Northern Rain

A North & South Variation

De: Nicole Clarkston

Narrado por: Stevie Zimmerman

There is nothing like a long walk in the rain to guarantee a little privacy...unless the last person you wish to encounter happens also to be in search of solitude.

John Thornton is a man of heavy responsibilities who has many things on his mind, but the most troublesome of them all is Margaret Hale. She wants nothing to do with him, and he wishes he could feel the same. When a moment of vulnerability allows her a glimpse into his heart, she begins to see him very differently.

Is something so simple as friendship even possible after all that has passed between them? Thornton has every good reason to move on, not the least of which is the lovely Genevieve Hamilton and her wealthy father. Will Thornton act according to duty and accept an opportunity to save his mill, or will he take a chance on love, hoping to change Margaret's mind?

©2016 Nicole Clarkston (P)2016 Nicole Clarkston

Solidly Good!

Very enjoyable story and Stevie Zimmerman (voice artist) is amazing! I loved the sound of her voice and the skill of her reading!

Northern Rain

I love the books by Nicole Clarkson. She does such a great story. Stevie Zimmerman is very easy to listen to. 5 stars for sure.

Well done

North and South is one of my favorite books. This variation is excellent. The story occasionally falters but the love story is intense and endearing. The rough Mr. Thornton and the demure and elegant Miss Hale are larger than life characters. The story line does not follow exactly the original book but I like how they portrayed Mrs.Thornton and Mr. Hale. The narrator does a superb job with Margaret and John and their conversations, their sighs and endearments.

Great read.

My first Fanfiction to North and South. It was a great read. So many likenesses to Pride and Prejudice. Only more modern times. Great narrative by Stevie Zimmerman as well.

Superbly written with fantastic narration

This rewrite of North and South exceeded expectation. This has been a favorite of mine for quite some time. The author remained true to the original with the personalities retaining their original inner thoughts and concerns. Loved this book. The narrator however in this Audible version was genius! I have listened to other books narrated by her but she outshines even her previous works. Her characters voices were believable and very convincing. The North and South dialects were so convincing I often felt it was being presented by more than one person. I will read more from this author and most definitely this narratt!

Solid on its own, and lovely as a variation

As a standalone novel this is a wonderful weekend listen/read with strong characters, plot, atmosphere, and social interest.
As a variation, this book shows Nicole Clarkston has a genuine understanding of and respect for Elizabeth Gaskell's style of writing. Although there is a bit more of a dramatic turn to some of the plot lines, this book infuses enough of Gaskell's voice to make this is a worthwhile variation. The characters are written pretty faithfully to the original, and although there were a couple of times I felt Margaret was slightly more unsure of herself than how I think Gaskell wrote her, and Fanny and a couple new characters were given a sort of villain makeover that felt more like Austen than Gaskell, overall the characters are mostly congruent to the originals. And with the more modern touch of narrating more directly from the characters' viewpoints, we get a bit more depth of understanding of their inner thoughts. And I enjoyed that Mrs. Thornton was featured more heavily.
Northern Rain does focus more narrowly on the romance than the original, but Clarkston thankfully also weaves in some social commentary/observation of the contemporary issues, along with some philosophical and moral questions, just as Gaskell did, upholding some of the complexity that makes the original North and South such a compelling classic.

I love this story so much

I’ve listened to this so many times. What CAN’t this author write? I love all of her Regency tales, highly rereadable and re-listenable. Even her contemporary cowboy stories are so full of heart. But I wish there were more of the North and South variations, they are just brilliant storytelling!

Highly recommended.

Decent story

This was a decent story. I thought the conflict was a bit far fetched and the resolution a bit confusing, but it was an enjoyable read. Narrator is enjoyable to listen to.

wonderful storyline

Narrator and narration is wonderful. Every character is brought to life in such a wonderful way through Stevie Zimmerman's narration.

Extremely frustrating

I did my best to like this book because I love North and South and I love reading variations of my favorite books. You will be frustrated through the majority of this book, not because of credible plot tensions, but because of the worst kind of literary failures. I almost never give bad reviews to books but I just could not continue on this one anymore. I DNF'd with less than 2 hours left because it's just that annoying.
First, the vast majority of this book is time wasted. The story could be told much more succinctly, but it just drags on and on with nothing much new. The conflict in this book is nothing more than a fight for a woman whom Thornton does not want to be with him instead of Margaret. The credibility of this being an actual conflict is ridiculous. The writer tries very hard to make it credible, even creating a legal case against Margaret at one point which is so cringey and eye rolling that it will have you fuming at the book. They are literally trying to blackmail Thornton into a marriage with another, but it's just such a contrived conflict that is frustrating as all get out.
Second, Margaret is so irritating, and the author has utilized one of the most aggravating literary weaknesses and plot tropes that exists which is when the FMC creates a contrived and weak and ridiculous reason to stay away from the MMC. When there's real conflict and a real reason keeping our couples apart, we can commiserate with them and feel frustrated with the world. But in this case you feel frustrated with Margaret because her reasons are so ridiculous and contrived that you just feel like there's something wrong with her brain.
Third, I don't know if the author is one of those cringy boy moms, but Mrs Thornton's thoughts and relationship with John Thornton is borderline incestuous. Like it literally made my stomach turn. At one point she uses the term "helpmeet" when describing who her son is to her and is jealous of Margaret. Yeah, not normal. And this is frustrating because we actually see a kinder side of Mrs Thornton, but this Freudian angle ruins it. I have two sons, I know how mothers love their sons. Loving your son like this is a mental health problem.
All that to say, this book could have been well done, but the conflicts are contrived, they drag on and on and just continually frustrate the reader, and the plot is unbelievable and lazy. I'm sorry to disparage an author, but books shouldn't piss you off this badly.