The Great Godden, Meg Rosoff
The Great Godden, Meg Rosoff
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The Great Godden

Author: Meg Rosoff

Narrator: Ell Potter

Unabridged: 3 hr 53 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/25/2021

Synopsis

From National Book Award Finalist Meg Rosoff comes a lyrical, compulsively readable coming-of-age tale that is heady, irresistible, and timeless.Everyone talks about falling in love like it's the most miraculous, life-changing thing in the world. Something happens, they say, and you know . . .
I looked into his eyes and I knew.
Only, everyone else knew too. Everyone else felt exactly the same way.This is the story of one family during one dreamy summer—the summer when everything changes. In an eccentric, turreted vacation house by the sea, our watchful narrator sees everything, including many things that shouldn’t be seen, while brothers and sisters, parents and theatrical older cousins fill the hot days with wine and tennis and sailing and planning a wedding. Enter two brothers, the sons of a fading film actress—irresistibly charming, languidly sexy Kit and surly, silent Hugo. Suddenly there’s a serpent in this paradise, and the consequences will be devastating. In a propulsive narrative carrying intrigue and a growing sense of unease, Meg Rosoff, best-selling author of the iconic How I Live Now, offers a summer tale of innocence lost that will find its place among the classics of young adult literature.

About Meg Rosoff

Meg Rosoff was born in Boston and moved to London in 1989. She spent fifteen years working in advertising before writing her first novel, How I Live Now, which has sold over one million copies in thirty-six territories. It won the Guardian Children’s fiction prize, the Printz prize, was shortlisted for the Orange Prize and made into a film. Her subsequent five novels have been awarded or shortlisted for, among others, the Carnegie Medal and the National Book Award. She lives in London with her husband, daughter, and two dogs.

Reviews

Goodreads review by luce (cry baby)

| | blog | tumblr | ko-fi | | “When I think back on that it’s always with a sense of having lost something fragile and fleeting, something I can’t quite name.” I loved every single page of The Great Godden. This is one of those rare novels that is simultaneously simple and mesmerising: an unmanned......more

Goodreads review by Emma

In this book the normal course of a calm English summer gets disrupted by a charismatic and manipulative character. Sooo, I expected a little more from this book. It wasn't a bad read in any way, but to me it felt quite average. I had high expectations because of the plot I read and in the end I was......more

Goodreads review by Prerna

A couple of years ago I went to a beautiful and hidden waterfall with some friends, we were all marveling at how peaceful it felt. It was late in the evening too and there wasn't a human soul for miles around us. Yet, there was no lack of sounds. There was the incessant chirping of unseen birds and......more

Quotes

“As a British family of six takes its annual beach holiday, narrator Ell Potter's delivery is informed by the voice of the unnamed, ungendered young adult narrator.… Potter's narration focuses on the emotional arc, tone, and characterizations of this story. Listeners will enjoy this finely crafted novel in which time and traditions endure amid plot twists and the protagonist's struggle to find his footing.” —AudioFile Magazine, Earphones Award Winner“A British family of six takes its annual vacation to the beach for what is sure to be a glorious summer. ...Printz Award–winner Rosoff (How I Live Now, 2004) has written an absolutely remarkable coming-of-age story. Everything about it—style, substance, mood, atmosphere, tone, and especially characterization—is spot-on. One wants to read the book several times to tease out how Rosoff achieves her effects. The effort is a joy, just like this unforgettable novel, the first of a planned, summer-themed trio.” —Booklist (starred review)“A London teen recounts the summer that tore the family apart... Through the narrator’s keen observations, made more poignant in hindsight and through sarcasm, readers view the twisting and turning development of Kit’s manipulation. Although slim, Rosoff’s taut, psychological story elicits a slow burn, leaving readers wondering how far and wide Kit’s power will extend through the family. It’s all just the beginning of the narrator’s loss of innocence. A searing coming-of-age novel.” —Kirkus Reviews

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