The Guest Book

A Novel

By: Sarah Blake

Narrated by: Orlagh Cassidy

2019 Amazon.com Best Books of the Year

"Orlagh Cassidy narrates Blake's beautifully written multigenerational story of love and lies with consummate skill. Elegant and clear, distant yet passionate, she helps listeners discover the quirks in characters' personalities and explore their motives, both evident and hidden." —AudioFile Magazine, Earphones Award winner

This program includes a bonus conversation with the author.

“Sarah Blake is such a beautiful writer she can make any world shimmer." (Paula McLain, New York Times best-selling author of The Paris Wife and Love and Ruin)

The thought-provoking new audiobook by New York Times best-selling author Sarah Blake

A lifetime of secrets. A history untold.

No. It is a simple word, uttered on a summer porch in 1936. And it will haunt Kitty Milton for the rest of her life. Kitty and her husband, Ogden, are both from families considered the backbone of the country. But this refusal will come to be Kitty’s defining moment, and its consequences will ripple through the Milton family for generations. For while they summer on their island in Maine, anchored as they are to the way things have always been, the winds of change are beginning to stir.

In 1959 New York City, two strangers enter the Miltons’ circle. One captures the attention of Kitty’s daughter while the other makes each of them question what the family stands for. This new generation insists the times are changing. And in one night, everything does.

So much so that in the present day, the third generation of Miltons doesn’t have enough money to keep the island in Maine. Evie Milton’s mother has just died, and as Evie digs into her mother’s and grandparents’ history, what she finds is a story as unsettling as it is inescapable, the story that threatens the foundation of the Milton family myth.

Moving through three generations and back and forth in time, The Guest Book asks how we remember and what we choose to forget. It shows the untold secrets we inherit and pass on, unknowingly echoing our parents and grandparents. Sarah Blake’s triumphant novel tells the story of a family and a country that buries its past in quiet, until the present calls forth a reckoning.

©2019 Sarah Blake (P)2019 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"Sarah Blake has managed the extraordinary feat of writing both an intimate family saga and an ambitious excavation of the subterranean currents of race, class, and power that have shaped America. This is a vivid, transporting novel, written by a master conjurer of time and place.” (Jessica Shattuck, New York Times best-selling author of The Women in the Castle)

Narration was magical. The story had depth

The narration, Orlagh Cassidy, Hawaii enjoy hearing audible books from was so mellifluous and graceful and elegant reading so many varied voices in this particular book. I think for me this was the best part. The story while it could feel trait about a very wealthy family wound up being much deeper than I anticipated. I did have a little bit of trouble jumping from generation to generationBut by the end I had sorted it all out. A beautiful And heartbreaking story. Read beautifully

It slowly evolves into "Who cares"

So much plot. So many subplots. Skips through time. It should be riveting but ultimately the class collision loses any of its relevance and you just see the protagonist as kind of ridiculous. I lost my way and didn't finish after almost the whole book. The island? Who owns it? Who cares?

Better second part

I had trouble keeping track of the characters in part 1.. I found the second part much more enjoyable

Emphasis Problems

The narrator shows a profound lack of preparation in reading dozens of words using non-routine emphasis. This confuses the listener, making us think a word serves as a noun, when the right emphasis would immediately telegraph that we should be looking for a verb or adjective. She also drones a bit. Increasing speed to 115% helps. If you are looking for captivating description of a private island this book will delight you. It's stunning that the remaining children never ever learn of their older brother. How the heck does Reg know who Evie's father is? This is not explained and it feels like a hole in the story. Despite my complaints I loved this book after starting it over again, some eight hours in. I knew some fascinating stuff had to happen, and I had fun with several lines of prediction as to how it would all play out.

island secrets

I loved this book. so many great plots. so many great generations of family and evolving life experiences