Play Audiobook Sample
Hiddensee: A Tale of the Once and Future Nutcracker Audiobook
Play Audiobook Sample
(0.00) - 0 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
In this imaginative novel rooted in the rich soil of early-nineteenth-century German Romanticism, beloved New York Times bestselling author Gregory Maguire twins an origin legend of the famous Nutcracker with the life of Drosselmeier, the toymaker who carves him.
Gregory Maguire’s novels have been called ""bewitching,"" ""remarkable,"" ""extraordinary,"" ""engrossing,"" ""amazing,"" and ""delicious."" Having brought his legions of devoted readers to Oz in Wicked, Wonderland in After Alice and Dickensian London in Lost, Maguire now takes us to the Black Forest of Bavaria and Munich of the Brothers Grimm and E. T. A. Hoffman. Hiddensee recreates the backstory of the Nutcracker, reimaging how this entrancing creature came to be carved and how it magically guided an ailing little girl named Klara through a dreamy paradise on a snowy Christmas Eve. It also brings to life the mysterious godfather Drosselmeier—the ominous, canny, one-eyed toymaker made immortal by Petipa and Tchaikovsky’s ballet—who presents the once and future Nutcracker to Klara, his goddaughter.
But Hiddensee is not just a retelling of a classic story. Maguire discovers in the flowering of German Romanticism a migrating strain of a Hellenic mystery-cult, and ponders a profound question: how a person who is abused by life, short-changed and challenged, can access secrets that benefit the disadvantaged and powerless. Ultimately, Hiddensee, offers a message of hope. If the compromised Godfather Drosselmeier can bring an enchanted Nutcracker to a young girl in distress, perhaps everyone, however lonely or marginalized on the eve of a winter holiday, has something precious to share.
Download and start listening now!
“Maguire really knows how to reimagine classic stories—look at his “Wicked” series, which inspired the forever-on-Broadway musical…so we can all look forward to his take on the Christmas favorite. He provides backstory showing how slightly spooky godfather Drosselmeier came to carve the nutcracker while investigating the roots of German Romanticism and considering how those who have suffered can reach out and help others.”
— Library Journal
Hiddensee Listener Reviews
Be the first to write a review about this audiobook!
About Gregory Maguire
?Gregory Maguire is an American author of nonfiction and fiction and fantasy for children, young adults, and adults, including the Wicked Years, the first book of which is Wicked—the basis for the major motion picture and Tony Award–winning Broadway musical of the same name. He received his PhD in English and American literature from Tufts University and his BA degree from the State University of New York at Albany. He was a professor and co-director at the Simmons College Center for the Study of Children’s Literature from 1979-1985.
About Steven Crossley
Steven Crossley, a graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, has built a career on both sides of the Atlantic as an actor and audiobook narrator, for which he has won more than a dozen AudioFile Earphones Awards and been a nominee for the prestigious Audie Award. He is a member of the internationally renowned theater company Complicite and has appeared in numerous theater, television, film, and radio dramas.