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Title: The Somnambulist

Author: Essie Fox

Narrator: Annie Aldington

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 52 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-16-12

Publisher: Orion Publishing Group Ltd

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Some secrets are better left buried.... When 17-year-old Phoebe Turner visits Wilton's Music Hall to watch her Aunt Cissy performing on stage, she risks the wrath of her mother, Maud, who marches with the Hallelujah Army, campaigning for all London theatres to close. While there, Phoebe is drawn to a stranger, the enigmatic Nathaniel Samuels, who heralds dramatic changes in the lives of all three women. When offered the position of companion to Nathaniel's reclusive wife, Phoebe leaves her life in London's East End for Dinwood Court in Herefordshire - a house that may well be haunted and which holds the darkest of truths...

Members Reviews:

One of my favourite books.

Every aspect of this book keeps you turning the pages. Great story and great narration.

You really feel like you are back in the 1800s both of which are a credit to the author and narrator.

I've lost count of how many times I've read this book now, I don't sleep great and I find certain books help me drift off at night, this is my number one, go to book for a bed time story. It's a combination of being absorbed into the story and the tone of the narrators voice that have me comfortable and relaxed in no time.

Could do better

What did you like best about The Somnambulist? What did you like least?

The descriptions of place were good and the character pool was diverse but I could find little sympathy with most of them. Neither was there much in the way of Gothic in this 'gothic' novel. The titillating elements were rather jaded and the whole thing was a little on the limp side - much like the ubiquitous rose pressed between the pages of the protagonists step-mother's diary or ...ahem... the post-coital member of her step-brother.

If youve listened to books by Essie Fox before, how does this one compare?

This is the first and probably the last.

Did Annie Aldington do a good job differentiating each of the characters? How?

She did do a reasonable job and you could hear that her forte was the colloquial London accents; she did less of a good job with the noblesse and you could here the tell-tale short vowels in place of the upper-class drawling tones that one might expect of Victorian play-boys.

If this book were a film would you go see it?

If it was heavily abridged and re-written with more grandeur, drama and a less annoying main female character.

Any additional comments?

I should have read the other reviews before buying - they are generally as I feel: disappointed.

A disappointment.

If this book wasnt for you, who do you think might enjoy it more?

I'm not really sure who would enjoy this although I see that it has some very positive reviews. I have previously very much enjoyed books by Sarah Waters ( Affinity, Tipping The Velvet, Fingersmith) , Jane Harris (The Observations, Gillespie and I) and more recently, Anna Freeman (Fair Fight). I thought that this may be in a similar vein but I was very much mistaken. This book is weakly plotted and characterised and cannot be compared to the others I have mentioned.

Would you ever listen to anything by Essie Fox again?

This was her debut novel and so her writing may have improved with time but I don't think that I would listen to any more of her work.

What didnt you like about Annie Aldingtons performance?

I felt that the range of accents was insufficient to match the differing backgrounds of the characters.