Grief Cottage Audiobook By Gail Godwin cover art

Grief Cottage

Preview

Try for $0.00
Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Grief Cottage

By: Gail Godwin
Narrated by: Jacob York
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $19.18

Buy for $19.18

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

About this listen

The haunting tale of a desolate cottage, and the hair-thin junction between this life and the next, from best-selling National Book Award finalist Gail Godwin.

After his mother's death, 11-year-old Marcus is sent to live on a small South Carolina island with his great aunt, a reclusive painter with a haunted past. Aunt Charlotte, otherwise a woman of few words, points out a ruined cottage, telling Marcus she had visited it regularly after she'd moved there 30 years ago because it matched the ruin of her own life.

Eventually she was inspired to take up painting so she could capture its utter desolation. The islanders call it 'Grief Cottage', because a boy and his parents disappeared from it during a hurricane 50 years before. Their bodies were never found, and the cottage has stood empty ever since. During his lonely hours while Aunt Charlotte is in her studio painting and keeping her demons at bay, Marcus visits the cottage daily, building up his courage by coming ever closer, even after the ghost of the boy who died seems to reveal himself.

Full of curiosity and open to the unfamiliar and uncanny given the recent upending of his life, he courts the ghost boy, never certain whether the ghost is friendly or follows some sinister agenda. Grief Cottage is the best sort of ghost story, but it is far more than that - an investigation of grief, remorse, and the memories that haunt us. The power and beauty of this artful novel wash over the listener like the waves on a South Carolina beach.

©2017 Gail Godwin (P)2017 Audible, Ltd
Fiction Gothic Literary Fiction Occult Haunted Scary Ghost
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

What listeners say about Grief Cottage

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    62
  • 4 Stars
    34
  • 3 Stars
    22
  • 2 Stars
    5
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    67
  • 4 Stars
    25
  • 3 Stars
    13
  • 2 Stars
    4
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    47
  • 4 Stars
    30
  • 3 Stars
    24
  • 2 Stars
    6
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Grief Cottage

Loved the story and the narration. It was very insightful, entertaining and informative. Marcus was quite a considerent and intelligent 11 year old. Also loved the ending.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Grief Cottage

This is an absolutely stellar book, with great characters! Each is so unique, they will grab your interest with each one you meet. The story keeps you on the edge of your seat with no boredom. I could read this author all the time, an absolutely new favorite author!!! Don’t miss this one!!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A Beautiful, Heartbreaking Bildungsroman

Hauntingly beautiful and lyrical. Not full-fledged horror, but rather a gorgeous coming of age tale.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Recommended

The story is engaging and characters richly developed. Wraps up too quickly at end.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

I really wanted to like this

I read Gail Godwin years ago and loved her books. I so wanted to like this as much but I was disappointed. Although her writing is very good, I didn't feel any empathy for the characters at all and I found Markus to be a totally unrealistic 11 year old. The plot also seemed a little contrived and there's no way this could be construed as a ghost story. Because I live on the coast, I thought the information about the turtles and the area itself would help keep my interest but it was so dry - almost like a brochure for the area. I did finish it, but just barely. Darn it. I wanted it to be more.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Character story or ghost story ?

I finished this thinking that the author wasn't sure what kind of story she wanted to write. It doesn't work as a ghost story, although there is an attempt at injecting a supernatural element into the narrative. It is more successful as a character drama, but the characters end up being rather one dimensional. Too bad, because there is a beautifully rendered feeling of location, and the information about loggerhead turtles was wonderful. I enjoyed the first half of the book, but it lost its way and ended in an anti-climatic rush.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

outstanding

twist on a ghost story...so tender...Will read again...someday. for now I kind of smile through years

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

love this!!!!!!

this book Gail Godwin gracefully into the 21st century!!!!!!! she touched on the problem of parentless children drugs the economy just a wonderful read.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful