In the aftermath of the mysterious death of their lead singer, the young members of a now-legendary British acid folk band hole up at Wylding Hall, an ancient English country house with its own dark secrets. There they record Wylding Hall, the album that makes their reputation—but at a terrifying cost, when Julian Blake, their new lead singer, disappears within the mansion and is never seen again.
Now, years later, each of the surviving musicians, their friends and lovers—including a psychic, a photographer, and the band's manager—meets with a young documentary filmmaker to tell their own version of what happened during that summer. But whose story is the true one? And what really happened to Julian Blake?
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“Hand builds disquiet and disjuncture quietly; this is not a novel of thrills and puzzles but a lengthy spell itself…Hand is an expert at building mood and atmosphere in ways that you don’t realize until you feel it around you.”
— SF Signal
“[A] luminous evocation of a period and place…The novella gains a strange power apart from its rather restrained supernatural manifestations, a power driven by the sense of lost dreams that has always driven Hand’s best fiction.”
— Locus“Hand writes with elegance, power, and passion about the spell that music can cast and the sorcery that is its creation.”
— River Heights Book Review“Icy sensations, secret passageways, and taciturn locals provide Gothic trappings.”
— Publishers Weekly“By turns comic, elegiac, sexy, romantic, melancholy, and downright chilling, Wylding Hall sweeps us along from swinging London to the terrifying gates of Faerie and into the present—where all spells must be paid for.”
— Ellen Kushner, World Fantasy Award–winning author“[A] shimmering new supernatural novel…By turns melancholic and joyous, dark and incandescent, this always-surprising tale is full of heart, music, and wonder.”
— Paul Di Filippo, author of The Steampunk Trilogy“A true surreal phantasmagoria, with music and all the accoutrements of the world of rock-and-roll set off by a wonderful admixture of the gothic supernatural.”
— Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, author of Hôtel TransylvaniaBe the first to write a review about this audiobook!
Elizabeth Hand is the author of more than nineteen cross-genre novels and collections of short fiction. Her work has received the Shirley Jackson Award three times, the World Fantasy Award four times, and the Nebula Award twice, as well as the James M. Tiptree Jr. and Mythopoeic Society awards.
Jennifer Woodward is an actress and narrator of audiobooks. She is known for her performance in several high-profile video games and for her part in the narration of Mr. Bones by Paul Theroux.
John Telfer, an Earphones Award–winning narrator, is an actor best known for playing the character of Willy Pettit in five seasons of Bergerac. He has appeared many times in various television dramas, while his parallel theatrical career has involved him in leading roles at the Bristol Old Vic, the Royal National Theatre, the Old Vic in London, and many regional theaters. He has made hundreds of radio broadcasts, and he plays the part of Alan, the vicar, in The Archers.
Charlotte Strevens has worked as a voice and television actress. Among her dozens of audiobook narrations are The Gamekeeper’s Lady by Ann Lethbridge, Tideline by Penny Hancock, and One Illicit Night by Sophia James.
David Thorpe has appeared in numerous stage plays, in repertory, and on tour. Twice a member of the BBC Radio Drama Company, he has been heard in many radio plays and readings. An award-winning audiobook narrator, he has voiced several fantasy and science fiction books, including a number of the original Doctor Who books and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl.