I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The Fabled Earth by Kimberly Brock Series: Standalone
Published by HarperCollins Focus on 2024 October 01
Genres: Historical, Literary
Pages: 12
Format: Audiobook
Source: Netgalley
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Inspired by the little-known history of Cumberland Island, The Fabled Earth is a sweeping story of family lore and the power of finding your own voice as Southern mythology and personal reckoning collide with a changing world.
1932. Cumberland Island off the coast of Southern Georgia is a strange place to encounter the opulence of the Gilded Age, but the last vestiges of the famed philanthropic Carnegie family still take up brief seasonal residence in their grand mansions there. This year's party at Plum Orchard is a lively young men from some of America's finest families come to experience the area's hunting beside a local guide; a beautiful debutante expecting to be engaged by the week's end, and a promising female artist who believes she has meaningful ties to her wealthy hosts. But when temptations arise and passions flare, an evening of revelry and storytelling goes horribly awry. Lives are both lost and ruined.
1959. Reclusive painter Cleo Woodbine has lived alone for decades on Kingdom Come, a tiny strip of land once occupied by the servants for the great houses on nearby Cumberland. When she is visited by the man who saved her life nearly thirty years earlier, a tempest is unleashed as the stories of the past gather and begin to regain their strength. Frances Flood is a folklorist come to Cumberland Island seeking the source of a legend - and also information about her mother, who was among the guests at a long-ago hunting party. Audrey Howell, briefly a newlywed and now newly widowed, is running a local inn. When she develops an eerie double exposure photograph, some believe she's raised a ghost--someone who hasn't been seen since that fateful night in 1932.
As a once-in-a-century storm threatens the natural landscape and shifting tides reveal what Cumberland Island has hidden all along, two timelines and the perspectives of three women intersect to illuminate the life-changing power of finding truth in a folktale.
The Fabled Earth is a novel that has a very beautiful story to tell. Set in the enchanting town of Cumberland Island located in the State of Georgie, it follows the story of three women –eccentric Cleo Woodbine, newly widowed Audrey, and answer-seeking Frances Flood – whose lives are unexpectedly intertwined due to past events that directly involved the now elderly Cleo Woodbine. While the story is confusing at first since it was told from different POVs and alternating timelines between 1932 and 1959, everything came beautifully once you get the hang of it. I think it has something to do with the narration because the voices were almost the same, hence, it took me a while to distinguish who was talking. In fairness, I’m a non-English speaker so my English listening skill is not that strong.
What I really love about Fabled Earth is that its story seemed so simplistic and yet, you can feel the magic in every word the author has written. The fables told during the bonfire party felt so real that it was easy to be ensnared with the local culture of Cumberland Island. The three women who I initially found annoyingly boring grew on me as they revealed their true characters chapter by chapter. Their different strengths gradually revealed as they tackled the challenges thrown at them. For me, Cleo Woodbine is the most interesting of all. A woman with no privileged background but ambitious enough to better her life. She’s desperate to change her life so she did all that she can, even the despicable and unspoken things, and I hated her for some of it. Ultimately, she managed to fully redeem herself despite the time that it took. The drama in this book was kept to a minimum but nonetheless, the events that surround the women and the other characters were as moving as if I’m watching a drama TV series.
The folklores told are also interesting and keeps you wondering whether they’re really just folklores or it actually happened a long time ago. Whether the tragedy that happened to the two young boys were just pure drowning incidents or the fabled mermaid was real. How the island fables were presented in the book certainly gave off an eerie and magical feel to a historical fiction story.
As for the narration, the voice is lovely but as I have said earlier, the narrator has to up her game when switching voices because this book has a lot of characters to remember. There are a lot of times that I had to rewind just to distinguish the one character from the other. I sometimes find myself confused whether it was the young Cleo, Audrey, or Frances talking because the difference in their voices are not that nuanced. On the other hand, I find Amber Rose’s (Rosie) voice grating to the ears and gives me a vision that he’s a dwarf because his voice sounded like one. Like he’s described to be this handsome young lad but his voice gives me some off-putting vibes. ☹
Anyway, what I can recommend is that this book would have been so much enjoyable if I have opted to get and read the physical copy instead of the Audiobook. Listening to the Audibobook for 12 hours with lots of rewind just to get reoriented about who’s talking can certainly give you lots of frustration. But all in all, I still enjoyed this book particularly if you are in a mood for solitude and warm cups of cocoa. 😀