And He Shall Appear, Kate Van Der Borgh
And He Shall Appear, Kate Van Der Borgh
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And He Shall Appear

Author: Kate Van Der Borgh

Narrator: Elliot Fitzpatrick

Unabridged: 11 hr 48 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/01/2024


Synopsis

From a mesmerizing new literary voice comes a story of obsessive friendship, chilling powers, and untimely death for readers of dark academia classics like If We Were Villains and The Secret History. An unnamed narrator arrives at Cambridge University in the early aughts determined to reinvent himself. His northern accent marks him as an outsider, but thanks to his musical gifts, he manages to fall in with his wealthy classmate, Bryn Cavendish. A charismatic party host and talented magician, Bryn enthralls the narrator. But something seems to happen to those who challenge or simply irk Bryn—and they aren’t ever the same again. The narrator begins to suspect that Bryn may be concealing terrifying gifts under the guise of magic tricks. As the tension between them grows, a harrowing encounter is followed by Bryn’s death. Alternating between their time as students and the narrator’s return to Cambridge years later, where he fears the ghosts of his past are waiting for him, And He Shall Appear performs an astounding slight-of-hand that throws every version of the story into question. This propulsive novel about the dark power of privilege will haunt readers like a familiar piece of music with endless iterations.

About Kate Van Der Borgh

By day, Kate van der Borgh is a freelance copywriter, and by night, she’s usually composing or playing music. She grew up in Lancashire and went on to study music at Cambridge, so there’s a reasonable amount of her in her narrator—including the fact that she was a pianist and reluctant bassoonist. She has, however, never had reason to suspect that her best friend has occult powers. Her short fiction has been published by The Fiction Desk, and she’s a graduate of Faber’s six-month Writing a Novel course. She is based in London.

About Elliot Fitzpatrick

Elliot Fitzpatrick is an experienced voiceover artist with several credits to his name, including narrating Bear Grylls's audiobooks Soul Fuel and True Grit as well as recording radio commercials and audio guides. With a vast selection of accents and character voices at his disposal, he is just as at home in the booth recording fiction and nonfiction. A London-based actor, he has performed in the West End, at the Rose Theatre, and with Shakespeare's Globe.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Ceecee on September 20, 2024

The unnamed male narrator has been musical from birth, his talents securing him a place at Cambridge around the turn of the millennium. A state school attendee, he arrives from a small northern town, the gifted proverbial fish out of water. Maybe this is a chance for reinvention though perhaps Cambr......more

Goodreads review by Blair on January 16, 2025

A music student arrives in Cambridge to start his degree, aware his ordinary background marks him out as an outsider. Things start to change when he forms an unlikely friendship with the wealthy and charismatic Bryn Cavendish, a talented magician with a thing for the occult. Yet as their bond deepen......more

Goodreads review by Booksblabbering || Cait❣️ on November 13, 2024

The Secret History meets Saltburn and In My Dreams I Hold a Knife. An unnamed narrator feels out of his depth studying music at Cambridge amidst people moving in a whole other world - separated by class, connection, and finesse. He becomes entranced by Bryn, the centre of everyone’s life at their co......more

Goodreads review by Laura on January 19, 2025

Dark academia is en vogue at the moment, spawning its own sub-sub-genres all over the place. Kate van der Borgh's debut, And He Shall Appear, is what I shall refer to as classic dark academia, with a direct through-line from The Secret History. Our unnamed narrator arrives at an unnamed Cambridge co......more

Goodreads review by Kieran on January 12, 2025

yk what hell yeah......more


Quotes

"The narrator’s life fills with dark omens and terrifying nightmares; then a horrific accident leaves him reeling… An eerie, deeply disturbing tale that is as mesmerizing as it is provocative." –Booklist