Salt Hendon Collection by Lucinda Brant

Narrated by Alex Wyndham

The Salt Hendon Collection comprises of two novels – Salt Bride and Salt Redux, as well as the novella, Salt Angel. Each audiobook is available separately narrated by Marian Hussey (I haven’t listened to them) but the boxset is narrated by the sublime Alex Wyndham. It’s 23 hours of aural bliss.

Salt Bride

The prologue takes place when an 18-year-old Jane Despard is in mid-miscarriage. That’s probably not the right word though. She was given an abortifacient by a mysterious woman in order to rid her womb of the bastard child she carried. She had been four months pregnant.

The story picks up again four years later when Jane is about to be married to the Earl of Salt Hendon, Magnus Sinclair. They had met and fallen in love when she was about to turn 18. She fell pregnant to him after they became secretly engaged and they let their passion go to their heads. Magnus went to London on urgent business, leaving Jane in Wiltshire to await his return, upon which they would be formally betrothed. After she found out she was pregnant, she sent an urgent message to him but what she received back was a breach of promise letter and her heart was broken.

Of course, they had both been deceived by the mysterious woman – whose identity quickly becomes clear, as well as her reasoning.

Big misunderstanding isn’t really my favourite trope (to say the least) so part of me was crestfallen that was what the story hinged upon. However, in this case, both parties had good reason to believe ill of the other. While it was less clear why they could not quickly speak the truth to one another (apart from the demands of the plot) there was some reasoning behind it.

What saved the book for me (apart from the narration of course) was that Jane and Magnus could not remain at odds for long. Magnus’s initial ill will towards Jane for breaking his heart was soon put on the back burner. While there were things which kept them from being completely happy, for the most part their interaction was that of lovers rather than enemies. There were some turns the story could have taken and didn’t – something I was grateful for. I liked how, despite believing ill of one another they both could not help their continued attraction and affection.

There were a few little plot holes that made me raise my eyebrows a little but nothing dire. Ultimately, the romance between Jane and Magnus was a delight and I enjoyed the book very much.

Salt Redux

It’s difficult to talk too much about the plot of this book without giving away what happens in the first book. Suffice to say that four years after events of Salt Bride the villain from that book makes an unwelcome reappearance and she continues her machinations to remove Jane and her children from this mortal coil.

It’s also not technically a romance. It contains a lovely romantic story, complete with HEA for Lord Antony Templestowe and Lady Caroline Aldershot (formerly Lady Caroline Sinclair, sister of Lord Salt) but the thrust of the plot is about the villain and the plot to kill Jane and the children and Lord Antony’s and Lord Salt’s efforts to thwart the plan and permanently dispose of the risk to the Salt Hendon family.

It all takes place in about a week, so things move very fast. That said, there is also quite a bit of extraneous details which sometimes frustrated me as a listener because I was so invested in finding out what happened next. Ms. Brant also uses a somewhat unusual device in the series and it was something I particularly noticed here. There will be the lead up to an event, then there will be a reflection on what happened after the event or a recap of what the person was thinking at the time of the event – and eventually the event itself. The event for which there is a massive build up is the thing that happens last. While it does build tension, I found it distracting, especially in this book and it felt like obvious writerly manipulation as opposed to something natural within the story. It probably also says something about the way I listen and read.

In the big scheme of things, that is a fairly minor concern however.

I enjoyed catching up with Jane and Magnus and their growing family and the love story between Caro and Tony was very sweet and also a little unusual which ticked quite a few boxes for me.

Salt Angel

This Christmas novella has not one but two romances in it and is a lovely palate cleanser to the rather gruesome event which occurs near the end of Salt Redux. The novella is low conflict and can even be played out loud as it contains no sex at all (not a complaint – it fit the story perfectly). Kitty Aldershot and Tom Allenby begin their courtship but I’m not going to give away who the other couple is.

The Narration

Alex Wyndham’s narration is superb. He has a multitude of character voices in his repertoire and nearly as many accents. His delivery of the emotion and tension of the stories was excellent. My only complaint (and it is a very small one – to prove I am a critical listener! -) is that between Salt Bride and Salt Redux, Magnus’ voice changed. Perhaps it would not have been so obvious had I listened to the books separately but as they are in one collection I listened to them back to back, going from the first to the second book during a drive to work.

I do think Alex Wyndham does the best female character voices I’ve heard from a male narrator. They are authentic and varied and lovely.

The collection was a joy to listen to. 23+ hours of Alex Wyndham in your ears? AudioGals listeners: what are you waiting for? Go forth and one click!

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Kaetrin


AUDIOBOOK INFORMATION

TITLE: Salt Hendon Collection

AUTHOR: Lucinda Brant

NARRATED BY: Alex Wyndham

GENRE: Historical Romance

STEAM FACTOR: Glad I had my earbuds in, but at the tame end

REVIEWER: Kaetrin [button type=’link’ link=’http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MF5MUHP/?tag=audiogalsnet-20′ size=’btn-lg’ variation=’btn-default’ target=’blank’]Buy Salt Hendon Collection by Lucinda Brant on Amazon[/button] [section label=’Excerpt’ anchor=’Excerpt’]EXCERPT: