Publisher Description
Winner of the 2007 Audie Award for Literary Fiction and Finalist for Multi-Voiced Performance
Instant #1 New York Times bestseller
“Readers will feel the magnetic pull of this paean to words, books and the magical power of story.”—People
“Eerie and fascinating.”—USA TODAY
Sometimes, when you open the door to the past, what you confront is your destiny.
Reclusive author Vida Winter, famous for her collection of twelve enchanting stories, has spent the past six decades penning a series of alternate lives for herself. Now old and ailing, she is ready to reveal the truth about her extraordinary existence and the violent and tragic past she has kept secret for so long. Calling on Margaret Lea, a young biographer troubled by her own painful history, Vida disinters the life she meant to bury for good. Margaret is mesmerized by the author's tale of gothic strangeness—featuring the beautiful and willful Isabelle, the feral twins Adeline and Emmeline, a ghost, a governess, a topiary garden and a devastating fire. Together, Margaret and Vida confront the ghosts that have haunted them while becoming, finally, transformed by the truth themselves.
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"Any book that can keep me on the treadmill for my entire lunch hour is a winner! The story just sucked me in, the moors, the ruins, the books, the secrets,the storytellers....a little suspense, sadness, romance, and the promise of a happy ending for some of the characters. Including Shadow the cat."
—
Mary (4 out of 5 stars)
About Diane Setterfield
Diane Setterfield is a former academic, specializing in twentieth-century French literature. She lives in Yorkshire, England.
About the Narrators
Lynn Redgrave, a member of Britain’s greatest acting family, is internationally known for her work on stage, screen, and television. As narrator of the World of Philosophy series, she brings to life the timeless and vital themes of the world’s great philosophical traditions.
Ruthie
Henshall’s multiaward-winning career has seen her star in New York and London
in the most popular musicals of the past twenty-five years, including Cats, Miss Saigon, Crazy for You,
She Loves Me, Marguerite, Oliver!, A Chorus Line, Les Misérables, and Chicago. She also has had successful
roles in plays, in concert, and on television. She won an Olivier Award for
Best Actress in a Musical for her role in She
Loves Me at the Savoy Theatre, and she was voted London’s Theatregoers
Award for the most popular musical actress of the past twenty-one years. She is
the author of the book So You Want to Be
in Musicals.