The Snow Gypsy

By: Lindsay Jayne Ashford

Narrated by: Heather Wilds

Length: 10 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

From the bestselling author of The Woman on the Orient Express comes a haunting novel of two women - one determined to uncover the past and the other determined to escape it.

At the close of World War II, London is in ruins and Rose Daniel isn’t at peace. Eight years ago, her brother disappeared while fighting alongside Gypsy partisans in Spain. From his letters, Rose has just two clues to his whereabouts - his descriptions of the spectacular south slopes of the Sierra Nevada and his love for a woman who was carrying his child.

In Spain, it has been eight years since Lola Aragon’s family was massacred. Eight years since she rescued a newborn girl from the arms of her dying mother and ran for her life. She has always believed that nothing could make her return…until a plea for help comes from a desperate stranger.

Now, Rose, Lola, and the child set out on a journey from the wild marshes of the Camargue to the dazzling peaks of Spain’s ancient mountain communities. As they come face-to-face with war’s darkest truths, their lives will be changed forever by memories, secrets, and friendships.

©2019 Lindsay Jayne Ashford. (P)2018 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“The Snow Gypsy is a jewel of a book with layers of light and depth. Through eloquent language, intriguing characters, and lavish historical detail, Lindsay Jayne Ashford brings to life two extraordinary women in post-World War II Europe and shows that although grief never completely fades, love and hope can still take us onward.” (Ann Howard Creel, best-selling author of The Whiskey Sea)

Sing song reading.

The person reading this book did it in a strange cadence that made it hard to keep up with the story.

Interesting story, narration made it hard to enjoy

This story, I thought, was another WWII fiction piece that seems to be all over the place these days. When I realized that it was not, I was intrigued. The story about gypsies and the Spanish Civil War was interesting and not the same old thing.
However, I was so put off by the narrator's sing song pattern I almost didn't finish the book. Every sentence had the same tonal up and down, and there was no change to reflect any difference in the story. The accents were not horrible - just the pattern of tone that made it very hard for me to concentrate or follow the action.

narrarator made this beautiful story a chore to hear

This beautiful story, beautifully worded, was absolutely ruined by a narrator who sounded like an automaton. Her monitone from one sentence to the next was confusing; some phrases sounded exactly the same-no indication of changed meaning-also jarring; terrible Spanish pronunciation-why in the world was she chosen?! Perhaps worth suffering through for the story alone. You’ll know in the first few minutes.

reader for this really is distractingly bad

I bought this as n audiobook despite the many comments about distracting sing song narration thinking it couldn’t be that bad. It is really bad. Every sentence or longer clause ends on this much higher pitched voice inflection on next to last or last syllable with everything before that inflection in the sentence or clause much lower pitch. She actually does the parts that are meant to be another language or character speaking English not badly. These re the only parts that interrupt the sing song pattern. I’m amazed this reader got hired for an audiobook it’s such a distraction.

Great story

I enjoyed the book very much, but unfortunately I did not like the narrator. Reading was close to singsong. This is the first audio book I have experienced where the narrator made it difficult to continue. I go back and forth between listening and reading, enjoyed the reading portion much more. Story is well written and deals with an era of which I have little knowledge. Certainly difficult times for many in those war years.

Narration was so poor, I couldn't finish.

The story had an interesting premise, but the narrator's sing song style was so distracting that I was unable to finish the book.

This narrator ruins the book

It might be a good book. I’ll never know, because the narrator was simply intolerable, and I gave up about an hour in.

So disappointed!

I was looking forward to this book, but unfortunately the narrators voice was extremely irritating. At the end of each line the her voice would lift up. After listening for about 30 minutes that I had to stop listening to the book. Very disappointing to spend that much on a book and not be able to listen to it!

Staccato Narration

This is the first time I’ve returned a book because of the narration. It’s unfortunate for two reasons. First, the story is a good one and (from what I read) well researched, and second because the narrator’s voice is lovely. However, the droning, staccato delivery is maddening. It sounds like she is timing her phrases with a metronome. She pays little attention to punctuation making her sound emotionless and robotic. I couldn’t get past Chapter 7 or 8 because of the monotone presentation.

Seriously recommend you purchase the hardback or Kindle version.

Probably a good book

To narrate a book requires talent which Heather Wilds unfortunately does not have. Will not continue this book as narrative is so hard to follow.

Story: hard to put down Performance: TERRIBLE!!!

What to say about this book... Who thought to give this (or potentially any other book) to Heather Wilds to read, needs to go back to school to learn to do their job all over again. This lady read almost every sentence - about 80-90% of the book - like independent statements, unrelated to each other. Absolutely intolerable and so hard to listen to! I actually wish I could add a bit of speech here so you could hear it. However, the story is riveting - I kept on listening because there was no way I could not know how it would go. And at the end I found out why I liked the story so much: as a pet owner and lover of animals I very much prefer to give my pets and garden visitors healthy, natural food and medicine. So I always refer back to a book by Juliette de Baïracli Levy, The complete herbal handbook for the dog and cat. Now I also understand why Rose, the main character, is always accompanied by an Afghan dog. Juliette used to breed these dogs. The story is fictional but based on her life. Since I also have the kindle version I will return the Audible version - the narrator is just too awful. I can always read it without having this horrible broken-up way of hearing it.

Good Story Shame About Narration

This book was spoilt for me by the narrator whose accents and voices were indiscernable . The voice lacked any feeling or natural rhythm.

awful narration

A really good story but totally ruined by the dreadful narration. Monotonous tone and no feeling expressed whatsoever. Very difficult listen!!!

Beautifully written and narrated story

I thoroughly enjoyed The Snow Gypsy with its wonderful descriptive characters and the way their lives were woven together through tragedy and friendship.

Terrible Narration

Unable to listen to the story beyond a few pages due to the terrible narration.

enjoyed every minute

So we'll researched and written. loved it. narrator excellent, will look for more by both author and narator.