The Highwayman’s Daughter by Henriette Gyland

Narrated by Melody Moore

Editor’s note: Audible lists Melody Grove as narrator. However, the recording credits Melody Moore as narrator.

The Highwayman’s Daughter introduces listeners to Jack Blythe, heir to the Earl of Lampton, and Cora Martell, daughter of a once notorious highwayman. Cora has taken up her father’s former trade as a way to buy him some very costly medicine he needs. She dresses up as a young boy, and robs the carriages of the wealthy who pass by.

One night, Cora gets more than she bargained for. She steals from Jack and his cousin Rupert. Luckily, she gets away, but both Jack and Rupert are determined to find her. Apparently, Cora’s disguise isn’t all that great since both cousins realize they’re being robbed by a woman.

It doesn’t take Jack long to track Cora down. Once he sees her, he has the feeling he’s seen her somewhere before, somewhere other than on a lonely heath, holding up his carriage. With a bit of sleuthing, Jack discovers a long-held secret concerning Cora’s parentage, and sets about trying to force her into a new place in society.

This is a story with far too many plot lines for its length. It’s close to eleven hours long, but I often felt like the author had to rush things in order to fit them in. Since this is a romance, one would suppose the story would center around Jack and Cora discovering their feelings for one another and doing their best to claim their HEA. This is only sort of true. Cora keeps running from Jack. This means the couple spends very little time in each other’s company, making the romance seem difficult to really believe in. Then, add in the fact that Rupert is very jealous of Jack and wishes to take his place as the Earl’s heir, plus a twenty-year-old mystery involving a woman who is presumed dead, lots of tension between Jack’s parents, and Rupert’s attempts to ruin Cora’s reputation and you definitely have a case where less would have equaled more.

Narrator Melody Moore’s performance was pretty average. Her character differentiation was decent, except when it when it came to Jack and Rupert. There were differences in her portrayals, but they were very subtle, and, unless I paid extremely close attention, I had a hard time telling them apart in scenes they shared.

Ms. Moore is a fan of the micro pause. Her narrative is full of these very small pauses that seem to exist for no good reason. She also tends to draw certain words out, speaking really slowly, causing me to want to speed up my iPad.

I must give Ms. Moore credit for the emotion she put into this performance. Every character seems to have a goal or motive of one kind or another, and this led to more than a few emotion-filled scenes. I was never in doubt as to how the characters felt. Ms. Moore successfully captured every nuance the author put on paper.

All in all, The Highwayman’s Daughter was just okay for me. I found nothing to love, but neither did I hate anything about it. When it was over, I just moved on to something else. I doubt I’ll try this author again. Ms. Moore, on the other hand, might get another chance. If she could just get a handle on the pauses, she could perform very well.

Shannon

Narration:  C+

Book Content:  C-

Steam Factor:  Glad I had my earbuds in

Violence:  Fighting

Genre:  Historical Romance

Publisher:  Recorded Books

The Highwayman’s Daughter was provided to AudioGals by Recorded Books for review.