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Forgotten Places

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Forgotten Places

By: Johanna Craven
Narrated by: Rebecca McKernan
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About this listen

Van Diemen's Land, Australia, 1833

English settler Grace Ashwell flees an abusive lover in Hobart Town, with six-year-old Violet in tow. In her head, escape is easy: find work in the northern settlements and earn enough for passage home to London. But the terrain beyond the settled districts is wilder than Grace could ever have imagined. She and Violet find themselves lost in a beautiful but deadly land where rain thunders down mountains, the earth drops away without warning and night brings impenetrable darkness.

Deep in the wilderness, they find a crude hut inhabited by Alexander Dalton, an escaped convict long presumed dead. Hiding from civilization in an attempt to forget his horrifying past, Alexander struggles to let Grace into his world.

When Violet disappears, Grace's fragile trust in Alexander is put to the test. And while she searches for answers, he will do anything to keep his secrets inside.

Based around the true story of the Macquarie Harbor bolters; one of the most horrifying events from Colonial Australia's bloody history.

©2017 Johanna Craven (P)2017 Johanna Craven Historical Thriller & Suspense

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All stars
Most relevant  
I loved this book! It was my first audio book, and well worth the punt into this new medium.

Craven vividly captures the beautiful landscape - and the harsh realities - of the Tasmanian bush, while drawing the reader into a thrilling and macabre story of a 18th century convict escapee on the run from the authorities and his gruesome past. It is quite a disturbing - yet fascinating listen, and not for the light hearted! It's even more disturbing when you find out it is based on a true story!

Enjoyed the narration which brought the characters to life. It felt like they were in my house!

Great read!

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**MILD SPOILER ALERT**
Well, I must say, I really enjoyed listening to this book! I came in blind, not knowing what to expect and found I got pulled in to the story!
I have to admit, I saw the twist coming from quite early on, but that didn’t spoil my enjoyment of the story and was only mildly disappointed to find the story was completely fictional as it was definitely believable; a very nice spin-off from an actual event!
I really enjoyed the narrator! Ok, so some of her voices aren’t brilliant (especially the male characters) but she more than makes up for it with her portrayal of Grace: she completely draws you in!
It’s probably more 4 stars in reality, but I can only justify 4 or 5 if I think I’d listen to it again and is it’s not my preferred genre, it’s unlikely.

Enjoyed!

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I listened to the audiobook version of this novel. The story revolves around Grace, an English woman who moves to the new colonies in Australia with her lover and his two young daughters. However, things don't go to plan and Grace finds herself incarcerated in an insane asylum. She escapes, and retrieves one of the man's daughters, thinking she is saving the child from abuse. Grace is devasted that she couldn't rescue both girls and sets out for the next nearest settlement. Unfortunately, she gets lost in the forest and ends up meeting a convict that has been hiding out there for years. Starving and cold, she has no choice but to seek shelter with him. But then the child, Violet, goes missing. Did the man do something to her?

This story is about love, trust, loss and hope. The author does a good job of keeping up the mystery element of the story and the characters are well rounded. I didn't warm to the character of Grace very much until the end. The other main character, Alexander Dalton, was interesting as the reader/listener is never sure if he is a good or bad man.
The only small issue with this novel for me was that sometimes the POV would change without warning, which brought me out of the story. Otherwise, I really enjoyed listening.

The narrator did a good job of bringing the story and characters to life.

Mystery and Thriller

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lost the story occasionally because the narrator was rubbish. I had to speed it up, she was becoming tedious

narrator ruined it for me

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What a great study on human nature. How will you act and who can you trust - or have to trust - when you are out in the wild either on your own or with somebody? And can you blame people for decisions they take under those circumstances.

During the first chapters, I found the voice of the narrator a bit monotonous. It is, however, perfectly suitable for this kind of story.

Initially I thought ,forgotten places' was a S
story about spirits/ghosts. It is - however - more real than one can be comfortable with and - in part - even based on historical fact.

A very entertaining book that left me unsure about how I would act under the circumstances described. Highly recommended.

This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.

A great study on human nature...

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Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

An enjoyable historical fiction book about a very dark moment of life in Australia’s history, the descriptions of the harsh life and day to day life of some of the people who lived there. This is quite a powerful story with great descriptions of the wild landscapes. very well researched.

The book cover is great, it gives away nothing but adds to the mystery and the danger of the book. The one problem I had was with the narration, I didn’t enjoy the narration very much, but that is something so very personal don’t let it put you off the book because of it.

great historical fiction

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A historical story of a woman with a young girl on the run and a mysterious recluse man collide in a harsh environment where survival is of utmost importance .

Forgotten Places

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English settler Grace Ashwell flees an abusive lover in Hobart Town, with six-year-old Violet in tow.
good book

good book

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The narrator is excellent in producing atmosphere in the story and her ability to create characters with accents is superb. I do not understand why other people can be so negative, it is greatly unjustified!

Brilliant

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