not sure what that purpose was.

This novel got me thinking, and I am still thinking about it. But...if you like your spooky stories straightforward and not too cerebral, stay away from this one.

Such potential...

The woman reading the book gave it an air of mystery and intrigue--her voice echoed the lyrical prose of the author and gave it the correct amount of suspense. Sadly, the story itself, was a jumble of ideas, genres, characters, and perspective. I kept listening, due mainly because I could sense and imagine where the book could have gone. There was such wonderful potential for this book--an ending that could have left me surprised and energized, but failed. I thrill to the prospect of finding a new story from an author new to me. When I read a book that leaves me wanting to immediately order every book by that author, I am in book reader heaven. This book, for me, did not do that.

fascinating but...

First of all the back story is incredibly interesting and imaginative but the characters were so flat and irritating. I had no sympathy for any of them and that perturbs me. I like a good story where I can latch on the one character, at least. I wish that the author had humanized them a bit more. I mean, it seemed that there was an attempt to humanize them but there is more to a human being than their flaws. Flaws and deep depression are all you get with these characters.

Slow but worth it.

I came away from Ghostwalk with a much deeper appreciation for the 17th century, Cambridge and especially Isaac Newton. Story was very well woven into the past and historical facts. Loved the narrator's accent - it really lent credibility to the story.

not a mystery

1.This is a romance, not a mystery.
2. There is blessed little "history" in this historical non-mystery.
That said, I'm sure the story is just fine for romance readers/listeners. The narrator is fine. I should have cross-referenced the title before I bought it.

Boring!!

This book was so boring it seemed to go on forever. Good bedtime reading...if you want to go to sleep.

Say what?

This nonsense wandered here and there to no apparent point, and little interest. It was fatally crippled to start with, with her game-y presentation, as talking to her boyfriend. As she described the goings on to him, that he'd been present at and part of, it was just too lame to bear. And even without that, people's actions and reactions didn't ring true. The ghosts were also unconvincing. Either the plot or the subplot could have been very interesting, but ended up limp and flabby.

AUDIO: Another good reader -- yay! She has a nice voice and good skills. Unfortunately, due to the gormless content, she frequently sounds like one's ding-y aunt who always wants to heal you with crystals.

Ghostwalk

This book was OK, but the plot moved way, way too slowly. Also, the reader was reading.