• Opium and Absinthe

  • A Novel
  • By: Lydia Kang
  • Narrated by: Bailey Carr
  • Length: 12 hrs and 32 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (1,177 ratings)

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Opium and Absinthe  By  cover art

Opium and Absinthe

By: Lydia Kang
Narrated by: Bailey Carr
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Publisher's summary

From the bestselling author of A Beautiful Poison comes another spellbinding historical novel full of intrigue, occult mystery, and unexpected twists.

New York City, 1899. Tillie Pembroke’s sister lies dead, her body drained of blood and with two puncture wounds on her neck. Bram Stoker’s new novel, Dracula, has just been published, and Tillie’s imagination leaps to the impossible: the murderer is a vampire. But it can’t be - can it?

A ravenous reader and researcher, Tillie has something of an addiction to truth, and she won’t rest until she unravels the mystery of her sister’s death. Unfortunately, Tillie’s addicted to more than just truth; to ease the pain from a recent injury, she’s taking more and more laudanum...and some in her immediate circle are happy to keep her well supplied.

Tillie can’t bring herself to believe vampires exist. But with the hysteria surrounding her sister’s death, the continued vampiric slayings, and the opium swirling through her body, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for a girl who relies on facts and figures to know what’s real - or whether she can trust those closest to her.

©2020 Lydia Kang (P)2020 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

What listeners say about Opium and Absinthe

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Worst narration I’ve heard in >300 audio books

The story is overshadowed by the horrible narration. I was interested in the story but couldn’t get through it. So many words mispronounced and the accents were unbelievably bad. Save the credit and read the book. I would be interested if they redid it with a new reader.

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

Fine story, terrible narrator!

The narrator routinely mispronounces words which is incredibly jarring! The most common mispronunciation is "shone". She also couldn't get "ray" (the sea creature), "anatomy", "brooch" and other words correct. Someone who reads without the haughty affectations would serve these stories better. The story itself was pretty good. Better than The Impossible Girl certainly.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Interesting but not gripping

This was an interesting story but it wasn’t gripping. I didn’t find myself yearning to find out what happens next. Some of it was a bit predictable but there are some unseen twists as well.

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

Great Mystery!

This story will keep you guessing until the final scenes. Almost everyone's a suspect and our narrator, Tillie, while extremely likable, resourceful, and a young woman definitely ahead of her time, is also notoriously unreliable, given that she has to conquer some personal demons while solving the mystery of her sister's death.

The narration could have been better, more nuanced, certainly; but it's not so terrible that it detracts from the story as a whole.

For those hoping this will be a straight-up "vampire" story, move on now. This isn't one of those—it's so much better! I highly recommend this to anyone who'd like to sink their teeth into a well-plotted, historical mystery, I'll definitely be looking for more of Kang's work in the future!

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Disappointed

Somehow I expected something more there were too many repetitious phrases, unlikeable characters, 21st century scrambled sensibilities mixed in with Victorian attitudes. Kind of a mess.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great Listening! Will buy another book .

it was really good listening I enjoyed it very much. I would recommend this book to any one of my friends because of the historical aspects of it and the authenticity of it made it such an interesting read.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Engrossing!

A fabulous "page-turner" that kept me up late, listening to hear the culmination. Loved it!

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

really good ending

I struggled to like the characters at first, but found her recovery from addiction to be solid and it ended well. would read more by this author

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

great story

The narrator has such a soothing voice and the story was really good. I didn't want to stop listening once I started. It's a well written novel with quite the surprising villian.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

WOW

Suspenseful. Very very suspenseful! I would not believe the end, How? Shockingly intriguing story that I could not leave without finding out more.

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