The Cartographer's Secret

By: Tea Cooper

Narrated by: Casey Withoos

Length: 10 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

A map into the past. A long-lost young woman. And a thirty-year family mystery.

The Hunter Valley, 1880. Evie Ludgrove loves to chart the landscape around her home - hardly surprising since she grew up in the shadow of her father’s obsession with the great Australian explorer Dr. Ludwig Leichhardt. So when an advertisement appears in The Bulletin magazine offering a thousand-pound reward for proof of where Leichhardt met his fate, Evie is determined to use her father’s papers to unravel the secret. But when Evie sets out to prove her theory, she vanishes without a trace, leaving behind a mystery that haunts her family for thirty years.

Letitia Rawlings arrives at the family estate in her Ford Model T to inform her great-aunt Olivia of a loss in their family. But Letitia is also escaping her own problems - her brother’s sudden death, her mother’s scheming, and her dissatisfaction with the life planned out for her. So when Letitia discovers a beautifully illustrated map that might hold a clue to the fate of her missing aunt, Evie Ludgrove, she sets out to discover the truth. But all is not as it seems, and Letitia begins to realize that solving the mystery of her family’s past could offer as much peril as redemption.

A gripping historical mystery for fans of Kate Morton and Natasha Lester’s The Paris Seamstress, The Cartographer’s Secret follows a young woman’s quest to heal a family rift as she becomes entangled in one of Australia’s greatest historical puzzles.

“A galvanizing, immersive adventure...forcing the characters to reckon with the choice found at the crux of passion and loyalty and the power of shared blood that can either destroy or heal.” (Joy Callaway, international bestselling author of The Fifth Avenue Artists Society)

• Daphne du Maurier Award Winner, 2021
• Historical story with both romance and mystery
• Full-length, stand-alone novel (c. 104,000 words)
• Also by Tea Cooper: The Woman in the Green Dress and The Girl in the Painting

©2021 Tea Cooper (P)2021 Thomas Nelson

What Happened to Evie?

Overall, it was a good story...and dont want to spoil it for other readers...but suffice it to say I was left a little unfulfilled. I guess the readers are left.to draw the same conclusions as Lettie and Aunt Olivia...

Intriguing read

This story, with 2 timelines, a feature of the 3 Tea Cooper books I’ve read so far, captured my interest the most, and kept me intrigued from beginning to end. I enjoyed it immensely.

rather uneventful story

a lot more could have been made out of this book. the historical notes at the end were the most enlightening.

Scattered storyline

Struggled to finish. Narration was stern and cold. Plot full of pointless turns. It's a corny love story disguised in an uncaptivating mystery that seems to be irrelevant to the end of the book.

Unispired Ending

Ms Cooper, writes a nice story and Ms Withoos does a very nice job on the narration, but the ending is so much less that I was expecting. It just kind of left me flat, like she ran out of time. I was disappointed, since I was looking for more.

The Cartographer's Secret

I have another book to share! I highly recommend this gripping sistorical mystery! The Cartographer's Secret is set in dual times as a young woman follows a quest to settle a mystery and settle a family rift! So good!

Great story

I really enjoyed this historical fictional story about Australia, mapmaking, and intertwining the automobile with horses.

A Snippet of Australia

Loved the description
Loved the history woven into a love story.
Love of the land. Love of the people

slow beginning

I almost stopped listening but thankful I didn't.
I was a bit confused in the beginning, but midway I got it straight.
enjoyable.

Fantastic historical fiction!

I have thoroughly enjoyed all of Tea Cooper's books thus far and The Cartographer's Secret was no exception. This book was so good - partly because the setting and plot were completely unique and different. I was transported. The audio performance was also very good!