The Maze at Windermere: A Novel
Written by Gregory Blake Smith
Narrated by Richard Topol, Edoardo Ballerini, Raphael Corkhill and
4/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this audiobook
A richly layered novel of love, ambition, and duplicity, set against the storied seascape of Newport, Rhode Island
A reckless wager between a tennis pro with a fading career and a drunken party guest—the stakes are an antique motorcycle and an heiress's diamond necklace—launches a narrative odyssey that braids together three centuries of aspiration and adversity. A witty and urbane bachelor of the Gilded Age embarks on a high-risk scheme to marry into a fortune; a young writer soon to make his mark turns himself to his craft with harrowing social consequences; an aristocratic British officer during the American Revolution carries on a courtship that leads to murder; and, in Newport's earliest days, a tragically orphaned Quaker girl imagines a way forward for herself and the slave girl she has inherited.
In The Maze at Windermere Gregory Blake Smith weaves these intersecting worlds into a brilliant tapestry, charting a voyage across the ages into the maze of the human heart.
Related to The Maze at Windermere
Related audiobooks
The Great Gatsby Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Swamp Kings: The Story of the Murdaugh Family of South Carolina & a Century of Backwoods Power Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Husband Hunters: American Heiresses Who Married into the British Aristocracy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Voyager: Travel Writings Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Game of Crowns: Elizabeth, Camilla, Kate, and the Throne Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Long Lost Log: Diary of a Virgin Sailor Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRequiem for the Last Indian Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSix Women of Salem: The Untold Story of the Accused and Their Accusers in the Salem Witch Trials Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The King of the Golden River Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cuyahoga Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Great Gatsby - Unabridged Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMad Travelers: A Tale of Wanderlust, Greed and the Quest to Reach the Ends of the Earth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Legend: The Real-Life Adventures of David Crockett Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Careless People: Murder, Mayhem, and the Invention of The Great Gatsby Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gods of Newport Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Voices Beckon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Farther Than Any Man: The Rise and Fall of Captain James Cook Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Diamonds are For Cocktails: A Novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThreads West, An American Saga - UNCOMPAHGRE: Where Water Turns Rock Red Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRiding The River (Stonecroft Saga Book 7): A Historical Western Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Three Men in a Boat Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Trail of the Hawk: a Comedy of the Seriousness of Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Great Gatsby Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Longest Line on the Map: The United States, the Pan-American Highway, and the Quest to Link the Americas Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Quaker Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Wah-Wah Diaries: The Making of a Film Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Literary Fiction For You
The Poisonwood Bible Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Remarkably Bright Creatures: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5All the Light We Cannot See: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Demon Copperhead: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Man Called Ove: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Stardust Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Alchemist Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Yellowface: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes: A Hunger Games Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tom Lake: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Bell Jar Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Measure: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Covenant of Water Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Parable of the Sower Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Their Eyes Were Watching God Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Road Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Song of Achilles: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Picture of Dorian Gray: Classic Tales Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Name of the Wind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Leave the World Behind: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of The Oxford Translators' Revolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cloud Cuckoo Land: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Overstory Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dutch House: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The House in the Cerulean Sea Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Kindred Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Maze at Windermere
64 ratings4 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Too many time periods and characters to follow. I found the writing engaging at the start, but found myself skimming to the end.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It took me to the end to understand the connection between the stories taking place at Newport Rhode Island at different periods of time. But the search for love is universal. The author knows the language and style of writing for each period of time in which a storyline happens. Yes, Iove and loss is a maze no matter when you are living.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I usually dislike dual time period books because one is always a lot more interesting than the other. However, in this book the author juggled 5 time periods in a very ambitious and writerly exercise that kept me engaged throughout. The story is told in alternating chapters from the points of view of 4 male and 1 female protagonists, each set in Newport, Rhode Island. Each protagonist has a very distinctive voice which is fortunate because towards the end of the book the pov begins to change more rapidly, from paragraph to paragraph, and that could have been a confusing disaster. In 2011, Sandy Alison is a retired tennis player with a bad knee. He never managed to shake his reputation for lacking a killer instinct on the court. His complicated relationships with 3 women at the elegant old Windermere estate get the better of him. In 1896, Franklin Drexel is a handsome, snarky, witty and secretly gay lapdog to wealthy women, including the current owner of Windermere. At 33, Drexel is aging out of his current position and needs to find a rich wife. In 1863, 20 year old budding author Henry James Jr. is keeping a notebook of his observances to use in his future writing (which crops up in both the 2011 and 1896 stories). He meets a young woman who wants more from him than he can give and also confronts the devastation faced by the first negro regiment in the Civil War. In 1778, English soldiers are occupying Newport and plundering its library and synagogue. Major Ballard becomes obsessed with 16 year old Judith Da Silva, the daughter of a wealthy Jewish merchant. Ballard really has no redeeming virtues. Finally, in 1692 15 year old Prudence is a recently-orphaned Quaker who has had to leave school in order to take care of her toddler sister and keep her father's business going with the help of her slave Ashes. Prudence knows exactly how to get what she wants.Love, or something akin to love, plays a role in each of these stories, but this certainly isn't a romance novel. Although 4 of the main protagonists are male, the female characters are definitely not shrinking violets. There are lots of tricky little touches in the book, such as the use by 2 of the characters of "Daisy Miller" quotes to communicate to each other in 2011, or the similar naming of characters in different time periods (Aisha/Ashes). The book may have been a little gimmicky, but it was very enjoyable and it was certainly different. I received a free copy of the ebook from the publisher, however I wound up listening to the excellent audio book version borrowed from the library.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The main narrative of The Maze at Windermere follows a mostly washed-up tennis pro, Sandy Alison, through a summer teaching and living among the very wealthy in Newport, RI. Gregory Blake Smith twists the straightforward novel by weaving four other time periods (1896, 1863, 1778 and 1692) and inhabitants of Newport into the novel. I’m not going to lie--it’s a lot to keep track of. Smith employs a variety of formats to keep the sections distinct--mostly by dated diary and journal entries, and he does a good job of fleshing out each character and time period. Enough so that even as his clearly defined chapters dissolve into briefer montages in the last section of the book the distinction and clarity remain. A number of contrivances that mesh the characters together--the house, names, Henry James--can be seen as clever or annoying...I liked it. The Maze at Windermere is a historically interesting novel that examines love, art, social class and outsiders during five time periods in Newport, RI.