Title: The Secret Keeper
Author: Kate Morton
Narrator: Caroline Lee
ASIN: B009R5Q51W
Audiobook Length: 19 hours, 54 minutes
Genre: Historical Fiction
Origins: Mine. All mine.
Release Date: 16 October 2012
Bottom Line: Slow beginning but powerful and quite surprising ending
Synopsis:
“During a summer party at the family farm in the English countryside, sixteen-year-old Laurel Nicolson has escaped to her childhood tree house and is happily dreaming of the future. She spies a stranger coming up the long road to the farm and watches as her mother speaks to him. Before the afternoon is over, Laurel will witness a shocking crime. A crime that challenges everything she knows about her family and especially her mother, Dorothy — her vivacious, loving, nearly perfect mother.
Now, fifty years later, Laurel is a successful and well-regarded actress living in London. The family is gathering at Greenacres farm for Dorothy’s ninetieth birthday. Realizing that this may be her last chance, Laurel searches for answers to the questions that still haunt her from that long-ago day, answers that can only be found in Dorothy’s past.”
Thoughts: The Secret Keeper is a prime example of why one should never abandon a book. The beginning of the story is surprisingly slow, which is unusual in one of Ms. Morton’s novels. In addition, the characters are also slow to develop. Between the two, the mystery does not immediately grab a reader’s attention, and a reader finds it difficult to maintain an interest in the basic characters. The reward comes to patient readers in the final third of the novel, when what appeared to be obvious turns out to be less so, and the one-dimensional characters evolve into full-developed characters with startling depth. The ending proves to be something of a shock, and it is only then that a reader can appreciate the subtle twists that Ms. Morton masterfully weaves into her story. It just takes reading the full novel to get to that level of appreciation.
Caroline Lee narrates all of Ms. Morton’s novels, and it is no wonder that she does. The combination of Ms. Morton’s prose, her settings, and Ms. Lee’s beautiful voice is perfect for the tone of each of her stories. She may be Australian, but her British Isles’ accents are spot-on, flowing seamlessly from local dialects to Irish, low-brow, high-brow, and back again. In The Secret Keeper, Ms. Lee goes one extra step and uses an accent for each of the story’s narrators as well as during the dialogue scenes. It makes for a well-rounded audio experience that eliminates much of the confusion that may occur because of the multiple narrator changes. In addition, her precise delivery enhances the nuanced details of the story, proving once again that the duo of Ms. Lee and Ms. Morton is always a worthy listening experience.
Because the novel starts out so slowly and the characters do not lose their flatness until a good two-thirds into the story, The Secret Keeper is not one of Ms. Morton’s best. However, since all of Ms. Morton’s novels are better than the average novel, this is by no means a bad thing. The story’s resolution is as fitting as it is surprising, and the ride getting there is half the fun. The glimpses into London during the Blitz are fascinating in the sense of survival and typical stiff upper lip exhibited by the residences, while the characters are every bit as realistic as one might expect from the author. It may not be her best, but The Secret Keeper is still a welcome diversion and worth the time and patience.
I agree with previous commenters that the narration is terrible… and I’m an Australian! I always feel Caroline Lee forces me to *persevere* through Kate Morton’s books rather than enjoy them – such a shame that it interferes with the beautiful writing but Morton is so fabulous it’s worth the slog. She deserves a better narrator, someone who is actually English would be a good start! Caroline Lee is great for Australian stories but her attempts at British accents are painful.
I guess I am able to tune all that out. I never get too hyped up on accents unless they are totally distracting. Caroline Lee is not distracting enough for me. I actually enjoy listening to her narrate Kate Morton.
I agree with Carly. She is an excellent narrator in her own dialect, but if you can’t do other accents, just don’t! It spoils the pleasure of listening to a good story.
I’m just impressed by anyone who can do any accent, that the authenticity of those accents does not bother me as much as it might others. I just know that I enjoy her narration.
While I love this book the audio narration is god awful! You can’t possibly be British, or know British dialects right? The narration is completely Aussie and badly smattered with poor attempts at various inaccurate British dialects. Very sad. Read the book. Don’t listen. We’ll worth the read.
I would expect the narration to be somewhat Aussie since Caroline Lee is Australian. I understand that British dialects are difficult to do, but I can appreciate Miss Lee’s performance. I still think Miss Lee does an excellent job narrating but better appreciated by American listeners rather than British ones.
I guess after listening to some great audio books by Orlagh Cassidy and Cassandra Campbell I have some pretty high standards. I imaging that this book in particular would have been great had they split the read between two actors, say a Fiona Shaw and Caroline Lee. I think Caroline was good during the Australian part of the story.
Oops, auto correct typos… sorry!
I find that narrators, like books, are completely personal and no one person listens to the same narrator just as no one reads the same book. I’m sure you have some valid points about Ms. Lee’s British dialects. However, I did not mind her performance and stand by my statement that I feel that she was a great narrator. I am sorry that you feel differently, but that is your opinion just as this is my opinion.
I by no means meant to offend, just thought it was a valid topic for discourse. Of course everything is subjective. The book is quite good, and I did thoroughly enjoy the story. Please forgive me if I can off as rude, that was not my intention. 🙂
No worries!
I haven’t listened to any of Morton’s books on audio, but I absolutely loved this one. There are only two of her novels I have yet to read – maybe I’ll try listening to them instead!
I’ve listened to all but one of her books. I like both formats but find it easier to listen to them because they are usually such chunksters and I find chunksters easier to get to via audio. Good luck!
Great review. I’ve considered this one.
I really do love Kate Morton’s novels. I hope you consider picking one up and trying her!
I am tempted to search out the audio of this one. I’ve always read Morton’s but, but audio may be the way to go on this one. Thanks for sharing Michelle.
I do like Morton on audio. Caroline Lee is great.
Read it don’t listen if you are an Anglophile or British. The dialects are poly executed. I think Miss Lee would be probably quite an excellent narrator for an Australian book. My Aussie friend agrees.
It’s a good thing Diane is American. To our untrained ears, Miss Lee does an excellent job narrating.