Star Gazing

By: Linda Gillard

Narrated by: Cathleen McCarron

Blind since birth, widowed in her 20s, now lonely in her 40s, Marianne Fraser lives in Edinburgh in elegant, angry anonymity with her sister, Louisa, a successful novelist. Marianne's passionate nature finds solace and expression in music, a love she finds she shares with Keir, a man she encounters on her doorstep one winter's night.

Whilst Marianne has had her share of men attracted to her because they want to rescue her, Keir makes no concession to her condition. He is abrupt to the point of rudeness, and yet oddly kind. But can Marianne trust her feelings for this reclusive stranger who wants to take a blind woman to his island home on Skye, to 'show' her the stars?

2009, Robin Jenkins Literary Award, Short-listed

2010, Romantic Novel of the Year, Winner

2009, Romantic Novel of the Year, Short-listed

©2008 Linda Gillard (P)2011 Hachette Digital

Delightful descriptions, astounding yet loving dilemmas,

We loved this book! This book offers hope & kindness, delivered with humor. The descriptive words are music to our ears. The narration by Cathleen McCarron was so wonderful! I will look for more by both author & narrator.

Very contrived plot with a pleasant cast

Everything was wonderful, then all of a sudden there was a silly misunderstanding that caused the lovers to pull apart, then what do you know, a romantic final reconciliation at the end. It was a different story with unusual and appealing characters, and great description, but the plot was ridiculous, and formulaic. I would have loved to see a little mystery sprinkled in or maybe some more extreme action to spice it up. I just liked all the nice people in this pretty little story and wished them the best.

Loved the characters...,

so interesting and different. Loved the setting but the story left a bit to be desired.in the last 1/3 ....for me, it lost its originality and sophistication and became 'run of the mill' fiction....it was like the author had trouble completing the book or was asked to change the ending. Having said that I still really enjoyed the book and the clever and original writing style of the author.

nice read, but formulaic plot

Loved the reader's rendering of accents and the use of music to evoke vision. Besides those positives, I can say I thought the plot lacked imagination (dangerously close to ordinary romance novel) and the protagonist spent way to much time agonizing over her decisions.

Magical

From beginning to end I loved this story .locked in because of Covid it kept me entranced.The reader is superb.The characters well defined .I will be looking for more from both Author and narrator Very well done and thank you