• The Clockmaker's Daughter

  • By: Kate Morton
  • Narrated by: Joanne Froggatt
  • Length: 17 hrs and 3 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (14,516 ratings)

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The Clockmaker's Daughter  By  cover art

The Clockmaker's Daughter

By: Kate Morton
Narrated by: Joanne Froggatt
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Publisher's summary

Prepare to lose yourself in the enchanting new novel from Kate Morton.

'My father called me Birdie; he said I was his little bird. Others knew me as his child, the clockmaker’s daughter. Edward called me his muse, his destiny. I am remembered as a thief, an imposter, a girl who rose above her station, who was not chaste. My real name, no one remembers. The truth about that summer, no one else knows.'

In the summer of 1862, a group of young artists led by the passionate and talented Edward Radcliffe descends upon Birchwood Manor in rural Oxfordshire. Their plan: to spend a secluded summer month in a haze of inspiration and creativity. But by the time their stay is over, one woman has been shot dead while another has disappeared; a priceless heirloom is missing; and Edward Radcliffe’s life is in ruins.

Over 150 years later, Elodie Winslow, a young archivist in London, uncovers a leather satchel containing two seemingly unrelated items: a sepia photograph of an arresting-looking woman in Victorian clothing, and an artist’s sketchbook containing the drawing of a twin-gabled house on the bend of a river.

Why does Birchwood Manor feel so familiar to Elodie? And who is the beautiful woman in the photograph? Will she ever give up her secrets?

Told by multiple voices across time, The Clockmaker's Daughter is a story of murder, mystery and thievery, of art, love and loss. And flowing through it like a river is the voice of a woman who stands outside time, whose name has been forgotten by history but who has watched it all unfold: Birdie Bell, the clockmaker’s daughter.

©2018 Kate Morton (P)2018 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd

Critic reviews

"Joanne Froggatt, of 'Downton Abbey,' skillfully narrates this sweeping story of art, beauty, love, and murder.... Froggatt's precise diction makes listening a pleasure. She excels at inhabiting accents and personalities from each era in the layered narrative, both men and women from an array of backgrounds. Froggatt keeps the pace of this long novel moving and helps build suspense as the pieces of the puzzle start to fit together." (AudioFile)

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What listeners say about The Clockmaker's Daughter

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  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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The Clockmaker's Daughter

I really enjoy Kate Morton's books. There are a couple of suggestions I used in order to completely enjoy this book.

1. Pay attention, this is not a book that you can have on as background noise. The plot is very intricate.
2. I started a list of characters and their intersections.
3. Some of the transitions between characters is easy to miss and will leave you confused. (KM could have done a better job of that.)

The narration by Joanne Froggatt is excellent!!

The story begins in 1862 in an artists studio but quickly moves to 2017 in an archivist's office. It travels through time and residents of a house in Oxfordshire. All of them impacted one way or another by what happened there in the 1800, and current events in each characters time.

Highly recommend, though I have to say, I lost a weekend to this.

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705 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars

Audible fixed it! Ok, 4.5.

After speaking at great length with Audible, they straightened out the matter. Please give this book another try. (Delete the book from your device, then download it again.)

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501 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Start at chapter 24 to listen in the right order

This download is messed up. I think you need to start at chapter 24 and then go to chapter 1 after chapter 44. I still feel like something was missing. I liked the story but was very upset about how someone messed up the order. Somebody really owes the author and readers a huge apology.

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440 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Why the heck is the abridged version played first?!

Its pretty annoying that I listened to the abridged version without realizing it. These need spilt up! I detest abridged books.

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342 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great story, terrible download.

I purchased this audiobook well in advance of its release date as I've been anxiously waiting for the new Kate Morton book for a long time. I was so terribly disappointed by the jumbled download by Audible which essentially ruined a wonderful tale of twists and turns by revealing the ending too soon. Since Kate Morton books are known for weaving in and out of time and separate storylines, it didn't seem disjointed at first, but the chapter numbers didn't go in order. It wasn't until I got 6 hours in when I heard the author's note in the middle followed by the opening chapter that I fully realized what had happened. As other reviewers suggested, I deleted the book and downloaded it again, which seems to have fixed things. However, at this point I've already heard the shocking ending, and I'm incredibly annoyed since the joy of the tale slowly unfolding with details and the ending being revealed at the right time was taken away from me. Listening it to again now in the proper order from the beginning even though much is a repeat. Audible, you've really messed this one up!

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222 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Confused! But Loved the book! What a story!

I don't know what to say about this book. I preordered, couldn't wait to read but am so confused I don't know what to do. I read the reviews, someone said the download was out of chapter order so I decided to delete and download again. It didn't help, my chapters are all over the place! Now I'm listening to this Ada person in India, what does she have to do with the anything! I'm so confused. I'm at chapter 13, I think, it reads chapter 13 but the narration tells me chapter 5. I've never had this happen. I'm thinking maybe I should return the book, buy the hardback. I even called audible, they told me to download in multi instead of standard. That was a mistake. Has anyone read the whole book? Maybe I'll just skip to the end!
Now that I've redownloaded the book twice, started again, went back several times to re-read some chapters I understand the happenings, I was confused and I have to say couldn't remember some of the characters until I thought about it for a while. The ending confused me (guess just couldn't get it together). Who ended up with the necklace? I don't want to re-read the book, someone please email me and let me know? deb49horses@yahoo.com.

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138 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

JUST SO PISSED!!!

I spent 9 hours trying to determine if Morton was brilliant or insane in this wonderful story all jumbled up - as if she wrote this great novel, cut out all the chapters, mixed them up on the kitchen table and then straightened the papers together and had them published - I even double-checked to make sure the beginning was an UNABRIDGED version and they say it IS! I was still puzzled when in the MIDDLE when I heard what was clearly the end in Chapter 23 (via Audibles "winding Down music", followed by Authors Note---YET THERE ARE TILL NINE HOURS REMAINING IN THE BOOK! I chuckled at Morton's fearlessness at even this strategy, confident that in the following 9 hours she would make it all clear and I would be stunned in wonder!!! Then I was so angry - particularly on this long road trip- to realize that Chapter 24 STARTS THE WHOLE BOOK OVER, beginning in an even different Place!! AND THEN SHE SAYS AGAIN ITS AN UNABRIDGED VERSION!!!
I don't know whether to proceed with reading it again from here or return the book because of this whole experience! Could some Liane Moriarty and Kate Morton long-term fan please advise me???

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136 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Missing the Ending

Awesome until the end. It ends abruptly with a lot of unanswered questions, so much so that I thought the book had not downloaded properly and tried over and over to get the entire book downloaded. Unfortunately that was the entire book. I wish I had not read it at all now. It was beautifully written and hard to put down. What a letdown at the end. The other books by
this author are incredible!

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128 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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I’m so confused

Wow what a story. So many characters so many people so many unfinished dangling stories with no conclusion I usually love Kate Morton’s book but this one was ok without being great.

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    2 out of 5 stars
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Unfinished

I've listed to all of Kate Morton's previous books. I don't know what happened, here, but the book is unfinished. It's as if she hit her due date for submission and handed in an unfinished novel. Nothing is really resolved. Very frustrating after 17 hours of listening. There were multiple story lines needing to be wrapped up when we were suddenly at the author's note. I hope she finishes the book so it can be rereleased.

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