Play Audiobook Sample
Cascade Audiobook
Play Audiobook Sample
(3.67) - 398 listener ratings
Quick Stats About this Audiobook
Total Audiobook Chapters:
Longest Chapter Length:
Shortest Chapter Length:
Average Chapter Length:
Audiobooks by this Author:
Publisher Description
Cascade, Massachusetts, 1935. Desdemona Hart Spaulding, a promising young artist, abandoned her dreams of working in New York City to rescue her father. Two months later he is dead and Dez is stuck in a marriage to reliable but child-hungry Asa Spaulding. Dez also stands to lose her father’s legacy, the Cascade Shakespeare Theater, as the Massachusetts Water Authority decides whether to flood Cascade to create a reservoir. Amid this turmoil arrives Jacob Solomon, a fellow artist for whom Dez feels an immediate and strong attraction. As their relationship reaches a pivotal moment, a man is found dead and the town accuses Jacob, a Jewish outsider. But the tide turns when Dez’s idea for a series of painted postcards is picked up by The American Sunday Standard and she abruptly finds herself back on the path to independence. New York City and a life with Jacob both beckon, but what will she have to give up along the way?
Download and start listening now!
"What I liked most about this was following behind Desdemona Spaulding as she sketched and painted, eventually becoming a working artist. I also enjoyed the time period of the 1930s and 40s. The whole drama about the town of Cascade, Massachusetts being flooded to build a water reservoir for Boston got a little overworn, but combined with the dilemma of what would happen to her father's famous Cascade Shakepeare Theatre, it all made for an unsual mix. Add to that Dez's marriage of convenience in counterpoint to her affair with a fellow artist, and you've got plenty to keep you reading. Lots of ethical dilemmas here! The ending felt a little flat and all tied up, but Cascade was basically a good, roiling read."
— (Lonestarlibrarian) (4 out of 5 stars)
Quotes
-
“Maryanne O’Hara invites the reader into the life of a young artist, Desdemona Hart, whose sacrifice for love spawns a cascade of secrets that threatens not only to undo her, but also a town, a way of life, and the heritage her beloved father has left them all. Rich with painterly image and flickering with desire, Cascade explores how passion—for life, for love, for art—can determine destiny.”
— Robin Oliveira, New York Times bestselling author of My Name Is Mary Sutter -
“Maryanne O’Hara weaves as intricate, as theatrical, and as tempestuous a plot as deftly as Prospero. Through the eyes of an artist yearning for a larger life-canvas but constrained by a humdrum marriage in a town careening toward destruction, we see the failing of men and women in their tangled relationships, each member of the cast struggling to find a fulfilling life. Save the town! Save the Shakespearean theater! Save our dreams, we cry out with the players.”
— Susan Vreeland, New York Times bestselling author of Girl in Hyacinth Blue -
“Gorgeously written and involving, Cascade explores the age-old conflict between a woman’s perceived duty and her deepest desires, but in O’Hara’s skilled hands the struggle feels fresh and new.”
— People -
“Cascade unfolds like a Shakespearean tragedy, with an ending you won’t see coming…Much like a drowned town, the novel becomes something that you can’t take your eyes from or stop thinking about in wonder.”
— Boston Globe -
“O’Hara deftly combines several different themes into a cohesive novel about love, ambition, loyalty, and betrayal, with an ironic twist at the end.”
— Library Journal
Awards
-
A Slate Magazine Best Book of 2012: Staff Pick
-
A People Pick of the Week in 2012
-
A Library Journal Editor’s Pick Best Bet in 2012
Cascade Listener Reviews
-
" Cascade is an interesting book on several levels. Aspiring painter & new bride Dez (Desdemona) Spaulding has married to give her father a home. Her father's death only 2 months after the wedding, his confession that he left the family theater to Asa, Dez's husband, and the fear that the town of Cascade will be sacrificed for Boston's water needs, throw Dez's life on its ear. A dead man and Dez's lover's connection to that death, complicates everything. Lots of layers. "
— Jan, 1/29/2014 -
" Just couldn't quite get into this one "
— Amy, 1/27/2014 -
" It took me 2/3 of the book to really care about what was going on. In the end, I did really like it. I actually give it 3 1/2 stars. I found the main character very unlikable, in a likeable sort of way, if that makes any sense. So, I guess the fact that I had a real opinion of her, is a good thing. "
— Dianne, 1/10/2014 -
" Did a good job of establishing the time period and places. It felt real. "
— Diana, 12/21/2013 -
" Overall, an interesting read. It is based on a real-life event in 1930s Massachusetts. Four towns were disincorporated and flooded to create the Quabbin Resevoir. The resevoir provides water to the Boston area. I thought that the middle of the book became a little boring, but then it picked up again. "
— Peggy, 12/19/2013 -
" I couldn't get into this book. On to the next... "
— Lisa, 12/18/2013 -
" Fabulous story about making choices and following one's instincts. "
— Diane, 11/20/2013 -
" So many stellar debut historical novels out this August! This is another. Review forthcoming. "
— Sarah, 9/23/2013 -
" Loved it! I want to visit the Quabbin now. "
— Katie, 5/15/2013 -
" An exquisite read! A beautiful novel with a New England town and the loss of home at its heart. Can't wait to see what Maryanne O'Hara does next! "
— Katie, 4/17/2013 -
" I liked this book but didn't love it. I felt like lots of details & character development were left out especially in the first half of the book. "
— Abbey, 2/12/2013
About Maryanne O’Hara
Maryanne O’Hara, a graduate of Emerson College’s MFA program, was a longtime associate editor at Ploughshares magazine. Her short stories have been published in Five Points, the North American Review, Crescent Review, and Redbook, as well as the literary anthologies MicroFiction, Brevity & Echo, The Art of Friction, and Flash Fiction: Youth. She lives near Boston with her family.
About Madeleine Lambert
Madeleine Lambert received her MFA in acting from Brown University and Trinity Rep. Her performances at Trinity Repertory Company include Shelby in Steel Magnolias and Belle in A Christmas Carol. Madeleine graduated with honors from Duke University with majors in theater studies and English and a minor in French. She attended the School at Steppenwolf in Chicago.