Listen to a sample
The Drowning Season
- Author
- Alice Hoffman
- Narrator
- Bernadette Dunne
- Publisher
- Blackstone Publishing
- Publish Date
- 15 September 2014
- Run Time
- 6 hours 34 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
What to expect
The matriarch of a Long Island clan with a stubbornly suicidal son and a defiant, restless granddaughter, Esther has hired a Russian landscaper to watch over the family as well as the grounds of their secluded waterfront estate. But he has been watching Esther, too. And his love for her is growing wild enough to uproot them all.
The author of Here on Earth and The River King presents a "stunning and hypnotic" novel that "interweaves past and present with piercing images and unfailing energy" (Publishers Weekly).
Critics Review
-
“An original and moving novel about two women whose fierce individuality almost keeps them from knowing and loving each other. It is always memorable, and wonderful, when a novelist can lavish such complexity and such affection on two warring characters that the reader feels sympathetic to them both…A sad and wise story, told with grace—a superb novel by a writer of the most admirable energy.”
John Irving
-
“A spare, translucent, gothic novel about a family of living ghosts…A beautiful book.”
Richard Price, New York Times bestselling author
-
“A fierce and wicked fairy tale of these ‘modern’ times.. Alice Hoffman has an extraordinary sense of the fabulous…The Drowning Season is a touching and startling novel by a young writer who has a feeling for myth, genuine wickedness, and the nagging perversity of love.”
New York Times Book Review
-
“A stark, modern fable…haunting and wise.”
Newsweek
See more reviews See fewer reviews
-
“A triumph.”
Los Angeles Times
-
“Hypnotic and mythic in its language and rhythms…reverberates with situations and characters that suggest ancient myths…fulfilling fiction’s promise, it sheds a little light on the darkness.”
Washington Post
-
“A beautiful and healing book. It casts the spell of all great fairy tales.”
Chicago Sun-Times
-
“Awesome and funny….Hoffman is operating in Kafka’s realm, in the territory of I. B. Singer, and of Tolstoy’s folk tales…. She has tapped some timeless quality of human experience.”
Newsday
-
“Flows so magically it seems much like the sea around which the story is constructed.”
Rocky Mountain News
-
“In this mythlike, haunting novel, Hoffman’s brilliantly rhythmic prose flashes upon the roiling mysteries of death and love—through a prism of iced-in lives…A mesmerizing, magical work.”
Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
User Reviews
No reviews yet.
Details
- Author
- Alice Hoffman
- Narrator
- Bernadette Dunne
- Duration
- 6 hours 34 minutes
- Release Date
- 15 September 2014
- ISBN
- 9781483021003
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Blackstone Publishing
- Genre
- Fiction: general and literary, Family life fiction
Synopsis
The matriarch of a Long Island clan with a stubbornly suicidal son and a defiant, restless granddaughter, Esther has hired a Russian landscaper to watch over the family as well as the grounds of their secluded waterfront estate. But he has been watching Esther, too. And his love for her is growing wild enough to uproot them all.The author of Here on Earth and The River King presents a "stunning and hypnotic" novel that "interweaves past and present with piercing images and unfailing energy" (Publishers Weekly).
About xigxag
xigxag is an independent, UK-based audiobook platform and the UK's only B Corp certified audiobook company. We offer nearly 150,000 audiobooks, all with professional human narration. No AI-generated voices. xigxag is rated an Ethical Consumer Best Buy for audiobooks and a top-rated ethical bookshop.
There is no subscription. You buy the audiobooks you want, you own them permanently, and prices start at $13.95. The more you listen over the year, the less you pay per book, and there is always a selection in Listen for Less from $7.95. You can also send audiobooks as gifts using our audiobook gift cards or in-app gifting.
Every audiobook on xigxag has honest reviews covering both the book and the narration, and our community features make it easy to share what you are listening to, discover what others recommend, and find your next listen.
Download or stream on iOS, Android, or in your browser. Browse the full catalogue at xigxag.co.uk.