Narrated by Susan Duerden
The Publisher Blurb: Judith Hampton was as beautiful as she was proud and loyal. Her dear Scottish friend from childhood was about to give birth, and Judith had promised to be at her side. But there was another, private reason for the journey from her bleak English home to the Highlands: to meet the father she had never known, the Laird Maclean. Nothing prepared her, however, for the sight of the Scottish barbarian who was to escort her into his land … Iain Maitland, Laird of his clan, a man more powerfully compelling than any she had ever encountered.
In a spirited clash of wills and customs, Judith reveled in the melting bliss of Iain’s searching kisses, his passionate caresses. Perplexed by her sprightly defiance, bemused by her tender nature, Iain felt his soul growing into the light and warmth of her love. Surely nothing would wrench her from the affection and trust of Iain and his clan … not even the truth about her father, a devastating secret that could shatter the boldest alliance, and the most glorious of loves!
My Take on the Story: The Secret, originally published in 1992, is the first in Garwood’s medieval Highland Lairds series. Being a Garwood historical, you know there will be some fictional license taken with historical details. Judith was raised near the English-Scotland border, so she speaks Gaelic but with an accent. That takes care of one detail. Although Judith is not married, she spent a lot of time discussing modern birthing methods with a midwife so that she could be of assistance to her friend’s birthing. Another subject neatly explained. Judith is outspoken on women’s issues, a precursor to 20th century suffragettes, and manages to get the clan women on board for having a say in clan business. I’m not saying no woman did these things in 13th century Scotland; I’m just saying it isn’t a book overly concerned with sticking to the realities of medieval life.
When I read it in print, I got from the story that Judith brought to the clan a lot of new-fangled and modern ideas from England – you know how modern those English could be in 1200 – and slowly won the clan over to some of her thinking. She also learned about herself, and her character development was realistic, if not necessarily medieval. Once I decided the book was meant to be humorous, I relaxed a little and enjoyed the ride.
My Take on the Narration: Susan Duerden is one of AudioGals’ Narrator Friends. She is truly an A-list narrator – she’s a wonderful storyteller who creates an atmosphere with her characters, using all the appropriate emotions and voices. Her audiobook list is impressive, with a lot of historical romance by authors like Lisa Kleypas, Eloisa James and Julia Quinn. OK, now the Curmudgeonly Reviewer is going to raise her cranky head: I truly did not like her Scottish men and their Scots accents. There was so much hoarseness and spitting out words and growling from the back of the throat! I would mention “bellowing” because there was also a lot of that, but that’s a Garwood thing, and Duerden managed to convey bellowing without actually increasing the volume – a testament to her professionalism in narration. The women and children were all wonderful; her narrative voice is pleasing to the ear, but the men were a near-fail for me this time.
Melinda
Narration: C
Book Content: B
Steam Factor: Glad I had my earbuds in
Violence: None, really
Genre: Historical Romance (medieval)
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
The Secret was provided to AudioGals for review by Brilliance Audio.
Hero Ian’s voice was absolutely delish – unless he was angry or shouting :) which went a long way with my hero centric being in enjoying this listen more than you did Melinda.
As you say the general narrative, women, and children were all excellent … another big plus … but I agree that many of the other Scottish men hurt my throat just to think of voicing them. Frances Katherine’s father being the most painful – thankfully he had a small part in the prologue.
Judith’s drunken uncle Tekal gave me the heebie jeebies as was meant by JG so SD accomplished one of those way too good interpretations with him!
It was Ian and Judith’s private conversations and encounters that bumped this one up a grade for me.
I just finished this one. Susan Duerden is one of my favorite narrators, but this was not her best. I think that my biggest pet peeve right now concerning narration is when the narrator actually whispers and yells when the character does, and there was a LOT of that in this book. I have ringing in my ears and a few times it was a little difficult for me to understand what was being whispered, so I would have the volume up and then almost immediately someone would shout in that gravelly voice which was unpleasant. That was the biggest problem for me I think. I got used to her men’s voices after awhile. Hopefully she’ll tone down Ransom a little.
Angie I know what you mean about the whispering and shouting, it’s been an issue in more than one book lately.
I prefer to have the narrators use that echo-y type effect so you know the person is shouting but you don’t have to adjust the volume. The same with whispering ie: a change in tone – like young children do when they think they are whispering but it’s as loud as ever :) – instead of an actual whisper that interrupts your listen as you to grab for your player in order to rewind then up the volume to hear what was just said.
Did you see that Audible has The Lion’s Lady available a month earlier than scheduled – my favorite type of surprise in the audiobook world. :)
Unfortunately for Duerden, whispering and yelling (or as I like to say, bellowing) are true Garwood character attributes. She’s facing a dilemma – read it as the author intended or read it for the listener volume comfort, and face criticism from half the readers for one or the other? I agree with you, though, that the volume thing – whether listening through car speakers or through earbuds – is an annoyance. I compared her male voices to a recent listen for me of another Duerden narration and she does not do the spitting/gravelly thing with British male voices. I also compared it to [sigh] the pinnacle of Scots men by a woman, Davina Porter reading Outlander – Porter doesn’t need to ruin her throat or spit to give Jamie and his kin one of the best voicings in audiobook history. I stand by my “near fail” opinion, knowing she could have done better! But I’m glad to hear others weren’t as affected as I was.
I did notice Lion’s Lady at Audible. My library gets all of her audiobooks though and I had planned to get it there, but now that I know it’s just sitting there at Audible it’s going to be really hard to wait.
I actually got Outlander as my free audiobook when I joined Audible and started it but never got more than an hour into it. I’m sure I will start it again one day. Is Davina Porter still narrating? I couldn’t remember is she was an older woman or not.
Kirsten Potter does a good Scottish accent and would have been good at narrating this book, but they should have paired Susan and Phil Gigante. Phil’s voice as Ian would have been perfection.
Too funny Angie – I’m in line for The Lion’s Lady as well and I am having the same dilemma knowing it’s sitting there at Audible. For today at least I am saved from an impulse buy with too much tax work to get done before my appointment with the Accountant next week. :p
I enjoy Kirsten Potter’s Scotsmen as well – great pairing idea. ;)
Although it’s audiobook blasphemy I’ve never made it through Outlander in audio either – 36 hours – some heavy duty angst and no HEA to wrap it up – not for me.
There is whispering and shouting in most books – though Garwood may use it more frequently – hmm, I have the original Jill Tanner narration of The Secret. A comparison listen is in order I believe. ;)
I’m not saying whispers or shouts shouldn’t be conveyed – but – they can be conveyed in ways (think Karen White w/ Something About You – the scene on the rooftop) that do not affect the volume level for a listener – as I mentioned above.
Angela Dawe with Jennifer Ashley’s MacKenzie’s remains my standard for Scotsmen. ;)
And Angela Dawe did not resort to spitting and hoarse growling either! I agree, her Mackenzie is great, but I’ll challenge you and her Ian to a smack down with me and Porter’s Jamie any day! LOL! Yes, Davina Porter is still narrating as far as I know.
“Are ye ready to rumble?”
Agree 100% on that spitting part – ugh!
I’ll give you Davinia Porter’s Jamie as the most stomach flipping Scots voice – hands down – I’m just too big of a pansy to listen to the whole book. I’ve skipped to favorite scenes and enjoyed Davinia and Outlander that way but that’s all I can handle. :D
“There is whispering and shouting in most books – though Garwood may use it more frequently”
I guess what Garwood does in her historicals more frequently is mood swings and volume shifts in the same scene, so that you’re trying to hear a whisper then there’s bellowing in the next sentence. As opposed to a scene where whispering is invoked, then several scenes later there are raised voices. Her medieval heroines seem to be often trying to tell their hero something sotto voce to which said hero or another character replies in a bellow. You lean in to hear the heroine and have to step back for his reply – which while reading in print isn’t the same as listening with high quality earbuds right next to your suffering eardrums! I agree, many narrators are able to use that echo-chamber effect to imply loud without actually raising the volume. I didn’t find so much that Duerden had exceedingly loud volume, but she did whisper a lot, so the ups and downs for me were not a high range difference but I get Angie’s point – you turn it up to hear the whisper and then are blasted by the increase in volume, even slight.
I could probably nitpick this for hours. Her regular narrative voice is so wonderful that the contrast made it that much more disappointing for me.