-
The Quickening Maze
- Narrated by: Graeme Malcolm
- Length: 6 hrs and 36 mins
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed

pick 2 free titles with trial.
Buy for $18.26
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Wicked
- The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
- By: Gregory Maguire
- Narrated by: John McDonough
- Length: 19 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Heralded as an instant classic of fantasy literature, Maguire has written a wonderfully imaginative retelling of The Wizard of Oz told from the Wicked Witch's point of view. More than just a fairy tale for adults, Wicked is a meditation on the nature of good and evil.
-
-
It's not easy being green
- By PangaeaReads on 07-30-08
By: Gregory Maguire
-
The Marriage Portrait
- A Novel
- By: Maggie O'Farrell
- Narrated by: Genevieve Gaunt, Maggie O'Farrell
- Length: 13 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Florence, the 1550s. Lucrezia, third daughter of the grand duke, is comfortable with her obscure place in the palazzo: free to wonder at its treasures, observe its clandestine workings, and to devote herself to her own artistic pursuits. But when her older sister dies on the eve of her wedding, Lucrezia is thrust into the limelight: the duke is quick to request her hand in marriage, and her father just as quick to accept on her behalf. Having barely left girlhood behind, Lucrezia must make her way in a court whose customs are opaque and where her arrival is not universally welcomed.
-
-
If You Love Alternate Histories, Get This
- By Jim on 09-26-22
By: Maggie O'Farrell
-
Once Upon a River
- By: Diane Setterfield
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 16 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A body always tells a story - but this child’s was a blank page. Rita reached for the lantern. She trained its light on the child’s face. "Who are you?" she murmured, but the face said as little as the rest of her. It was impossible to tell whether, in life, these blunt and unfinished features had borne the imprint of prettiness, timid watchfulness, or sly mischief. If there had once been curiosity or placidity or impatience here, life had not had time to etch it into permanence. Only a very short time ago, the body and soul of this little girl had still been securely attached.
-
-
Enjoyed thoroughly... one minor glitch
- By Jen817 on 12-27-18
-
Washington Black
- A Novel
- By: Esi Edugyan
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
- Length: 12 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
George Washington Black, or "Wash", an 11-year-old field slave on a Barbados sugar plantation, is terrified to be chosen by his master's brother as his manservant. To his surprise, the eccentric Christopher Wilde turns out to be a naturalist, explorer, inventor, and abolitionist. Soon Wash is initiated into a world where a flying machine can carry a man across the sky, where even a boy born in chains may embrace a life of dignity and meaning - and where two people, separated by an impossible divide, can begin to see each other as human. But when a man is killed and a bounty is placed on Wash's head, Christopher and Wash must abandon everything.
-
-
Now what do I do?
- By Mary L. Doyle on 10-04-18
By: Esi Edugyan
-
Burial Rites
- A Novel
- By: Hannah Kent
- Narrated by: Morven Christie
- Length: 11 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A brilliant literary debut, inspired by a true story: the final days of a young woman accused of murder in Iceland in 1829. Set against Iceland's stark landscape, Hannah Kent brings to vivid life the story of Agnes, who, charged with the brutal murder of her former master, is sent to an isolated farm to await execution. Horrified at the prospect of housing a convicted murderer, the family at first avoids Agnes. Only TĂłti, a priest Agnes has mysteriously chosen to be her spiritual guardian, seeks to understand her.
-
-
Cannot stop thinking about this book
- By Sam - Audible on 11-04-15
By: Hannah Kent
-
The Tell Tale
- A Small Town, Enduring Love, a Web of Secrets
- By: Clare Ashton
- Narrated by: Lucy Rayner
- Length: 12 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bethan Griffiths has returned home for Christmas to unwrap secrets. It's the 1970s and she is back in the village of Foel in the Welsh hills to raise her daughter. They arrive to the open arms of her family and the community, but not all is what it seems, and Beth isn't home for the reason she pretends, either. Vicious notes start appearing that reveal harsh truths about the village inhabitants, stirring up ancient pasts, old loves, and the dead. Not even local dignitary, the elegant and aloof Lady Melling who hides in her manor house, is safe from the accusations.
-
-
Wonderful story!
- By Julie M on 04-05-22
By: Clare Ashton
-
Wicked
- The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
- By: Gregory Maguire
- Narrated by: John McDonough
- Length: 19 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Heralded as an instant classic of fantasy literature, Maguire has written a wonderfully imaginative retelling of The Wizard of Oz told from the Wicked Witch's point of view. More than just a fairy tale for adults, Wicked is a meditation on the nature of good and evil.
-
-
It's not easy being green
- By PangaeaReads on 07-30-08
By: Gregory Maguire
-
The Marriage Portrait
- A Novel
- By: Maggie O'Farrell
- Narrated by: Genevieve Gaunt, Maggie O'Farrell
- Length: 13 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Florence, the 1550s. Lucrezia, third daughter of the grand duke, is comfortable with her obscure place in the palazzo: free to wonder at its treasures, observe its clandestine workings, and to devote herself to her own artistic pursuits. But when her older sister dies on the eve of her wedding, Lucrezia is thrust into the limelight: the duke is quick to request her hand in marriage, and her father just as quick to accept on her behalf. Having barely left girlhood behind, Lucrezia must make her way in a court whose customs are opaque and where her arrival is not universally welcomed.
-
-
If You Love Alternate Histories, Get This
- By Jim on 09-26-22
By: Maggie O'Farrell
-
Once Upon a River
- By: Diane Setterfield
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 16 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A body always tells a story - but this child’s was a blank page. Rita reached for the lantern. She trained its light on the child’s face. "Who are you?" she murmured, but the face said as little as the rest of her. It was impossible to tell whether, in life, these blunt and unfinished features had borne the imprint of prettiness, timid watchfulness, or sly mischief. If there had once been curiosity or placidity or impatience here, life had not had time to etch it into permanence. Only a very short time ago, the body and soul of this little girl had still been securely attached.
-
-
Enjoyed thoroughly... one minor glitch
- By Jen817 on 12-27-18
-
Washington Black
- A Novel
- By: Esi Edugyan
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
- Length: 12 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
George Washington Black, or "Wash", an 11-year-old field slave on a Barbados sugar plantation, is terrified to be chosen by his master's brother as his manservant. To his surprise, the eccentric Christopher Wilde turns out to be a naturalist, explorer, inventor, and abolitionist. Soon Wash is initiated into a world where a flying machine can carry a man across the sky, where even a boy born in chains may embrace a life of dignity and meaning - and where two people, separated by an impossible divide, can begin to see each other as human. But when a man is killed and a bounty is placed on Wash's head, Christopher and Wash must abandon everything.
-
-
Now what do I do?
- By Mary L. Doyle on 10-04-18
By: Esi Edugyan
-
Burial Rites
- A Novel
- By: Hannah Kent
- Narrated by: Morven Christie
- Length: 11 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A brilliant literary debut, inspired by a true story: the final days of a young woman accused of murder in Iceland in 1829. Set against Iceland's stark landscape, Hannah Kent brings to vivid life the story of Agnes, who, charged with the brutal murder of her former master, is sent to an isolated farm to await execution. Horrified at the prospect of housing a convicted murderer, the family at first avoids Agnes. Only TĂłti, a priest Agnes has mysteriously chosen to be her spiritual guardian, seeks to understand her.
-
-
Cannot stop thinking about this book
- By Sam - Audible on 11-04-15
By: Hannah Kent
-
The Tell Tale
- A Small Town, Enduring Love, a Web of Secrets
- By: Clare Ashton
- Narrated by: Lucy Rayner
- Length: 12 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bethan Griffiths has returned home for Christmas to unwrap secrets. It's the 1970s and she is back in the village of Foel in the Welsh hills to raise her daughter. They arrive to the open arms of her family and the community, but not all is what it seems, and Beth isn't home for the reason she pretends, either. Vicious notes start appearing that reveal harsh truths about the village inhabitants, stirring up ancient pasts, old loves, and the dead. Not even local dignitary, the elegant and aloof Lady Melling who hides in her manor house, is safe from the accusations.
-
-
Wonderful story!
- By Julie M on 04-05-22
By: Clare Ashton
-
The Unseen
- A Novel
- By: Katherine Webb
- Narrated by: Clare Wille
- Length: 15 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A vicar with a passion for nature, the Reverend Albert Canning leads a happy existence with his naive wife, Hester, in their sleepy Berkshire village in the year 1911. But as the English summer dawns, the Cannings' lives are forever changed by two new arrivals: Cat, their new maid, a disaffected, free-spirited young woman sent down from London after entanglements with the law; and Robin Durrant, a leading expert in the occult, enticed by tales of elemental beings in the water meadows nearby.
-
-
Great book!
- By Dana on 09-03-12
By: Katherine Webb
-
The Age of Wonder
- How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science
- By: Richard Holmes
- Narrated by: Gildart Jackson
- Length: 21 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When young Joseph Banks stepped onto a Tahitian beach in 1769, he hoped to discover Paradise. Inspired by the scientific ferment sweeping through Britain, the botanist had sailed with Captain Cook in search of new worlds. Other voyages of discovery—astronomical, chemical, poetical, philosophical—swiftly follow in Richard Holmes's thrilling evocation of the second scientific revolution.
-
-
Misleading title
- By Diane on 08-04-11
By: Richard Holmes
-
The Misbegotten
- By: Katherine Webb
- Narrated by: Jacqueline King
- Length: 17 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bath, 1821: Rachel Crofton escapes her unhappy employment as a governess by marrying a self-made businessman. But her new life soon takes an unexpected turn. Reclusive Jonathan Alleyn is a man tormented by the disappearance of his childhood sweetheart, Alice. Starling, foundling child and now servant, is convinced that Alice, the woman she loved as a sister, was stolen from her. Did Alice run away? Or did something altogether more sinister occur? As Starling tries to expose the lies behind Bath's immaculate facades, others want only to forget, and will go to extreme lengths to do so.
-
-
Wouldn't recommend due to narration
- By Mat Goldman on 02-18-23
By: Katherine Webb
-
The Essex Serpent
- A Novel
- By: Sarah Perry
- Narrated by: Juanita McMahon
- Length: 14 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Cora Seaborne's brilliant, domineering husband dies, she steps into her new life as a widow with as much relief as sadness: her marriage was not a happy one. Wed at 19, this woman of exceptional intelligence and curiosity was ill-suited for the role of society wife. Seeking refuge in fresh air and open space in the wake of the funeral, Cora leaves London for a visit to coastal Essex, accompanied by her inquisitive and obsessive 11-year old son, Francis, and the boy's nanny, Martha.
-
-
Unbearable Narrator
- By ACB on 06-08-17
By: Sarah Perry
-
All the Truth That's in Me
- By: Julie Berry
- Narrated by: Kathleen McInerney
- Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Four years ago, Judith and her best friend disappeared from their small town of Roswell Station. Two years ago, only Judith returned, permanently mutilated, reviled and ignored by those who were once her friends and family. Unable to speak, Judith lives like a ghost in her own home, silently pouring out her thoughts to the boy who's owned her heart as long as she can remember - even if he doesn't know it - her childhood friend, Lucas.
-
-
Very enjoyable
- By Amy on 03-26-14
By: Julie Berry
-
The Vorrh
- By: Brian Catling
- Narrated by: Allan Corduner
- Length: 17 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Next to the colonial town of Essenwald sits the Vorrh, a vast - perhaps endless - forest. It is a place of demons and angels, of warriors and priests. Sentient and magical, the Vorrh bends time and wipes memory. Legend has it that the Garden of Eden still exists at its heart. Now a renegade English soldier aims to be the first human to traverse its expanse. Armed with only a strange bow, he begins his journey, but some fear the consequences of his mission, and a native marksman has been chosen to stop him.
-
-
Mixed feelings
- By Christopher Torgersen on 09-05-15
By: Brian Catling
-
Spinning the Moon
- By: Karen White
- Narrated by: Susan Bennett, Pilar Witherspoon
- Length: 26 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the Shadow of the Moon: When Laura Truitt first sees the dilapidated plantation house, she's overcome by a sense of familiarity. Inside, the owner claims to have been waiting for years and offers an old photograph of a woman with Laura's face. Soon afterward, when a lunar eclipse inexplicably thrusts Laura back in time to Civil War Georgia, she finds herself fighting not just for her heart but for her very survival.
-
-
not very entertaining.
- By KAKW on 10-20-16
By: Karen White
-
All Out
- The No-Longer-Secret Stories of Queer Teens Throughout the Ages
- By: Saundra Mitchell
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin, Allison Hiroto, Christian Barillas, and others
- Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Seventeen young adult authors across the queer spectrum have come together to create a collection of beautifully written diverse historical fiction for teens. From a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood set in war-torn 1870s Mexico featuring a transgender soldier, to two girls falling in love while mourning the death of Kurt Cobain, forbidden love in a 16th-century Spanish convent, or an asexual girl discovering her identity amid the 1970s roller-disco scene, All Out tells a diverse range of stories across cultures, time periods and identities, shedding light on an area of history often ignored or forgotten. Â
-
-
Every Book Should Be This Book
- By luc on 12-23-19
By: Saundra Mitchell
-
The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse
- By: Louise Erdrich
- Narrated by: Anna Fields
- Length: 14 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For more than a half century, Father Damien Modeste has served his beloved people, the Ojibwe, on the remote reservation of Little No Horse. Now, nearing the end of his life, Father Damien dreads the discovery of his physical identity, for he is a woman who has lived as a man. To complicate his fears, his quiet life changes when a troubled colleague comes to the reservation to investigate the life of the perplexing, difficult, possibly false saint Sister Leopolda.
-
-
This is Pulitzer material, folks
- By Malcolm on 02-03-05
By: Louise Erdrich
-
A Great and Terrible Beauty
- By: Libba Bray
- Narrated by: Josephine Bailey
- Length: 11 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's 1895, and after the suicide of her mother, 16-year-old Gemma Doyle is shipped off from the life she knows in India to Spence, a proper boarding school in England. Lonely, guilt-ridden, and prone to visions of the future that have an uncomfortable habit of coming true, Gemma's reception there is a chilly one.
-
-
More Details, please!
- By Beverly on 02-04-06
By: Libba Bray
-
The Wolf and the Watchman
- 1793: A Novel
- By: Niklas Natt och Dag
- Narrated by: Matt Addis, Caspar Rundegren, Clara Andersson
- Length: 13 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is 1793. When Mickel Cardell, a crippled ex-soldier and former night watchman, finds a mutilated body floating in the Stockholm’s malodorous lake, he feels compelled to give the unidentifiable man a proper burial. For Cecil Winge, a brilliant lawyer turned consulting detective to the Stockholm police, a body with no arms, legs, or eyes is a formidable puzzle and one last chance to set things right before he loses his battle to consumption. Together, Winge and Cardell scour Stockholm to discover the body’s identity, encountering the sordid underbelly of the city’s elite.
-
-
WAY too dark and gruesome
- By Patrick Greiffenstein on 11-13-19
-
Instruments of Darkness
- A Novel
- By: Imogen Robertson
- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the year 1780, Harriet Westerman, the willful mistress of a country manor in Sussex, finds a dead man on her grounds with a ring bearing the crest of Thornleigh Hall in his pocket. Not one to be bound by convention or to shy away from adventure, she recruits a reclusive local anatomist named Gabriel Crowther to help her find the murderer, and historical suspense's newest investigative duo is born.
-
-
Not The Best, But Not Too Bad...
- By MJ on 01-13-13
By: Imogen Robertson
Publisher's Summary
Based on real events, The Quickening Maze won over UK critics and readers alike with its rapturous prose and vivid exploration of poetry and madness. In 1837, after years of struggling with alcoholism and depression, the great nature poet John Clare finds himself in High Beach—a mental institution located in Epping Forest on the outskirts of London. It is not long before another famed writer, the young Alfred Tennyson, moves nearby and grows entwined in the catastrophic schemes of the hospital’s owner, the peculiar Dr. Matthew Allen, his lonely adolescent daughter, and a coterie of mysterious local characters. With lyrical grace, the cloistered world of High Beach and its residents are brought richly to life in this enchanting book.
Critic Reviews
More from the same
What listeners say about The Quickening Maze
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- L. Wilson
- 12-10-12
Beautiful prose but story fell flat
I was eager to hear this story due to my love of poetry and interest in the link between poetry and mental illness. So much of this was beautifully written and narrated, but I found it hard to follow the constantly changing point of view. I thought too many stories were told without greater effect for having included them. Overall, gorgeus but ultimately boring.
2 people found this helpful
Related to this topic
-
The Unseen
- A Novel
- By: Katherine Webb
- Narrated by: Clare Wille
- Length: 15 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A vicar with a passion for nature, the Reverend Albert Canning leads a happy existence with his naive wife, Hester, in their sleepy Berkshire village in the year 1911. But as the English summer dawns, the Cannings' lives are forever changed by two new arrivals: Cat, their new maid, a disaffected, free-spirited young woman sent down from London after entanglements with the law; and Robin Durrant, a leading expert in the occult, enticed by tales of elemental beings in the water meadows nearby.
-
-
Great book!
- By Dana on 09-03-12
By: Katherine Webb
-
The Girl from Rawblood
- A Novel
- By: Catriona Ward
- Narrated by: Liz Pearce, Steven Crossley, John Keating, and others
- Length: 14 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1910, 11-year-old Iris Villarca lives with her father at Rawblood, a lonely house on Dartmoor. Iris and her father are the last of their name. The Villarcas always die young, bloodily. Iris knows it's because of a congenital disease that means she must be strictly isolated. Papa told her so. Forbidden to speak to other children or the servants, denied her one friend, Iris grows up in solitude. But she reads books. And one sunlit autumn day, beside her mother's grave, she forces the truth from her father. The disease is biologically impossible. A lie to cover a darker secret.
-
-
I have no idea what this was about
- By Rachel on 11-11-21
By: Catriona Ward
-
The Essex Serpent
- A Novel
- By: Sarah Perry
- Narrated by: Juanita McMahon
- Length: 14 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Cora Seaborne's brilliant, domineering husband dies, she steps into her new life as a widow with as much relief as sadness: her marriage was not a happy one. Wed at 19, this woman of exceptional intelligence and curiosity was ill-suited for the role of society wife. Seeking refuge in fresh air and open space in the wake of the funeral, Cora leaves London for a visit to coastal Essex, accompanied by her inquisitive and obsessive 11-year old son, Francis, and the boy's nanny, Martha.
-
-
Unbearable Narrator
- By ACB on 06-08-17
By: Sarah Perry
-
All the Truth That's in Me
- By: Julie Berry
- Narrated by: Kathleen McInerney
- Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Four years ago, Judith and her best friend disappeared from their small town of Roswell Station. Two years ago, only Judith returned, permanently mutilated, reviled and ignored by those who were once her friends and family. Unable to speak, Judith lives like a ghost in her own home, silently pouring out her thoughts to the boy who's owned her heart as long as she can remember - even if he doesn't know it - her childhood friend, Lucas.
-
-
Very enjoyable
- By Amy on 03-26-14
By: Julie Berry
-
The Vorrh
- By: Brian Catling
- Narrated by: Allan Corduner
- Length: 17 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Next to the colonial town of Essenwald sits the Vorrh, a vast - perhaps endless - forest. It is a place of demons and angels, of warriors and priests. Sentient and magical, the Vorrh bends time and wipes memory. Legend has it that the Garden of Eden still exists at its heart. Now a renegade English soldier aims to be the first human to traverse its expanse. Armed with only a strange bow, he begins his journey, but some fear the consequences of his mission, and a native marksman has been chosen to stop him.
-
-
Mixed feelings
- By Christopher Torgersen on 09-05-15
By: Brian Catling
-
Spinning the Moon
- By: Karen White
- Narrated by: Susan Bennett, Pilar Witherspoon
- Length: 26 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the Shadow of the Moon: When Laura Truitt first sees the dilapidated plantation house, she's overcome by a sense of familiarity. Inside, the owner claims to have been waiting for years and offers an old photograph of a woman with Laura's face. Soon afterward, when a lunar eclipse inexplicably thrusts Laura back in time to Civil War Georgia, she finds herself fighting not just for her heart but for her very survival.
-
-
not very entertaining.
- By KAKW on 10-20-16
By: Karen White
-
The Unseen
- A Novel
- By: Katherine Webb
- Narrated by: Clare Wille
- Length: 15 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A vicar with a passion for nature, the Reverend Albert Canning leads a happy existence with his naive wife, Hester, in their sleepy Berkshire village in the year 1911. But as the English summer dawns, the Cannings' lives are forever changed by two new arrivals: Cat, their new maid, a disaffected, free-spirited young woman sent down from London after entanglements with the law; and Robin Durrant, a leading expert in the occult, enticed by tales of elemental beings in the water meadows nearby.
-
-
Great book!
- By Dana on 09-03-12
By: Katherine Webb
-
The Girl from Rawblood
- A Novel
- By: Catriona Ward
- Narrated by: Liz Pearce, Steven Crossley, John Keating, and others
- Length: 14 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1910, 11-year-old Iris Villarca lives with her father at Rawblood, a lonely house on Dartmoor. Iris and her father are the last of their name. The Villarcas always die young, bloodily. Iris knows it's because of a congenital disease that means she must be strictly isolated. Papa told her so. Forbidden to speak to other children or the servants, denied her one friend, Iris grows up in solitude. But she reads books. And one sunlit autumn day, beside her mother's grave, she forces the truth from her father. The disease is biologically impossible. A lie to cover a darker secret.
-
-
I have no idea what this was about
- By Rachel on 11-11-21
By: Catriona Ward
-
The Essex Serpent
- A Novel
- By: Sarah Perry
- Narrated by: Juanita McMahon
- Length: 14 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Cora Seaborne's brilliant, domineering husband dies, she steps into her new life as a widow with as much relief as sadness: her marriage was not a happy one. Wed at 19, this woman of exceptional intelligence and curiosity was ill-suited for the role of society wife. Seeking refuge in fresh air and open space in the wake of the funeral, Cora leaves London for a visit to coastal Essex, accompanied by her inquisitive and obsessive 11-year old son, Francis, and the boy's nanny, Martha.
-
-
Unbearable Narrator
- By ACB on 06-08-17
By: Sarah Perry
-
All the Truth That's in Me
- By: Julie Berry
- Narrated by: Kathleen McInerney
- Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Four years ago, Judith and her best friend disappeared from their small town of Roswell Station. Two years ago, only Judith returned, permanently mutilated, reviled and ignored by those who were once her friends and family. Unable to speak, Judith lives like a ghost in her own home, silently pouring out her thoughts to the boy who's owned her heart as long as she can remember - even if he doesn't know it - her childhood friend, Lucas.
-
-
Very enjoyable
- By Amy on 03-26-14
By: Julie Berry
-
The Vorrh
- By: Brian Catling
- Narrated by: Allan Corduner
- Length: 17 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Next to the colonial town of Essenwald sits the Vorrh, a vast - perhaps endless - forest. It is a place of demons and angels, of warriors and priests. Sentient and magical, the Vorrh bends time and wipes memory. Legend has it that the Garden of Eden still exists at its heart. Now a renegade English soldier aims to be the first human to traverse its expanse. Armed with only a strange bow, he begins his journey, but some fear the consequences of his mission, and a native marksman has been chosen to stop him.
-
-
Mixed feelings
- By Christopher Torgersen on 09-05-15
By: Brian Catling
-
Spinning the Moon
- By: Karen White
- Narrated by: Susan Bennett, Pilar Witherspoon
- Length: 26 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the Shadow of the Moon: When Laura Truitt first sees the dilapidated plantation house, she's overcome by a sense of familiarity. Inside, the owner claims to have been waiting for years and offers an old photograph of a woman with Laura's face. Soon afterward, when a lunar eclipse inexplicably thrusts Laura back in time to Civil War Georgia, she finds herself fighting not just for her heart but for her very survival.
-
-
not very entertaining.
- By KAKW on 10-20-16
By: Karen White
-
A Great and Terrible Beauty
- By: Libba Bray
- Narrated by: Josephine Bailey
- Length: 11 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's 1895, and after the suicide of her mother, 16-year-old Gemma Doyle is shipped off from the life she knows in India to Spence, a proper boarding school in England. Lonely, guilt-ridden, and prone to visions of the future that have an uncomfortable habit of coming true, Gemma's reception there is a chilly one.
-
-
More Details, please!
- By Beverly on 02-04-06
By: Libba Bray
-
Instruments of Darkness
- A Novel
- By: Imogen Robertson
- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the year 1780, Harriet Westerman, the willful mistress of a country manor in Sussex, finds a dead man on her grounds with a ring bearing the crest of Thornleigh Hall in his pocket. Not one to be bound by convention or to shy away from adventure, she recruits a reclusive local anatomist named Gabriel Crowther to help her find the murderer, and historical suspense's newest investigative duo is born.
-
-
Not The Best, But Not Too Bad...
- By MJ on 01-13-13
By: Imogen Robertson
-
Undermajordomo Minor
- A Novel
- By: Patrick deWitt
- Narrated by: Simon Prebble
- Length: 7 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lucien (Lucy) Minor is the resident odd duck in the bucolic hamlet of Bury. Friendless and loveless, young and aimless, Lucy is a compulsive liar, a sickly weakling in a town famous for producing brutish giants. Then Lucy accepts employment assisting the Majordomo of the remote, foreboding Castle Von Aux.
-
-
Sometimes a train is just a train
- By Darwin8u on 09-21-15
By: Patrick deWitt
-
Wolf Winter
- By: Cecilia Ekback
- Narrated by: Alyssa Bresnahan
- Length: 12 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Swedish Lapland, 1717. Maija, her husband Paavo and her daughters Frederika and Dorotea arrive from their native Finland, hoping to forget the traumas of their past and put down new roots in this harsh but beautiful land. Above them looms BlackAsen, a mountain whose foreboding presence looms over the valley and whose dark history seems to haunt the lives of those who live in its shadow.
-
-
So atmospheric, it hurts
- By Bookmarque on 08-24-15
By: Cecilia Ekback
-
The Pale Blue Eye
- By: Louis Bayard
- Narrated by: Charles Leggett
- Length: 15 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When the body of a suicide victim disappears at West Point Military Academy in 1831, only to be discovered hours later missing its heart, the Academy calls on retired detective Gus Landor to investigate. Landor is something of a legend among his peers, noted for an uncanny, Holmesian ability to read people. When Edgar Allan Poe, a new cadet, comes forth with his own cryptic conclusion—that the man Landor is looking for is a poet—Landor is intrigued and enlists Poe as his assistant.
-
-
Could not get through it
- By Amazon Customer on 10-25-15
By: Louis Bayard
-
The River of No Return
- By: Bee Ridgway
- Narrated by: Samuel Roukin
- Length: 18 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bee Ridgway’s wildly inventive debut novel, The River of No Return, blends romance, conspiracy, and time travel for a tale sure to intrigue listeners. When soldier and aristocrat Nick Falcott is sent from a Napoleonic battlefield in 1815 to modern-day London, he never expects to go back - until the Guild calls for him. Returning home as if from the dead, Nick reunites with his lost love, Julia Percy, and enlists her help in finding a mysterious object known as the Talisman.
-
-
great book, but sudden ending ruined the good will
- By Shelly on 04-27-14
By: Bee Ridgway
-
The Miniaturist
- By: Jessie Burton
- Narrated by: Davina Porter
- Length: 13 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On a brisk autumn day in 1686, 18-year-old Nella Oortman arrives in Amsterdam to begin a new life as the wife of illustrious merchant trader Johannes Brandt. But her new home, while splendorous, is not welcoming. Johannes is kind yet distant, always locked in his study or at his warehouse office - leaving Nella alone with his sister, the sharp-tongued and forbidding Marin.
-
-
Too Many Holes
- By Cariola on 11-02-14
By: Jessie Burton
-
Once Upon a River
- By: Diane Setterfield
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 16 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A body always tells a story - but this child’s was a blank page. Rita reached for the lantern. She trained its light on the child’s face. "Who are you?" she murmured, but the face said as little as the rest of her. It was impossible to tell whether, in life, these blunt and unfinished features had borne the imprint of prettiness, timid watchfulness, or sly mischief. If there had once been curiosity or placidity or impatience here, life had not had time to etch it into permanence. Only a very short time ago, the body and soul of this little girl had still been securely attached.
-
-
Enjoyed thoroughly... one minor glitch
- By Jen817 on 12-27-18
-
House of Furies
- By: Madeleine Roux
- Narrated by: Billie Fulford-Brown
- Length: 8 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After escaping a harsh school where punishment was the lesson of the day, 17-year-old Louisa Ditton is thrilled to find employment as a maid at a boardinghouse. But soon after her arrival at Coldthistle House, Louisa begins to realize that the house's mysterious owner, Mr. Morningside, is providing much more than lodging for his guests. Far from a place of rest, the house is a place of judgment, and Mr. Morningside and his unusual staff are meant to execute their own justice on those who are past being saved.
-
-
One of the characters is Satan..lots of the occult
- By Angela Briggs on 07-25-19
By: Madeleine Roux
-
Wicked
- The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
- By: Gregory Maguire
- Narrated by: John McDonough
- Length: 19 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Heralded as an instant classic of fantasy literature, Maguire has written a wonderfully imaginative retelling of The Wizard of Oz told from the Wicked Witch's point of view. More than just a fairy tale for adults, Wicked is a meditation on the nature of good and evil.
-
-
It's not easy being green
- By PangaeaReads on 07-30-08
By: Gregory Maguire
-
The Book of Magic
- By: Gardner Dozois - editor, Scott Lynch, Elizabeth Bear, and others
- Narrated by: Karissa Vacker, Sile Bermingham, Maxwell Caulfield, and others
- Length: 24 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hot on the heels of Gardner Dozois's acclaimed anthology The Book of Swords comes this companion volume devoted to magic. How could it be otherwise? For every Frodo, there is a Gandalf... and a Saruman. For every Dorothy, a Glinda... and a Wicked Witch of the West. What would Harry Potter be without Albus Dumbledore... and Severus Snape? Figures of wisdom and power, possessing arcane, often forbidden knowledge, wizards and sorcerers are shaped - or misshaped - by the potent magic they seek to wield.
-
-
some stinkers mostly good
- By M.T. on 12-11-18
By: Gardner Dozois - editor, and others
-
Exit Unicorns
- By: Cindy Brandner
- Narrated by: Gary Furlong
- Length: 22 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this sweeping and powerful epic the journey begins in the "terrible beauty" of Northern Ireland during a time when conflict reigns and no one is spared from tragedy and sorrow, the time known as The Troubles. It is the spring of 1968 in Belfast and James Kirkpatrick has just lost his father under suspicious circumstances, Casey Riordan is released from prison after five years and Pamela O'Flaherty has crossed an ocean and a lifetime of memories to find the man she fell in love with as a little girl. All three lives are on a collision course with each other against the backdrop of the burgeoning civil rights movement and a nation on the brink of revolution. They come from disparate backgrounds - Jamie a wealthy aristocrat whose life is like an imperfect but multi-faceted jewel-brilliant, flawed and with a glitter that is designed to distract the observer. Casey, a card-carrying member of the Irish Republican Army, who must face the fact that five years away has left him a stranger, a misfit in his own neighborhood where not everyone is sympathetic to a convicted rebel. Pamela, who has come to Ireland in search of a memory and a man who may not have existed in the first place.
-
-
Loved it
- By Makale Hughes on 10-28-18
By: Cindy Brandner