Palace of the Drowned

A Novel

By: Christine Mangan

Narrated by: Emily Pennant-Rea

Length: 10 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

"Emily Pennant-Rea delivers a first-rate narration of Mangan's intense novel...Pennant-Rea's subtlety and nuance keep the suspense high and the mystery edgy." (AudioFile Magazine)

From the best-selling author of Tangerine, a "taut and mesmerizing follow up...voluptuously atmospheric and surefooted at every turn” (Paula McLain, author of The Paris Wife and When the Stars Go Dark).

It’s 1966 and Frankie Croy retreats to her friend’s vacant palazzo in Venice. Years have passed since the initial success of Frankie’s debut novel and she has spent her career trying to live up to the expectations. Now, after a particularly scathing review of her most recent work, alongside a very public breakdown, she needs to recharge and get re-inspired.

Then Gilly appears. A precocious young admirer eager to make friends, Gilly seems determined to insinuate herself into Frankie’s solitary life. But there’s something about the young woman that gives Frankie pause. How much of what Gilly tells her is the truth? As a series of lies and revelations emerge, the lives of these two women will be tragically altered as the catastrophic 1966 flooding of Venice ravages the city.

Suspenseful and transporting, Christine Mangan's Palace of the Drowned brings the mystery of Venice to life while delivering a twisted tale of ambition and human nature.

A Macmillan Audio production from Flatiron Books

"In her taut and mesmerizing follow up to Tangerine, the preternaturally gifted Christine Mangan plunges us into another exotic and bewitchingly rendered locale...Voluptuously atmospheric and surefooted at every turn, Palace of the Drowned more than delivers on the promise of Mangan’s debut, and firmly establishes her as a writer of consequence." (Paula McLain, author of The Paris Wife and When the Stars Go Dark)

"If you like your psychological suspense stories awash in atmosphere, drenched in dread, positively soaked through with sinisterness, 'Palace of the Drowned,' by Christine Mangan is for you." (Washington Post)

©2021 Christine Mangan (P)2021 Macmillan Audio

Very good read

While it is true the book is very s l o w to accelerate the plot, this is a very good, I would actually say - excellent novel. I think the narrator really made the book bearable through the drudgery of the first half but once things started spinning out of control for Frankie the suspense kicked in and the story was on its way. So be patient and you will be rewarded. I was left with a couple questions I did not understand but still worthwhile and enjoyable. The narrator was superb!

So many cliches

Someone’s been reading too much Henry James. Every cliche imaginable about Venice, and the end is obvious from a VERY long way off.

Definitely not full of action

I am on Chapter 10 and still can’t tell where the story is going…….ug

Didn’t care for story. Liked Venice description

I thought the plot was very slow developing for a mystery. I did not like any character but Jack’s husband. The story descriptions of the setting were great but I like storms.

A waste of time.

I thought it was contrived, pointless and boring. At no point did I care one whit what happened to any of the vapid characters, or even like any of them. I only kept listening because a NYT editor recommended it! The reader did as good a job as possible with ehat she had to work with.

Dragged

narration was good. story meandered around with little purpose. characters were poorly fleshed out, though I think this was in an attempt to be mysterious.