
The Kept
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Kate Udall
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By:
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James Scott
In the winter of 1897, Elspeth Howell treks across miles of snow and ice to the isolated farmstead in upstate New York where she and her husband have raised their five children. Her midwife's salary is tucked into the toes of her boots, and her pack is full of gifts for her family. But as she crests the final hill, and sees her darkened house and a smokeless chimney, immediately she knows that an unthinkable crime has destroyed the life she so carefully built.
Her lone comfort is her twelve-year-old son, Caleb, who joins her in mourning the tragedy and planning its reprisal. Their long journey leads them to a rough-hewn lake town, defined by the violence both of its landscape and of its inhabitants. There Caleb is forced into a brutal adulthood, as he slowly discovers truths about his family he never suspected, and Elspeth must confront the terrible urges and unceasing temptations that have haunted her for years. Throughout it all, the love between mother and son serves as the only shield against a merciless world.
A scorching portrait of guilt and lost innocence, atonement and retribution, resilience and sacrifice, pregnant obsession and primal adolescence, The Kept is told with deep compassion and startling originality, and introduces James Scott as a major new literary voice.
©2014 James Scott (P)2014 HarperCollinsPublishersListeners also enjoyed...




















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What disappointed you about The Kept?
This is a very dark story, did not grab my interest or attention at any part during the story. I did listen to the whole thing but took me a long time to finish as ther is no interesting story line or character to hang on to.What do you think your next listen will be?
Back to more traditional mystery and adventure.What about Kate Udall’s performance did you like?
Ms Udall's performance was very good. The only thing good about this book.Not a compeling read
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This book has a great plot. thI also hav
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Darkness and Sadness
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Ending STUNK!!
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Could not stop listening
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I was 10years old again and asked “what just happened?” and “why’d he say that?” and “why are they doing this?”
But the writing was so good, and the meat of the story was so juicy, and the setting was so gorgeous that I stayed on the bus! Mr. James Scott did such a remarkable job with his pen where it counted that I sat right there in my seat like I was 10 again and watching one of my Dads supercool movies and couldn’t wait to see how it all played out! Except Dad wasn’t there to hold my hand explain what really happened…even at the END! Wtf! I THINK I have a pretty basic idea of how the book closed. Just don’t stop me in the street and ask please! Because I’ll be tongue-tied.
Powerful from the start though like I said before and locked me right in. It was a book I gladly kept coming back to, I just wish I wasn’t as “slightly confused” throughout the journey.
Powerful! But too much left unsaid throughout…
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bleak dark story!
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This was an exceptional book and so very well written! The author pulls you in and you feel like you are right there . The emotions are so perfectly worded and the characters are described so perfectly, that you can actually picture the person . The narrator was perfect for this !
I will definitely listen to more audiobooks from James Scott!
I could not stop listening!
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Almost didn’t finish
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Suspenseful
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