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Rooms: A Novel Audiobook
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Publisher Description
The New York Times bestselling author of Before I Fall and the Delirium trilogy makes her brilliant adult debut with this mesmerizing story in the tradition of The Lovely Bones, Her Fearful Symmetry, and The Ocean at the End of the Lane—a tale of family, ghosts, secrets, and mystery, in which the lives of the living and the dead intersect in shocking, surprising, and moving ways.
Wealthy Richard Walker has just died, leaving behind his country house full of rooms packed with the detritus of a lifetime. His estranged family—bitter ex-wife Caroline, troubled teenage son Trenton, and unforgiving daughter Minna—have arrived for their inheritance.
But the Walkers are not alone. Prim Alice and the cynical Sandra, long dead former residents bound to the house, linger within its claustrophobic walls. Jostling for space, memory, and supremacy, they observe the family, trading barbs and reminiscences about their past lives. Though their voices cannot be heard, Alice and Sandra speak through the house itself—in the hiss of the radiator, a creak in the stairs, the dimming of a light bulb.
The living and dead are each haunted by painful truths that will soon surface with explosive force. When a new ghost appears, and Trenton begins to communicate with her, the spirit and human worlds collide—with cataclysmic results.
Elegantly constructed and brilliantly paced, Rooms is an enticing and imaginative ghost story and a searing family drama that is as haunting as it is resonant.
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“Six familiar voices narrate thenewest story from Lauren Oliver…Each chapter is told from the point of view of a different character,members of the Walker family as well as the ghosts that are bound to the roomsof the house. Each narrator matches his or her reading to the voice of thepoint-of-view character—from proper and slow paced for the voice of Alice, theoldest ghost in the house, to energetic and young for Richard’s granddaughter.The variety of voicings helps the listener keep the stories straight. Eachperspective adds a layer to the story, and the journey through the variousrooms allows the suspense to build as the secrets of the old house arerevealed.”
— AudioFile
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“A chilling ghost story and much, much more: Rooms is a magnificent gothic fugue on the themes of longing and buried secrets.”
— Lev Grossman, New York Times bestselling author of the Magicians trilogy -
“Lauren Oliver’s smart and spidery novel Rooms tells the story of a family and its ghosts, all of them sharing the same house. Rooms is mysterious and mournful and incantatory, so well done that it feels that the pages may actually ignite.”
— Emma Straub, New York Times bestselling author of The Vacationers -
“In Oliver’s moody and mysterious novel, a pair of ghosts inhabits the house of the recently deceased Richard Walker and serves as an invisible chorus to his family’s bleak memories and motivations.”
— O, The Oprah Magazine -
“Bestselling young-adult novelist Lauren Oliver, author of Before I Fall and the Delirium trilogy, enters new territory with Rooms, her first novel for adults—though spooky supernatural elements remain.”
— Wall Street Journal -
“In this spectral soap opera, there’s fun to be had as the plot’s many traps are set and then snapped shut.”
— New York Times -
“[Oliver] turns triumphantly to adult fiction with her latest, Rooms…The last fifty pages of Rooms are as devastatingly emotional as any book I’ve recently encountered… For a thriller, that’s as strong a recommendation as I can make.”
— Dallas Morning News -
“Oliver skillfully weaves her tales together clearly and cleanly…The real strength of this novel is Oliver’s knack for rendering charmingly flawed characters with real-life problems and complicated relationships…Oliver’s prose is crisp and clean; it gives the book much of its energy.”
— Washington Independent Review of Books -
“Rubart’s novel takes an amazing, unique look at God. Although the story is fast paced, the author leaves room for contemplation and deeper examination into the reader’s own faith journey. Readers will relate to the main characters and draw parallels.”
— RT Book Reviews (4½ stars, Top Pick!) -
“YA-bestseller Oliver’s assured adult debut skillfully weaves an innovative ghost story into a nuanced domestic drama…Oliver makes vivid use of both dead and living characters—all of whom are trapped in the past and striving toward a happier existence—to narrate her intricate, suspenseful story…The story culminates with an ending that arrives in dramatic and surprising ways.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review) -
“With poetic prose, Oliver weaves a satisfying story arc for each character, and readers will be left with a feeling of peaceful acceptance. Bestselling YA novelist Oliver makes her adult fiction debut with this paranormal tale of family dysfunction, but the author adds a compelling twist with parallel plots.”
— Library Journal -
“Popular young-adult author Oliver’s first adult novel is an unconventional ghost story. Don’t expect horror or things that go bump in the night. The focus here is not on what the ghosts are but who they have been.”
— Booklist -
“A smoky and realistic ghost story that subverts cliché…This satisfying novel will be enjoyed by Oliver’s fans and bring new ones to the fold.”
— Kirkus Reviews -
“A sensational novel that easily glides between the normal and the paranormal. At times humorous, at times heartbreaking, Rooms is always emotionally resonant and, despite the presence of ghosts, very, very real.”
— Ivy Pochoda, author of Visitation Street
Awards
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A Publishers Weekly Pick of the Week, September 2014
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A September 2014 LibraryReads Pick
Rooms Listener Reviews
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Shiloh Avery, 4/25/2016
About Lauren Oliver
Lauren Oliver captivated readers with her first novel, the New York Times bestseller Before I Fall, a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year. She followed that up with Delirium, the first book in her New York Times bestselling trilogy, which continued with Pandemonium. Oliver is also the author of Liesl & Po, a book for middle-grade readers, which received three starred reviews and was described as “a gorgeous story—timeless and magical” by Newbery Medal winner Rebecca Stead. A graduate of the University of Chicago and NYU’s MFA program, Oliver lives in Brooklyn, New York.
About the Narrators
Barbara Caruso, winner of numerous Earphones Awards for narration, is an accomplished actress. A graduate of London’s prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, she was a featured player in the Royal Shakespeare Company. She has played starring roles on Broadway and in theaters across the country. She won the Alexander Scourby Reader of the Year Award for her performances of young adult fiction and has more than one hundred audiobook narrations to her credit.
Orlagh Cassidy, an American actress of stage, television, and film, is an audiobook narrator who has twice won the prestigious Audie Award for best narration, as well as many AudioFile Earphones Awards. She is a graduate of SUNY at Purchase and a recipient of the Princess Grace Foundation Scholarship. She has been seen on and off Broadway and in films, including Definitely Maybe and Calling It Quits. Her television credits include roles in Law & Order and Sex and the City and as Doris Wolfe on Guiding Light.
Cynthia Darlow’s unusual voice makes her devotion to the spoken arts a natural fit. As a narrator and veteran of Broadway, off-Broadway, regional theater, film, and television, her characterizations and facility with dialects are unforgettable. Her audiobook narrations have earned her seven AudioFile Earphones Awards. She is a member of The Actors Company Theatre (TACT), whose mission it is to present concert performances of long-neglected, language-driven plays.
Elizabeth Evans has received many grants and fellowships for her writing, including an NEA Fellowship, the James Michener Fellowship, and fellowships at Yaddo and MacDowell. She is the author of The Blue Hour and lives in Tucson, Arizona.
Noah Galvin has performed in numerous regional and off-Broadway plays, including performances in Yosemite, Treasure Island, Our Town, and Broadway Kids. Also a narrator, he has read books by Stephen Chbosky and Matthew Quick, among others.
Courtney Shaw is an actress, singer and voice-over artist who has had leads Off-Broadway, regionally, and in film. In New York City she has performed at The Jerry Orbach Theatre, The Mint, Westside Theatre, Circle in the Square, New World Stages, The Kaufman Music Center, Urban Stages, and The Brick. Courtney is a proud graduate of Circle in the Square Theatre School’s two-year musical theater program. Originally from Connecticut, Courtney began acting professionally at the age of fourteen as the First Fairy in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at The Ivoryton Playhouse.