Dragonwyck

By: Anya Seton

Narrated by: Hillary Huber

Length: 16 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

In the spring of 1844, the Wells family receives a letter from a distant relative, the wealthy landowner Nicholas Van Ryn. He has invited one of their daughters for an extended visit at his Hudson Valley estate, Dragonwyck. Eighteen-year-old Miranda, bored with her local suitors and commonplace life on the farm, leaps at the chance for escape. She immediately falls under the spell of the master and his mansion, mesmerized by the Gothic towers, flowering gardens, and luxurious lifestyle - unaware of the dark, terrible secrets that await.

©1944 Anya Seton Chase (P)2015 Tantor

Uneven but enjoyable

I've loved this story since I was a little girl, but I really struggled with the narration. She read, in my opinion, in an overly arch manner and an abundance of vocal fry. She generally did really well with anyone with a strong accent, but made most female characters, including our heroine, sound like simpering ninnies. I found it rather distracting, but still do recommend anyone interested to give it a try

Good Gothic

This is a good gothic mystery. Some might find the pacing slow, but it was written in a different era, and it shows. This doesn’t make it an unenjoyable read; it’s just not contemporary fiction. Give it a shot and then perhaps check out the other Anya Seton books.

Dragonwyck’s Evaluation

The story is predictable but the fluent use of grammar is superb! Anya Seton is an artistic storyteller and her use of adjectives is outstanding.

Anya Seton is “ the American author “

Anything she writes is just outstanding the only reason I can say is that the performance of the narrator is bad is she has a monotone voice and that grates on the nerves something terrible, her intimate descriptions are amazing but the narrators makes you cringe at the idea of intimacy.

I can not listen to it so I will be looking for a book copy

It was ok

This book was ok. Kept me entertained while working. It was extremely slow though. Only good for background listening. I walked away for about an hour at one point and when I came back I hadn't missed anything.

A Little known Classic

I have loved this book since I was a young girl.
Although it would not be considered politically correct in today’s climate it is a timeless story of good versus evil.
Splendidly narrated with emotion and clarity.

Slow Down Listening Speed

The narration is truly awful. I have never considered doing this before, but just push it to 1.1 speed and it works! This book was so much fun to read again. Historical? It is surely there. Ship races up the river. “Cinders and sparks”. Political aspects; attention to literature; differentiation between the results of American silly autocracy, expressing quite clearly the divisions of North/South, versus a rather charming impression of European attitude. So. Just the rest of it for me, as teenager. I was surely inattentive, focused on the romantic aspects. But oh my. This is just the author’s second novel. I hear so many future echoes. John and Katherine fully realized. And remembrance for myself. I don’t think this book should be considered critically; it’s a work in process. But lords, if you attempt to listen, up it to 1.1.

Awesome story.

The plot and characters were well developed and the narrator did an excellent job of bringing the whole story to life.

better than the movie

narrator's reading is a bit mechanical. at times it sounded like a computer generated reader

Too Predictable

Predictable from beginning to end. Obvious clues as to what will happen. More suspense needed