Departed

A Dead Man Does Tell Tales

By: R. R. Washburn

Narrated by: S.W. Salzman

Length: 1 hr and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

In the autumn of 1684, two children find a dead man in a field.

Within minutes, however, the dead man starts coming back to life. As if the transition isn't enough of an agonizing process, he also finds that he shares an empathic connection to the people and world around him.

Rather than running in terror, 11-year-old Joanna Spijker expresses an odd fascination with the newly revived young man, even bringing him home and giving him a new name: Vincent.

As years go by, Vincent grows content with his new name and life with the Spijker family.

But time proves to be his greatest enemy, when it becomes increasingly more impossible to ignore that Vincent is a man who never ages...or dies.

And that is a terrible gift to have during a time of Connecticut's witch hunt....

©2015 Rebecca R. Washburn (P)2015 Rebecca R. Washburn

not really sure what to think.

I kind of felt like this story had no beginning and no end, but maybe that's the point. The life of Vincent spiker is a weird one. He dies several times and then comes back to life. He doesn't know how and he doesn't know why.

I liked the narrators voice.

I just wish there had been some kind of reasoning or something..... alot of left unanswered for me.

Mystery in the time of witch hunts!

In 1684, Windbridge, CT, Albert Spijker and his 11 year old sister Joanna find a dead man in a nearby field. Before they can bury him, he comes back to life. While that is indeed a strange thing, the kids invite him home anyway.

Told from the dead man’s point of view, we learn about his new life, and a little about his old one. Eventually, Joanna names him Vincent after a cat a cousin once had. The parents, Willem and Katherine, are a bit suspicious of Vincent at first. Eventually it becomes apparent that Vincent is a gentle person.

In this languid tale, Vincent is the intriguing star. I was caught up in his character wanting to know more about his past, how he came to be hung, why he came back to life, and what the future had in store for him. Vincent has an empathic connection with those people around him. At first, it is rather disconcerting for the man but eventually, he gets it under control.

It’s a time of witch hunts and hangings in Connecticut. So the Spijkers are rather closed mouth about where they found Vincent and in what state he was in. Years later, Vincent is the family’s farm hand and Joanna’s protector. Hangings still occur. Vincent isn’t aging and this is starting to be noted by folks outside the Spijker family.

While the pace is rather slow in this story, and one could argue that not much happens, I still found something charming in this tale. I put it down to Vincent and all the mystery that surrounds him.

I won a copy of this book.

Narration: S. W. Salzman makes a good Vincent. He was really good at imbuing certain scenes with emotion, especially those focusing on Vincent and his struggles.

A wonderful vignette.

While the performer struggles to maintain his tone in a few places, the story is well crafted and great for a bit of light reading. I'm looking forward to Washburn's next literary work.

Departed

Was a story that I enjoyed from beginning to end, it had great characters and story line, S.W. Salzman as usual did a fine job of narrating... I would recommend this to others, I received this free audiobook code from FABC and I am providing my voluntary review.