
The Writing Retreat
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Gail Shalan
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By:
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Julia Bartz
About this listen
In this instant New York Times bestselling and “utterly addictive thriller” (Ana Reyes, New York Times bestselling author), a young author is invited to an exclusive writer’s retreat that soon descends into a pulse-pounding nightmare.
Alex has all but given up on her dreams of becoming a published author when she receives a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: attend an exclusive, month-long writing retreat at the estate of feminist horror writer Roza Vallo. Even the knowledge that Wren, her former best friend and current rival, is attending doesn’t dampen her excitement.
But when the attendees arrive, Roza drops a bombshell—they must all complete an entire novel from scratch during the next month, and the author of the best one will receive a life-changing seven-figure publishing deal. Determined to win this seemingly impossible contest, Alex buckles down and tries to ignore the strange happenings at the estate, including Roza’s erratic behavior, Wren’s cruel mind games, and the alleged haunting of the mansion itself. But when one of the writers vanishes during a snowstorm, Alex realizes that something very sinister is afoot. With the clock running out, she must discover the truth—or suffer the same fate.
A claustrophobic and “audacious psychological thriller debut” (Publishers Weekly), The Writing Retreat expertly explores the dark side of female relationships, fame, and the desire to have our stories told.
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By: Akwaeke Emezi
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The House of a Hundred Whispers
- By: Graham Masterton
- Narrated by: Katherine Press
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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All Hallows Hall, a rambling Tudor mansion on the edge of the bleak, misty moor is not a place many would choose to live. Yet the former governor of Dartmoor Prison did just that. Now he's dead, and his estranged family is set to inherit his estate. But when the dead man's family comes to stay, the atmosphere of the moors seems to drift into every room. Floorboards creak, secret passageways echo and wind whistles in the house's famous priest hole. And then, on the morning the family decides to leave All Hallows Hall once and for all, their young son, Timmy, goes missing.
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I would pass on this
- By Dan Fritze on 10-21-20
By: Graham Masterton
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My Throat an Open Grave
- By: Tori Bovalino, Kevin L. Clay - editor, Kevin Lawrence Henry Jr. - editor
- Narrated by: Lindsey Dorcus
- Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Growing up in the small town of Winston, Pennsylvania feels like drowning. Leah goes to church every Sunday, works when she isn't at school, and takes care of her baby brother, Owen. Like every girl in Winston, Leah tries to be right and good and holy. If she isn't, the Lord of the Wood will take her, and she'll disappear like so many other girls before her.
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Cringe writing , unsubtle, trope-y
- By Kindle Customer on 09-14-24
By: Tori Bovalino, and others
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What You Never Knew
- By: Jessica Hamilton
- Narrated by: Sarah Mollo-Christensen, Laura Jennings
- Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Idyllic Avril Island, owned by the Bennett family, is where their hundred-year-old cottage sat nestled in acres of forest. Forty-year-old June Bennett believed that the island had been sold after the summer of her father's disappearance when she was only 12 years old. It's months after the shocking death of her older sister, May, in a fatal car accident that June finds out that the cottage was never sold. Avril Island is still owned by the Bennett family, and now it's hers. Still reeling from the grief of losing her sister, June travels back to Avril Island in search of answers.
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slow
- By Amazon Customer on 07-14-21
By: Jessica Hamilton
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The Spare Room
- A Novel
- By: Andrea Bartz
- Narrated by: Brittany Pressley
- Length: 11 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Kelly’s new life in Philadelphia has turned into a nightmare: She’s friendless and jobless, and the lockdown has her trapped in a tiny apartment with the man she gave up everything for, who’s just called off their wedding. The only bright spot is her newly rekindled friendship with her childhood friend Sabrina—now a glamorous bestselling author with a handsome, high-powered husband. When Sabrina and Nathan offer Kelly an escape hatch, volunteering the spare room of their remote Virginia mansion, she jumps at the chance to run away from her old life.
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I kind of wanted them all to die
- By Aurora V Kaiser on 07-02-23
By: Andrea Bartz
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The Family Game
- A Novel
- By: Catherine Steadman
- Narrated by: Catherine Steadman
- Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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It’s the holiday season and Harriet Reed, a novelist on the brink of literary stardom, is newly engaged to Edward Holbeck, the heir of an extremely powerful family. And even though Edward has long tried to sever ties with them, news of the couple’s upcoming marital bliss has the Holbecks inching back into their lives with one invite after another.
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Why do she have to use “Jesus Christ” all of the time
- By Kells Bells on 03-11-23
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An Unwanted Guest
- By: Shari Lapena
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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It's winter in the Catskills and Mitchell's Inn, nestled deep in the woods, is the perfect setting for a relaxing—maybe even romantic—weekend away. So when the weather takes a turn for the worse, and a blizzard cuts off the electricity—and all contact with the outside world—the guests settle in and try to make the best of it. Soon, though, one of the guests turns up dead—it looks like an accident. But when a second guest dies, they start to panic. Within the snowed-in paradise, something—or someone—is picking off the guests one by one.
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Lapena Does It Again!
- By tarafarah7: Tara Brown on 08-08-18
By: Shari Lapena
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Dark Corners
- A Novel
- By: Megan Goldin
- Narrated by: André Santana, January LaVoy, Samantha Desz
- Length: 10 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Terence Bailey is about to be released from prison for breaking and entering, though investigators have long suspected him in the murders of six women. As his release date approaches, Bailey gets a surprise visit from Maddison Logan, a hot, young influencer with a huge social media following. Hours later, Maddison disappears, and police suspect she’s been kidnapped—or worse. Is Maddison’s disappearance connected to her visit to Bailey? And why was she visiting him in the first place?
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Excellent Story! But please…
- By Holly M. on 08-10-23
By: Megan Goldin
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There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job
- By: Kikuko Tsumura, Polly Barton - translator
- Narrated by: Cindy Kay
- Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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A young woman walks into an employment agency and requests a job that has the following traits: It’s close to her home, and it requires no reading, no writing, and, ideally, very little thinking. Her first gig - watching the hidden-camera feed of an author suspected of storing contraband goods - turns out to be inconvenient. Her next gives way to the supernatural: announcing advertisements for shops that mysteriously disappear. As she moves from job to job, it becomes increasingly apparent that she's not searching for the easiest job at all but something altogether more meaningful.
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I LOVED it
- By Rose on 09-29-21
By: Kikuko Tsumura, and others
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Hello, Transcriber
- A Novel
- By: Hannah Morrissey
- Narrated by: Angela Dawe
- Length: 9 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Every night, while the street lamps shed the only light on Wisconsin’s most crime-ridden city, police transcriber Hazel Greenlee listens as detectives divulge Black Harbor’s gruesome secrets. An aspiring novelist, Hazel believes that writing a book could be her only ticket out of this frozen hellscape, but her life isn’t exactly brimming with inspiration. Until her neighbor confesses to hiding the corpse of an overdose victim. With an insider’s look at the investigation, Hazel becomes spellbound by the lead detective, Nikolai Kole, and the chilling narrative he shares with her.
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More suspense than mystery.
- By Mike Truong on 12-03-21
By: Hannah Morrissey
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The Last Word
- A Novel
- By: Taylor Adams
- Narrated by: Carlotta Brentan, Jim Meskimen
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Emma Carpenter lives in isolation with her golden retriever Laika, house-sitting an old beachfront home on the rainy Washington coast. Her only human contact is her enigmatic old neighbor, Deek, and (via text) the house’s owner, Jules. One day, she reads a poorly written—but gruesome—horror novel by the author H. G. Kane, and posts a one-star review that drags her into an online argument with none other than the author himself. Soon after, disturbing incidents start to occur at night.
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Did it really start with a one star review????
- By RRLynn on 05-01-23
By: Taylor Adams
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Hostage
- A Novel
- By: Clare Mackintosh
- Narrated by: Vinette Robinson
- Length: 11 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Mina is trying to focus on her job as a flight attendant, not the problems of her five-year-old daughter back home or the fissures in her marriage. But the plane has barely taken off when Mina receives a chilling note from an anonymous passenger, someone intent on ensuring the plane never reaches its destination. Someone who needs Mina's assistance and who knows exactly how to make her comply. It's 20 hours to landing. A lot can happen in 20 hours....
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Narrator is Bad
- By Jayne on 06-22-21
By: Clare Mackintosh
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The Winter Sister
- By: Megan Collins
- Narrated by: Rebekkah Ross
- Length: 10 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Sixteen years ago, Sylvie’s sister, Persephone, never came home. Out too late with the boyfriend she was forbidden to see, Persephone was missing for three days before her body was found - and years later, her murder remains unsolved. In the present day, Sylvie returns home to care for her estranged mother, Annie, as she undergoes treatment for cancer. Prone to unexplained “Dark Days” even before Persephone’s death, Annie’s once-close bond with Sylvie dissolved in the weeks after their loss, making for an uncomfortable reunion all these years later.
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DON'T WASTE YOUR CREDITS
- By Jennifer on 02-13-19
By: Megan Collins
What listeners say about The Writing Retreat
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Rdean
- 04-04-23
Great read
I thought this was captivating throughout the whole story. Yes, it's a bit far fetched, but aren't most intriguing novels?
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- Daphne
- 02-28-23
Great story!
I really loved this book. I liked the characters and the plot was very good. I didn’t see all the different twists coming either. Just overall, a solid pick.
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- Amazon Customer
- 07-08-23
Loved this so much
I loved this book.. it was deliciously dark, kinda twisted and different just an all around great read!! I’d love to read it again like I’d never heard it before!!
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- Jackson
- 07-15-23
Love it
It was good but idk I wanted more suspense but overall a good book and the reader was great.
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- L. Gaynor
- 03-10-24
Fun easy listen
Perfect escape from the day to day. Enjoyed it while waiting for my flight . I picked up the book at the airport but when my phone recharged I switched to audible.
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- Tori Eason
- 04-23-23
Entertaining
Intriguing it was. I wanted to find out what happened to the characters. The plot and story was really good. Performance was great. I did not like the graphic sex so vividly written. I do think the story could have gone on without that but that it a personal opinion. Overall- yes, worth the credit. It was entertaining and kept my interest.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Keysersoze
- 03-17-23
Wanted to hear every word ! Enthralling
One of those books that you can’t wait to read what happens next and how these normal loving characters are going to survive.
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- Jamie P
- 11-12-23
Too predictable
Reader helped but the book unfortunately was too predictable. The ending was not all that great; it felt like a large leading up then the ending was rushed.
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- Shelby
- 01-22-25
it was okay
SPOILER!!!
well, where to start? this book has been sitting on my shelf for quite some time collecting dust and I had seen that the author was coming out with a new book this year, so I wanted to read this one first now the book itself wasn’t bad, but it felt very much like I read a Kate Alice Marshall book with more of a boring plot line. Not saying that the book wasn’t good. It just wasn’t a book for me. It had a lot to do with being a lesbian and finding out your sexuality and learning about yourself in essence and it had a lot of good undertones. I just don’t know if it was executed the best. The book was an interesting ending with you know the message from Rosie it just all in all was an OK book as mean, as that is, I would definitely read something else by this author, but it wasn’t something that lived up to the cover.
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- Jenessa Mercer
- 02-27-23
Devoured this in one plane ride!
I had the physical book and the audiobook while flying from Hawaii to California. I’m usually really hard on rating books, but this one deserves 5 stars. I enjoyed the small cast of characters and the twists she put in. Nobody had the same personality, even though they were all writers. I think some people get stuck because they aren’t trying to piece together the puzzle of what could happen in the end. I’ve never read a book that has me 100% obsessed the entire time. I think the author did a fabulous job and took her time to lay down what was happening without rushing through to the end or taking too long. I give it 5 stars, because this is so original and I really enjoyed it. Bravo. 👏🏻
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2 people found this helpful