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    The Mill River Recluse: A Novel
    Unavailable
    The Mill River Recluse: A Novel
    Unavailable
    The Mill River Recluse: A Novel
    Audiobook10 hours

    The Mill River Recluse: A Novel

    Written by Darcie Chan

    Narrated by Amy Rubinate

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    The sensational New York Times bestseller The Mill River Recluse reminds us that friendship, family, and love can come from the most unexpected places. Perfect for fans of Maeve Binchy.

    From the outside, Mill River looks like any sleepy little Vermont town where everyone knows everyone and people never need to lock their doors. There are newcomers for whom this appeals, from police officer Kyle Hansen and his daughter Rowen, who are starting over after heartache, to Claudia Simon, the schoolteacher who is determined to reinvent herself.

    But on closer inspection, there are those in Mill River-including a stealthy arsonist, a covetous nurse, and a pilfering priest-who have things they wish to hide. None more than the widow Mary McAllister, who for the past sixty years has secluded herself in her marble mansion overlooking the town. Most of the residents have never even seen the peculiar woman. Only the priest, Father O'Brien, knows the deep secrets that keep Mary isolated-and that, once revealed, will forever change the community.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateJun 17, 2014
    ISBN9780553398090
    Unavailable
    The Mill River Recluse: A Novel

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    Reviews for The Mill River Recluse

    3.5/5

    211 ratings24 reviews

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      This really was a good book. Please give this book a chance, despite the negative reviews. I gave it 4 stars as it was slow to start and jumped around some but overall, the story was good. I liked the characters and loved the emphasis on being kind to one another and loving people for who they are.
    • 4/5
      I picked up this book when it was offered for $.99 on the Kindle. The reviews on Amazon.com at the time were encouraging, and I thought it might be a good read for a vacation time when I was reading mostly from my Kindle. I wasn't quite sure what to expect from it and was pleasantly surprised. It's the story of Mary, the daughter of a horse breeder in a small Vermont town. She suffered from social anxiety disorder as a result of an event that happened in high school. She married into wealth. This is the story of how the people in the town touched her and she touched them as well as a story of the town itself during two periods of time. It alternates between the past and present to share the story. Her closest friend is her spoon-pilfering priest who had been with her all those years and carried out her dying wishes.I loved the glimpses into the lives of so many of the town's residents. I couldn't help but wonder how Mary's life might have been changed had she developed her problem at a later time when her disorder was recognized.
    • 4/5
      Mary McAllister is the silent benefactress of the small town of Mill River, using the wealth she inherited from her abusive marriage to establish some role in the community, even though her intense agoraphobia keeps her from meeting anyone but a select few. The Mill River Recluse provides the reader with interesting character analyses as Chan presents isolated narratives to make up the whole, but the device intended to drive the story - the "mystery" of Mary - falls flat.
    • 5/5
      As a free Kindle book I was ready to not like this book. However, I'm glad to have it read it. The story takes place in Mill River, everybody's small town. As one reads the book they come to love the characters, especially Mary. Mildly predictable, but enough action and plot twists to keep the reader hooked.
    • 2/5
      The setup of the novel held promise. The central character is a woman suffering from a severe anxiety disorder. She also was permanently disfigured by an abusive husband. Alone, in her grand house on the hill, she watches the town below her, and becomes involved in the lives of the residents there, but from a distance. Her contact with the outside world is practically nil, except for a local priest who has the odd habit of stealing spoons.On the whole, I found this book somewhat maudlin. I'd hoped to be more drawn into characters that held promise in the descriptive blurb, and to find depth in the the nooks and crannies of Mill River. As it was, there was a heavy-handedness gave away each plot revelation far before I'd even started to wonder what would happen, so that the by the end of the book, I was just waiting for the characters to get on with it. The nurse educator in me felt this could have been an opportunity to educate about anxiety disorders, which can be life crippling. Instead, there was more of focus on Mary being set up for life, financially, and never having to want for anything, than on overcoming her disability. I found myself thinking over and over how different her life could have been, without taking away from her charitable efforts, if someone had been able to get her the kind of help that could have given her the strength to combat her fears.Whenever I receive a book from an outside source, or from a debut author, I try to give it an honest review of what I thought. And, hope that review will be positive. sometimes it's not. I think there is an audience for this sort of book, though, I am not the correct one. However, I am extremely thankful to Random House for sending this book to me and for introducing me to the Random House Reader's Circle. And to Ms Chan, should she read this review, please keep writing. Not everyone nails it for all readers, especially on the first try. You had an idea, a story, and a vision, and pulled it together. That's more than most people can do. Apparently enough people liked this book as an ebook when it was self published for a major house to take it on, and I see you have a sequel that comes out in August. Goodonya! I wish you and Mill River, VT well.
    • 5/5
      As a free Kindle book I was ready to not like this book. However, I'm glad to have it read it. The story takes place in Mill River, everybody's small town. As one reads the book they come to love the characters, especially Mary. Mildly predictable, but enough action and plot twists to keep the reader hooked.
    • 4/5
      Lovely book about life in a small town... including a priest who steals spoons, a recluse with dark secrets, an arsonist and a teacher finding love for the first time. Vaguely reminiscent of the Mitford series by Jan Karon.
    • 2/5
      Easy read, although melodramatic to a fault. Seemed one character or another was constantly wiping away tears. Would have been better if agoraphobia had been more thoroughly examined, rather than a plot devise.
    • 1/5
      Read this because it was a free download.
    • 4/5
      Where I got the book: my sister read it and passed it on to me. She wasn't all that impressed.Whereas I would give this book about a 3.5, for the following reasons. A few years ago, when agents ruled the land and authors scuttled around under their feet unnoticed, there was a lot of advice going around about making your book easy to read for the poor dumb reader because, y'know, long words are difficult for us and distance us from the story. Chan evidently followed that advice, and lo and behold, an indie bestseller was born.And it's not a bad story per se, although the Big Secret became pretty obvious way before the end. There are a lot of readers who like small-town stories involving fallible characters, and when you add in perfectly decent writing that is "accessible" you're going to pull people in. Not entirely my cuppa, but I know that there's a knack to this kind of writing and Chan's nailed it. I've read way worse, by authors who've been picked up by trad publishing and touted as bestsellers. I kind of wish Chan had stayed indie, but I can understand how those seven-figure advances are hard to resist. Would I read more Chan? No, probably not. I like a little more layering and depth of character. We're talking here about the depth of a Ken Follett blockbuster, without the grand sweep of the plot which is the only reason I stay with those things. In a short novel, I want more bite.
    • 5/5
      I wanted this book to continue or ever! The small town of Mill River is the white picket fence community many people dream about. I fell in love with Mary and the rest of the town (well, maybe not with Leroy.....ok, definitely not with Leroy). My definition of a great book is one where, when you finally put it down you look around and say "Huh? Where am I?" I did that with this book. I am looking forward to reading many more books by this great author!
    • 4/5
      This was a very different book than I was expecting when I started, I guess from the description I assumed it was a mystery but it turned out to be kind of a feel good story. It was the story of a town and the woman who looked down from her mansion on a hill because she couldn’t leave her house due to severe social anxiety disorder, however Mary does have one friend Pastor Michael who has been there for her when she had no one else. I felt this book was also about this friendship that was true and real their friendship was one most people dream about, the kind of friendship that knows all your secrets (or almost all as in this case) and accepts you for who you are faults and all.I enjoyed this book, it told a good story, even if at times some characters didn’t get fleshed out as much as one would have liked. It’s hard to characterize this book into a genre; it’s has family drama, a bit of a whodunit, town secrets, abuse, friendship and social anxiety so if you can figure out what genre it belongs in let me know!Amy Rubinate’s narrations was fabulous as always all her voices were distinct and every character had their own voice. She also did well at aging the characters voices as they sounded younger when they were recalling the past and older in the present day. Narration was very well done.As I said even though I went into this book thinking it was something it was not I still enjoyed it, and would recommend to people who enjoy a well told story. I will be reading the next book in this series as I am curious at what else is going on in Mill River.3 ½ Stars
    • 4/5
      1940 sieht Patrick McAllister Mary zum ersten Mal. Er ist der arrogante Sohn reicher Eltern und daran gewöhnt, das zu bekommen, was er will. Jetzt will er Mary - und bekommt sie natürlich auch…Viele Jahre später: Mary McAllister ist seit 60 Jahren Witwe und lebt allein in dem großen weißen Haus oberhalb von Mill River, von wo aus sie die Stadt überblicken kann. Nach mehreren schrecklichen Erlebnissen hat sie das Haus seit Jahren nicht verlassen, nimmt aber großen Anteil am Leben von Mill River. Ihr Kontakt zur Außenwelt ist Father O'Brien, der sie regelmäßig besucht und ihr aus der Stadt berichtet. Als sie Krebs bekommt und weiß, dass sie bald sterben wird, soll Father O'Brien dafür sorgen, dass die Menschen erfahren, wieviel sie Mary bedeutet haben.Der Leser lernt Mary als junge und alte Frau kennen, die Handlung wechselt oft zwischen Gegenwart und Vergangenheit. Gleichzeitig wird das Leben in Mill River mit seinen Bewohnern beschrieben, die Mary nicht kennen, deren Leben aber, ohne dass sie es ahnen, von Mary beeinflusst wird.Beim Lesen hatte ich die amerikanische Kleinstadt unter ihrer Schneedecke die ganze Zeit deutlich vor Augen. Das ist definitiv Darcie Chans Stärke: Sie beschreibt die Stadt und ihre Bewohner so, dass man das Gefühl hat, selbst dort zu sein und die Leute kennenzulernen, und von der ersten Seite an umgibt den Leser die Wärme, die das Buch ausstrahlt. Ich weiß nicht, ob man das von Büchern sagen kann, aber für mich ist dieser Roman "Soul Food".Ich habe "Sehnsucht nach Mill River" sehr genossen und kann es jedem empfehlen, der warmherzige Romane mag, in denen es hauptsächlich um zwischenmenschliche Beziehungen und weniger um die Handlung geht. Denn das Buch hat auch einige Schwächen: Die meisten Charaktere sind eindimensional; es gibt Gut und Böse, sonst nichts. Selbst Mary bleibt als Charakter sehr farblos. Die Handlung ist vorhersehbar und das große Finale, auf das die Autorin von Anfang an mit Hilfe eines geheimnisvollen Päckchens in Father O'Briens Besitz hinarbeitet, war für mich eine herbe Enttäuschung. Da hatte ich wirklich mehr erwartet.Trotz allem ist es ein schönes, typisch amerikanisches Wohlfühlbuch für lange Winterabende mit einer Tasse Tee, und ich wäre gerne noch länger gedanklich in Mill River geblieben…
    • 2/5
      I'm being very generous with 2 stars, but the book does have an interesting setting and with a good setting I can wade through a lot of bad plotting and shallow characters. And that's what this book has - a silly plot that never quite makes sense and characters who get too many paragraphs for what little they have to do with the boring "mystery". The world building is good, everything else is bad.
    • 5/5
      Meet Mary Hayes McAllister, she is a woman who as a young girl was abused by her teacher and never returned to school due to developing a severe anxiety syndrome. Although she never let people get close to her she soon let Patrick McAllister after he pursued her and gained her trust. They finally married and a short time later he turned into a monster and severely injured Mary than killed himself in an automobile accident leaving Mary alone except for Patrick's grandfather and Father O'Brien. In order to understand this story fully please read this marvelous book
    • 3/5
      I thought it was good, heartwarming book. It deals with the present and the past, with chapters alternating. It follows the life of an elderly recluse. I felt the past was more engaging than the present, which I didn't care for. An uneven book, but still worth the read.
    • 4/5
      I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I bought it on Amazon when it was offered for $0.99. I read that the author couldn't get a publisher so she had to release it as an e-book. I thought the book was well written and the characters were well developed. Mary was a very compelling, yet sad character. Father O'Brien was very endearing. There were many characters but they all fit perfectly into this story.
    • 4/5
      I had a hard time putting the book aside to get other things done. I enjoyed the story, and loved the ending.
    • 5/5
      this took a few days longer to read than it normally would have, but life got in the way. I did love this book and my heart broke for Mary
    • 5/5
      I thoroughly enjoyed this novel set in Mill River. It's main character as the novel begins is a young naive woman, set on a harsh life from an attack from a teacher, as a younger girl. She suffers from Social Anxiety, and is nearly unable to even communicate with anyone but her father, and her beloved horses. Along comes the dashing hero, or so we think! The characters in this lovely New England town capture your heart. Most are kind generous, caring people, the prime example is Father Michael. Although even he has his little secrets!! I could not let this story go, until I finished it. It's a story with laughter, love and sadness. I did shed a tear or two, but the satisfaction of the ending was perfect. I highly recommend this book for anyone who likes a soft gentle tale about small town life.Comment
    • 5/5
      I LOVED LOVED LOVED this book. If you like books that look deep into people's lives...this one is a MUST read!
    • 3/5
      With interesting and engaging characters, and smooth switching between the past and present, the book kept me reading with great interest. Only the ending was weak, too predictably to be predictable (I couldn't believe that it really ended so predictably!), sweetly without any punch or uniqueness. Disappointing, as I had enjoyed the book up to that point.
    • 3/5
      Nothing outstanding.... Mary was a fairly common much-maligned character. The romance between the police officer and the school teacher was fairly typical of a romance novel. Both are portrayed as perfect people. Once again, I believe that this was a Kindle-special purchase..... HMMMMMMMMMMMM....
    • 5/5
      For only $.99 on Kindle, I have to admit that I didn't really expect too much out of this book...but, Darcie Chan, I sincerely apologize for jumping to conclusions.This story of the life of a woman with severe social anxiety disorder was amazing. The richness and depth of all of the characters--from Mary, the woman suffering with s.a.d. to her friend, the priest, and the town policeman--they were all wonderful!I felt that I knew each and every one of the townspeople as Ms. Chan wove her magic.A great book. Highly recommended.