Whisper Cottage

By: Anne Wyn Clark

Narrated by: Lauren Moakes

A mysterious figure. A whispering community. A deadly secret…

When Stina and Jack move to an old rural cottage, they’re hoping for a fresh start. Their new home is run-down compared to their neighbour’s, but generous Mrs Barley quickly becomes a friend.

Until Stina sees a mysterious figure in the widow’s garden, and her happy new life begins to unravel. And when she hears strange noises in the night, she is forced to question if Mrs Barley is what she seems.

Why do the other villagers whisper about her? Why is she so eager to help the couple? And what is she hiding in her picture-perfect home?

A haunting, twisty story about the power of secrets and rumours, perfect for fans of Ruth Ware’s The Turn of the Key and Lucy Atkins’s Magpie Lane.

©2021 Anne Wyn Clarke (P)2021 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Long and drawn out.

I liked the story but it could have been finished in 5 hours. It was long and drawn out with the same things happening again and again. All the action was done in the last 45 minutes.

Atmospheric & sinister: ‘Whisper Cottage’ shines

I chose this highly charged audiobook at no charge via my monthly Amazon Music subscription for September. “Whisper Cottage” by Anne Wyn Clark is an exquisitely written thriller that had me hooked from the start to end; never a dull moment. Narrated by Lauren Moakes, this suspicious thriller is a complexellent must-have. Clark's writing is atmospheric and suspenseful, weaving a complicated web of intrigue and deception. Moakes’ narration perfectly captures the eerie tone, bringing the characters to life with delightful precision. We follow Stina and Jack, a couple seeking a fresh start in a rural cottage. However, their new life quickly unravels when Stina discovers a mysterious figure in the neighbor’s garden and begins to suspect that someone near may be hiding secrets; Stina’s world becomes increasingly troubling. With its twisty plot, suspenseful mood and just the perfect amount of creep factor, “Whisper Cottage” is an audictive and chilling tale that held my attention throughout. If you’re like me and always on the lookout for an insidious and mesmerizing listen, look no further. {{note: I’ve found that searching by narrator, I’ve discovered some brilliant hidden gems.}} Highly recommended? Indeed!

💥👏✍️🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟✍️👏💥

Brilliant, Haunting, Unique

I loved every aspect of this story.
1) a rural village with secrets
2) a seemingly creepy neighbor with her own secrets
3) the paranoia and isolation that comes with a) being pregnant and alone most of the time and b) the whispers of people our protagonist gets to know in this village and the sussing out of what’s true and what’s just folklore and an old woman getting a bad rap as a witch of some kind.
I found the entire premise fascinating and I also completely related to Stina, the pregnant and isolated protagonist who is on a mission to find out why the village folk have such disdain for her neighbor who shares the cottage next door.
Odd sounds coming from next door in the dead of night that Stina’s husband never seems to hear and odd sightings of a man crossing through garden behind the older woman’s cottage.
A Raven with a bold stripe, all of these details made for a scintillating read.
I couldn’t put it down.
My only regret is that, after finishing this book I realized there were no other titles available from this author, as I would’ve bought them all.
Simply based on this one read.
The narration is fantastic and the story is cleverly told.
I look forward to many more titles by Anne Wyn Clark.
Very, very well done.

Not for me

This was a complete waste of time and money. I don't like to leave bad reviews, but this was awful.