The Rocks

A Novel

De: Peter Nichols

Narrado por: Steve West

“Irresistibly sunny… Set in the brightly lit Mediterranean amid old olive trees and sexual intrigue, music and wine and beautiful women... Propulsive.” –The New York Times Book Review

“The perfect book for pretending it's already beach season.” –O, The Oprah Magazine

A romantic page-turner propelled by the sixty-year secret that has shaped two families, four lovers, and one seaside resort community.

Set against dramatic Mediterranean Sea views and lush olive groves, The Rocks opens with a confrontation and a secret: What was the mysterious, catastrophic event that drove two honeymooners apart so suddenly and absolutely in 1948 that they never spoke again despite living on the same island for sixty more years? And how did their history shape the Romeo and Juliet–like romance of their (unrelated) children decades later? Centered around a popular seaside resort club and its community, The Rocks is a double love story that begins with a mystery, then moves backward in time, era by era, to unravel what really happened decades earlier.

Peter Nichols writes with a pervading, soulful wisdom and self-knowing humor, and captures perfectly this world of glamorous, complicated, misbehaving types with all their sophisticated flaws and genuine longing. The result is a bittersweet, intelligent, and romantic novel about how powerful the perceived truth can be—as a bond, and as a barrier—even if it’s not really the whole story; and how one misunderstanding can echo irreparably through decades.

Reseñas de la Crítica

Praise for The Rocks

“A wondrous novel. The Rocks is clearly the odyssey Peter Nichols was born to undertake.” —Richard Russo

“A Mediterranean idyll, a family saga, a mystery. A love story that’s as weird as real life, as rich and surprising and tender and affecting. The Rocks is all these things. Like Beautiful Ruins, it reminds me of all the reasons I read novels.”—Jennifer Haigh, Pen/Hemmingway Award-winning author of Faith

A hit

Love, history, rich characters, excellent narrative--A clear winner
Sometimes I find stories that don't always refer to the year they are switching to, that I can lose my place in the story and consequently need to rewind.

Oh, this made me want to go to Mallorca!

Would you listen to The Rocks again? Why?

Out of the hundreds of books in my library, this is the only one I listened to twice back to back.

What about Steve West’s performance did you like?

Steve West's performance was amazing. I enjoyed his interpretation of the different accents.

Any additional comments?

There were certain aspects of the story I didn't care for but the writing was so wonderfully descriptive I felt transported to exotic locales and because of this it was still a 5 star listen for me.

Audible mixup

This is a great book and I’ve enjoyed listening twice since I first located it.

However, Audibles ability to ensure the chapters follow the books chapters is abysmal and hence retracing / following the story very difficult without the book itself.
Audible please try harder!

Excellently plotted novel

A wonderful literary summer read! My only complaint is the reader's female voices all sounded the same and were a tad annoying. However don't let that keep you from an otherwise wonderful listen.

I didn't believe the reviewers

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Probably not. I ignored previous reviewers who said that it was hard to tell what timeframe the story was in. I would find myself spending 5 minutes going "what-what just happened?" because it's now 1946 instead of 2005. So I would lose track of some of the happenings.

If you’ve listened to books by Peter Nichols before, how does this one compare?

Haven't read any others.

What does Steve West bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I think he did a good job.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Yes, because I think it would have been easier to follow the time-frames.

Any additional comments?

Now that I'm finished, I think it was a good book. But I really don't know how it could have been presented so that it was easier to know what year the story was covering.