
The Shadow Key
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Richard Harrington
About this listen
“The Shadow Key ushers us into Gothic darkness. . . . What sets this novel above your run-of-the-mill Gothic dread-fest is Stokes-Chapman’s skillful deployment . . . and above all, narrator Richard Harrington’s masterly performance. A Welshman himself, Harrington has a beautiful, dark brushy voice that alters in pitch to capture men and women and darkens as the perfidy and malevolence unfold. He brings such lyric grace to the occasional Welsh-language passages that they become as haunting and seductive as music.” — The Washington Post
On an isolated estate in late-eighteenth-century rural Wales, a young English doctor uncovers dangerous secrets that may threaten his own life in this spellbinding Gothic tale from the bestselling author of Pandora.
Dismissed from his post at a prestigious London hospital, Dr. Henry Talbot has little choice but to accept a mysterious offer of employment as a private physician from an inscrutable lord in rural Wales, Lord Julian. Arriving at Plas Helyg, the isolated estate, Henry can’t speak the language and finds himself treated with hostile suspicion by superstitious villagers, whose beliefs in myths and magic he’s inclined to dismiss. But when he discovers that his predecessor died under peculiar, inexplicable circumstances, his determination to uncover the truth leads him down a path fraught with danger—made all the more perilous by his headstrong, reluctant ally Linette, Lord Julian’s cousin.
Linette has lived a lonely life as Plas Helyg’s unconventional mistress: Julian treats her with disdain, her father is long dead, and her mother, long plagued by strange spells and believed by everyone around her to be deeply unwell, spends most of her time locked away in her rooms. Fiercely self-reliant, Linette refuses to wear women’s clothes, has no interest in marriage, and takes an interest in the welfare of the men working in Lord Julian’s mines, against his wishes.
Linette has always suspected something is not quite right in the village, but it is only through Henry's dogged investigations that the dark truth about those closest to her will come to light—a truth that will bind hers and Henry's destinies together forever in ways neither thought possible.
©2024 Susan Stokes-Chapman (P)2024 HarperCollins PublishersListeners also enjoyed...
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I thoroughly enjoyed this story.
- By Tammy on 11-09-18
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The Haunting of Moscow House
- By: Olesya Salnikova Gilmore
- Narrated by: Olesya Salnikova Gilmore, Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 12 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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It is the summer of 1921, and a group of Bolsheviks have taken over Irina and Lili Goliteva’s ancestral home in Moscow, a stately mansion falling into disrepair and decay. The remaining members of their family are ordered to move into the cramped attic, while the officials take over an entire wing of grand rooms downstairs. The sisters understand it is the way of things and know they must forget their noble upbringing to make their way in this new Soviet Russia. But the house begins to whisper of a traumatic past not as dead as they thought.
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The Elegant Horror HF+F Gothic Tale You Need Right Now
- By Syd Young on 11-11-24
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Daughter of a Daughter of a Queen
- By: Sarah Bird
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
- Length: 16 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Powerful, epic, and compelling, Daughter of a Daughter of a Queen shines light on a nearly forgotten figure in history. Cathy Williams was born and lived a slave - until the Union army comes and destroys the only world she’s known. Separated from her family, she makes the impossible decision - to fight in the army disguised as a man with the Buffalo Soldiers. With courage and wit, Cathy must not only fight for her survival and freedom in the ultimate man’s world, but never give up on her mission to find her family, and the man she loves.
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A Missed Opportunity
- By M Jones on 11-01-18
By: Sarah Bird
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The Hazel Wood
- By: Melissa Albert
- Narrated by: Rebecca Soler, James Fouhey
- Length: 12 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Seventeen-year-old Alice and her mother have spent most of Alice’s life on the road, always a step ahead of the uncanny bad luck biting at their heels. But when Alice’s grandmother, the reclusive author of a cult-classic book of pitch-dark fairy tales, dies alone on her estate, the Hazel Wood, Alice learns how bad her luck can really get: Her mother is stolen away - by a figure who claims to come from the Hinterland, the cruel supernatural world where her grandmother's stories are set. Alice's only lead is the message her mother left behind: "Stay away from the Hazel Wood."
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dark and modern fairytale
- By Stephanie on 02-02-18
By: Melissa Albert
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This Fatal Kiss
- By: Alicia Jasinska
- Narrated by: Kristyna Ruth Zaharek
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Cursed to haunt the river running through the magical spa town where she drowned, Gisela is a water nymph who dreams of returning to the living world and the family she left behind. All it takes to regain her humanity is a kiss from a mortal...but everyone sees her as a monster. And then there’s Kazik, the brooding, interfering, spirit-hunting grandson of a local witch. He's determined to rid the world of unholy creatures like Gisela. After Kazik botches Gisela’s exorcism, she strikes up a deal.
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ahhhh oh the butterflies 🩷
- By Amazon Customer on 10-07-24
By: Alicia Jasinska
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The Shadow Land
- A Novel
- By: Elizabeth Kostova
- Narrated by: Barrie Kreinik
- Length: 18 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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A young American woman, Alexandra Boyd, has traveled to Sofia, Bulgaria, hoping that life abroad will salve the wounds left by the loss of her beloved brother. Soon after arriving in this elegant East European city, however, she helps an elderly couple into a taxi - and realizes too late that she has accidentally kept one of their bags. Inside she finds an ornately carved wooden box engraved with a name: Stoyan Lazarov. Raising the hinged lid, she discovers that she is holding an urn filled with human ashes.
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Mysterious and Beautiful
- By Mel on 04-23-17
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Wolf at the Table
- By: Adam Rapp
- Narrated by: Paul Sparks
- Length: 15 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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As late summer 1951 descends on Elmira, New York, Myra Larkin, thirteen, the oldest child of a large Catholic family, meets a young man she believes to be Mickey Mantle. He chats her up at a local diner and gives her a ride home. The matter consumes her until later that night, when a triple homicide occurs just down the street, opening a specter of violence that will haunt the Larkins for half a century.
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extraordinary writing.
- By michelle martinez on 05-23-24
By: Adam Rapp
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A Far Wilder Magic
- By: Allison Saft
- Narrated by: Jesse Vilinsky
- Length: 14 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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When Margaret Welty spots the legendary hala, the last living mythical creature, she knows the Halfmoon Hunt will soon follow. Whoever is able to kill the hala will earn fame and riches, and unlock an ancient magical secret. While Margaret is the best sharpshooter in town, only teams of two can register, and she needs an alchemist. Weston Winters isn’t an alchemist—yet. He's been fired from every apprenticeship he's landed, and his last chance hinges on Master Welty taking him in. But when Wes arrives at Welty Manor, he finds only Margaret.
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Good Romance book, but fantasy? So so
- By SOLIJA on 02-17-23
By: Allison Saft
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The Sapling Cage
- Daughters of the Empty Throne, Book 1
- By: Margaret Killjoy
- Narrated by: Jackie Meloche
- Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Lorel has always dreamed of becoming a witch—learning magic, fighting monsters, and exploring the world beyond the small town where she and her mother run the stables. Even though a strange plague is killing the trees in the Kingdom of Cekon and witches are being blamed for it, Lorel wants nothing more than to join them. There’s only one problem: all witches are women, and she was born a boy. When the coven comes to claim her best friend, Lorel disguises herself in a dress and joins in her friend’s place, leaving home and her old self behind.
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Hits all the genre tropes with flair and originality
- By Jannik Mennen on 01-12-25
By: Margaret Killjoy
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The Painted Girls
- A Novel
- By: Cathy Marie Buchanan
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell, Julia Whelan, Danny Cambell
- Length: 12 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Paris, 1878: Following the death of their father from overwork, the three van Goethem sisters find their lives upended. Without their father’s wages, and with what little their mother earns as a laundress disappearing down the absinthe bottle, eviction from their single boarding room seems imminent. With few options for work available for a girl, bookish 14-year-old Marie and her younger sister Charlotte are dispatched to the Paris Opera, where for a scant seven francs a week, the girls will be trained to enter its famous ballet. Their older sister, stubborn and insolent 17-year-old Antoinette, finds herself launched into the orbit of Émile Zola....
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Only a Pastel Version of the *Beautiful Era*
- By Mel on 02-03-13
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The Story of the Forest
- By: Linda Grant
- Narrated by: Anna Cordell
- Length: 9 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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It’s 1913 when Mina, the young and carefree daughter of a Jewish merchant, roams into a forest on the edge of the Baltic Sea looking for mushrooms. Instead, she encounters a gang of unruly, charismatic Bolsheviks—an adventure that will become the stuff of familial lore for generations to come. Intending to save her from further corruption, and in an act that forever changes the trajectory of their family’s life, Mina and her eldest brother, Jossel, board a ship to England.
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Beautiful story connecting to Jewish History.
- By kathy lipchutz on 11-17-24
By: Linda Grant
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The Crescent Moon Tearoom
- A Novel
- By: Stacy Sivinski
- Narrated by: Nikki Massoud
- Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Ever since the untimely death of their parents, Anne, Beatrix, and Violet Quigley have made a business of threading together the stories that rest in the swirls of ginger, cloves, and cardamon that lie at the bottom of their customers’ cups. Their days at the teashop are filled with talk of butterflies and good fortune intertwined with the sound of cinnamon shortbread being snapped by laced fingers. That is, until the Council of Witches comes calling with news that the city Diviner has lost her powers, and the sisters suddenly find themselves being pulled in different directions.
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Loved the story, not the reader.
- By TyeAz on 10-14-24
By: Stacy Sivinski
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The Sisters of Sea View
- On Devonshire Shores
- By: Julie Klassen
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Jasicki
- Length: 15 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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When their father's death leaves them impoverished, Sarah Summers and her genteel sisters fear they will be forced to sell the house and separate to earn livelihoods as governesses or companions. Determined to stay together, Sarah convinces them to open their seaside home to guests to make ends meet and provide for their ailing mother. Instead of the elderly invalids they expect to receive, however, they find themselves hosting eligible gentlemen. Sarah is soon torn between a growing attraction to a mysterious Scottish widower and duty to her family.
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Why does it have to be a steamy romance
- By K on 12-31-22
By: Julie Klassen
What listeners say about The Shadow Key
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Lauren Brumsted
- 12-08-24
So fun!
This was an engaging, entertaining, intriguing and fun story. It was very well written with great characters, and the narrators did an excellent job. I highly recommend it!
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- turtle houlihan
- 12-04-24
Dark academia perfection
I loved this story. I could imagine this being a Hammer horror film back in the day. The pacing suited the brooding darkness and mystery. I loved the characters and I think everything tied up perfectly in the end. Wonderful prose. I will probably listen to this again as a comfort read. I don’t often do that, so that is high praise from me.
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