The Splendour Falls by Susanna Kearsley

Narrated by Barbara Rosenblat

There are certain authors I expect great things from. After reading The Firebird, I was sure I could add Susanna Kearsley to that list. I was excited to learn that The Splendour Falls was being released in audio format and I snatched it up from Audible as soon as I could. A Kearsley book with a Barbara Rosenblat narration seemed like a great idea. Sadly, both book and narration left quite a bit to be desired.

Emily Braden has decided love and happy endings just don’t exist anymore. Her parents have recently divorced and this has shaken her quite a bit. She seems to be in somewhat of a depression, working, not socializing, and basically wallowing in her discontent. Her cousin Harry, a charming if unreliable guy, invites Emily to visit the French town of Chinon. She reluctantly agrees, after Harry drops a few hints about the town’s past.

In the thirteenth century, Queen Isabelle, the child bride of King John, hid in the castle overlooking the town. Rumors say she hid a great treasure in the tunnels beneath the castle but no one has found it. Then, during the Second World War, a second Isabelle also used these tunnels as a hiding place for some diamonds given to her by her lover, who happens to be a Nazi. Emily finds all of this fascinating and makes her way to Chinon. She’s not surprised when Harry isn’t there to meet her. She’s come to expect that of her cousin. She just settles in, and begins exploring the town, making friends with locals and tourists alike.

I’ve been a fan of narrator Barbara Rosenblat for many years. Unfortunately, The Splendour Falls was not a good fit for her. It’s told in first person, from Emily’s point of view who is twenty-eight. Rosenblat is much older and has a smoker’s rasp to her voice that makes her depiction of Emily far from believable. I kept picturing her as a much older woman than that written by Kearsley.

Rosenblat was presented with a wide variety of characters and accents. Some of these were performed quite well, while others fell completely flat. It seemed difficult for her to speak in the upper-class accent required for most of the book, since it’s told from Emily’s perspective. She was very convincing with several French accents, but her Canadian accent reminded me of something one would find in a cartoon. It was overly exaggerated, with super broad vowels. I’ve never heard anyone, Canadian or otherwise, talk like that. She does a wonderful job with a variety of American accents. One of the hotel guests has a southern drawl and Rosenblat is spot-on. She also has a very convincing New York accent but those were by far the most true-to-life.

I wish I had more positive things to say about Rosenblat’s narration, but it fell far short of my expectations. The content was better suited for a British narrator who would not have struggled so much with the portrayal of the main character. In my opinion, if you can’t get the main character right, it’s pretty much a lost cause.

Even with a different narrator, this book would not have impressed me. I found it difficult to care about any of the characters. Emily is twenty-eight and traumatized by her parents’ recent divorce. This would make sense for a teenager, but an adult? I just didn’t buy it. The other characters were two-dimensional, and largely unlikeable. The romance angle was thrown in at what seemed like the last minute and, as a result, was quite unbelievable.

Honestly, I don’t know why there were two Isabelles. Kearsley barely touched on one of them. Bringing in another just seemed to complicate things. The Splendour Falls did not travel back in time much at all which was a huge disappointment.

Overall, I can’t recommend this audiobook. I found it incredibly difficult to get through. I hope Kearsley’s next title will be much more like The Firebird, which I adored.

Shannon

Narration:  C+

Book Content:  D

Steam Factor:  You can play it out loud

Violence:  Minimal

Genre: Contemporary/Historical Fiction

Publisher:  Audible, Inc.