The Woman in the Green Dress

By: Tea Cooper

Narrated by: Casey Withoos

Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's Summary

USA Today Best Seller!

A cursed opal, a gnarled family tree, and a sinister woman in a green dress emerge in the aftermath of World War I.

After a whirlwind romance, London teashop waitress Fleur Richards can’t wait for her new husband, Hugh, to return from the Great War. But when word of his death arrives on Armistice Day, Fleur learns he has left her a sizable family fortune. Refusing to accept the inheritance, she heads to his beloved home country of Australia in search of the relatives who deserve it more.

In spite of her reluctance, she soon finds herself the sole owner of a remote farm and a dilapidated curio shop full of long-forgotten artifacts, remarkable preserved creatures, and a mystery that began more than sixty-five years ago. With the help of Kip, a repatriated soldier dealing with the sobering aftereffects of war, Fleur finds herself unable to resist pulling on the threads of the past. What she finds is a shocking story surrounding an opal and a woman in a green dress...a story that, nevertheless, offers hope and healing for the future.

This romantic mystery from award-winning Australian novelist Tea Cooper will keep readers guessing until the astonishing conclusion.

“Readers of Kate Morton and Beatriz Williams will be dazzled. The Woman in the Green Dress spins readers into an evocative world of mystery and romance in this deeply researched book by Tea Cooper. There is a Dickensian flair to Cooper’s carefully constructed world of lost inheritances and found treasures as two indomitable women stretched across centuries work to reconcile their pasts while reclaiming love, identity and belonging against two richly moving historical settings. As soon as you turn the last page you want to start again just to see how every last thread is sewn in anticipation of its thrilling conclusion. One of the most intelligent, visceral and vibrant historical reads I have had the privilege of visiting in an age.” (Rachel McMillan, author of The London Restoration)

“Refreshing and unique, The Woman in the Green Dress sweeps you across the wild lands of Australia in a thrilling whirl of mystery, romance, and danger. This magical tale weaves together two storylines with a heart-pounding finish that is drop-dead gorgeous.” (J’nell Ciesielski, author of The Socialite)

• USA Today best seller!
• Full-length historical story with both romance and mystery
• Stand-alone novel
• Includes discussion questions for book clubs

©2020 Tea Cooper (P)2020 Thomas Nelson

good read.

this book is a combination of love story, historical fiction, murder mystery.

very well written,each character comes alive and has a district voice.

the end is a surprise and very satisfying.

A Haunting 6- Star Review

The Girl in the Painting by Tea Cooper is one of the most hauntingly striking audiobooks I have ever listened to. I listen to hundreds of audiobooks each year, and so rarely do I wish I could award six stars to a book that some years I never do. This year, however, I came across two such books, both by the same author.

Besides The Girl in the Painting, The Girl in the Green Dress was the other. These are the only two books by Cooper available on audio, though she also has some historical romances in print or kindle.

Both books are set in Australia and shift back and forth between two eras of history. The Girl in the Green Dress follows a war widow from 1918 who goes to Australia to find her husband and his heritage, switching to the past to visit with his ancestors. In The Girl in the Painting, listeners follow a brother and sister as they arrive in Australia as children and then years later as they are 50 or 60. Both books contain a mystery, but the mystery is so entwined with the storyline that despite hints to the mystery and its solution, the mystery doesn’t become clear until the latter part of the book. So part of the mystery is what the official mystery truly is.

Casey Withoos performs the audio edition of both books and helps to make them magical. She brings out the dramatic elements and eases up during the less intense sections. She does an excellent job of making the books genuine and special.

When I finished each of these two books, I found it lingering in my soul and haunting my thoughts. I loved both books and immediately pre-ordered the next book, The Cartographer’s Secret, due out in November. Though I’m not supposed to give a book more than five stars, I give both of these books six!

Disappointment

Hard to follow, slow and honestly boring. Kept hoping for a climax to the story. Such a long boring journey with an uneventful end. Usually learn something from books that fall within a historical fiction category. I have no takeaway and can’t believe I made it to the end. Kept hoping it would improve. I don’t normally take the time to write reviews but felt I must while reflecting on this book

very good story

loved this story. I would love to see this as a movie. I would Definitely watch it.

Woman in the green dress

I enjoyed the the past and present dialogue between chapters. This kept my attention completely.
Did kip and Fleur become romantically involved???

Reading might be better

I really enjoyed this book, but being able to flip back-and-forth in a real paper book, would have been better for me. I always wanted to go back and check what had happened the last time I left the 1800s or the 1900s, and that’s hard to do on an audible book. Great story though. My first with a setting in Australia, and I quite enjoyed seeing it through early settlers eyes.

tried to like but could not

I struggled to finish this book. the story had possibility but fail short quickly. painful to finish for me.