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    The Stopped Heart: A Novel
    The Stopped Heart: A Novel
    The Stopped Heart: A Novel
    Audiobook14 hours

    The Stopped Heart: A Novel

    Written by Julie Myerson

    Narrated by Elizabeth Knowelden and Lucinda Clare

    3.5/5

    ()

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    About this audiobook

    Internationally bestselling author Julie Myerson’s beautifully written, yet deeply chilling, novel of psychological suspense explores the tragedies—past and present—haunting a picturesque country cottage.

    Mary Coles and her husband, Graham, have just moved to a cottage on the edge of a small village. The house hasn’t been lived in for years, but they are drawn to its original features and surprisingly large garden, which stretches down into a beautiful apple orchard. It’s idyllic, remote, picturesque: exactly what they need to put the horror of the past behind them.

    One hundred and fifty years earlier, a huge oak tree was felled in front of the cottage during a raging storm. Beneath it lies a young man with a shock of red hair, presumed dead—surely no one could survive such an accident. But the red-haired man is alive, and after a brief convalescence is taken in by the family living in the cottage and put to work in the fields. The children all love him, but the eldest daughter, Eliza, has her reservations. There’s something about the red-haired man that sits ill with her. A presence. An evil.

    Back in the present, weeks after moving to the cottage and still drowning beneath the weight of insurmountable grief, Mary Coles starts to sense there’s something in the house. Children’s whispers, footsteps from above, half-caught glimpses of figures in the garden. A young man with a shock of red hair wandering through the orchard.

    Has Mary’s grief turned to madness? Or have the events that took place so long ago finally come back to haunt her…?

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateMar 29, 2016
    ISBN9780062445629
    Author

    Julie Myerson

    Julie Myerson is the author of nine novels, including the internationally bestselling Something Might Happen, and three works of nonfiction. As a critic and columnist, she has written for many newspapers including The Guardian, Financial Times, Harper’s Bazaar, and the New York Times.

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    Reviews for The Stopped Heart

    3.5/5

    35 ratings4 reviews

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    • 4/5
      The Stopped Heart by Julie Myerson3.5 StarsFrom The Book:A deeply chilling, novel of psychological suspense explores the tragedies—past and present haunting a picturesque country cottage. Mary Coles and her husband, Graham, have just moved to a cottage on the edge of a small village. The house hasn’t been lived in for years, but they are drawn to its original features and surprisingly large garden, which stretches down into a beautiful apple orchard. It’s idyllic, remote, picturesque: exactly what they need to put the horror of the past behind them.One hundred and fifty years earlier, a huge oak tree was felled in front of the cottage during a raging storm. Beneath it lies a young man with a shock of red hair, presumed dead—surely no one could survive such an accident. But the red-haired man is alive, and after a brief convalescence is taken in by the family living in the cottage and put to work in the fields. The children all love him, but the eldest daughter, Eliza, has her reservations. There’s something about the red-haired man that sits ill with her. A presence. An evil. Back in the present, weeks after moving to the cottage and still drowning beneath the weight of insurmountable grief, Mary Coles starts to sense there’s something in the house. Children’s whispers, footsteps from above, half-caught glimpses of figures in the garden. A young man with a shock of red hair wandering through the orchard. Has Mary’s grief turned to madness? Or have the events that took place so long ago finally come back to haunt her?My Views:It was a very good story...well written and well told... however the constant switching from past to present was a bit off setting. I love supernatural, physiological suspense stories and this one was building to a stunning conclusion...but then it was like the door closed and someone said "That's all folks." We never found out what actually happened to the villain or what the future was to hold for the couple or the family in the past. That was disappointing and it lost the book half a star. Still very worth the reading time.
    • 4/5
      I really liked this book. Of course the book opens with the end so you have a good idea how the story from 150 years ago climaxes. The parallels between Eddie and James and between Eliza and Mary are creepy. I like to knit while I read and many times I had to undo my work as I had wrongly knitted on while breathlessly reading. Scary and with violence against children but a good read.
    • 4/5
      This is a hauntingly beautiful story and so well written. Mary and Graham Coles have bought a cottage in the Suffolk countryside. Though it isn’t explained until well into the book, you know that they have gone through a tragic event and are trying to make a new start. Mary does her best to try to settle in but she’s plagued by glimpses of a red-haired man and a group of children who are there one minute but gone the next. Is she going mad or is the house haunted?Alternating with Mary and Graham’s story is the story of a family who lived in the house a century and a half ago. A 13-year-old girl, Eliza, lives there with her parents and younger brothers and sisters. Her little sister, Lottie, seems to know the people who live in the present-day part of the book and wants to name her kitten “Merricoles”, her version of the name “Mary Coles”. But Lottie also thinks she was once dead so no one listens to her. A mysterious red-haired man, James Dix, is discovered under a fallen tree after a storm. His entry into this family starts a disturbing escalation towards a terrible violence that you know is coming and there’s nothing you can do to stop it.This isn’t your usual haunted house story, not at all. There are moments in this book when you wonder just who is haunting who. Can a grief be so deep that it can break through the barriers to a tragedy from the past? The two stories weave together in such a chilling way. There is also an exploration of the dark side of love and trust, both in Mary’s growing relationship with her neighbor, Eddie, and Eliza’s relationship with the venomous James. This is a terrifying story and a heart-wrenching one. There are many layers to the book and it’s one that I’m sure will reveal different layers when re-read. It’s profoundly deep and disturbing. The only fault I can find with it is that I felt parts of it went on for a bit too long. But it’s a story that I will not soon forget. Highly recommended.
    • 4/5
      From past to present, a cottage in a remote English village, provides a chilling setting. Talented, Julie Myerson delivers an emotional, atmospheric haunting tale, THE STOPPED HEART --dual time periods, over a hundred and fifty years apart linked by tragedy. (love the cover) Mary, a former publicist, is left devastated by the deaths of her daughters. She and husband attempt to build a new life in a rural cottage. Eliza is a 13-year-old farmer’s daughter, living in the same house a century earlier. How do the two stories connect? Crimes of the past. Secrets. Lies. Eliza, resides in a small 19th century English farming community. She lives on a farm with her large family, tending to her younger six siblings. One night there is a storm. An old tree fell. A man came just like the rain, lightening, thunder, and a raging storm. The cold and blackness. A city boy (definitely not country), James Dix, the red-haired mystery stranger is pinned under the tree. It missed him by an inch. He recovers and Eliza’s father hires him to help out on the farm. Eliza, the oldest-- does not care for the man; however, others seem to be under his spell. She thinks he is evil. Lottie, the younger sister, four years old-- has a gift and sees things. Reincarnation. The dog does not like James. She thinks she was a dog before she died. He weaves himself into their lives. A hundred and fifty years later, Mary and Graham Coles are looking at buying an old rundown cottage. A former orchard. Escaping their own tragedy, they buy the old cottage in a remote English village, hoping for a fresh start. Mary is drawn to the home far away from London, friends and reminders of their loss – their daughters. (we learn about this further on into the novel). Graham hopes this will pull her out of her depression. The neighbor Eddie. However, soon there are echoes of the past. A sense of voices, a dark presence, a red haired man in the orchard. Kids, steps and floors creak, doors. Shouts. A magpie. A connection – two parallels, linked. The author cleverly and slowly peels back the dark layers at her own pace, keeping the reader glued to the pages. The setting feels real and the narrators, Elizabeth Knowelden and Lucinda Clare delivered a chilling performance.A clever spine-chilling INTENSE and haunting story. Evocative, a twisted blend of Gothic, supernatural, horror, ghosts, mystery, and psychological suspense. Loss, grief, pain, love, hearts broken, madness, memories, emotional devastation. For fans of Tana French and Kate Morton. My first book by the author, and look forward to more!