
The Bog Wife
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Shannon McManus
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By:
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Kay Chronister
About this listen
A “haunting, brilliant” Appalachian folktale evoking the Southern gothic suspense of Sharp Objects and the eco spine-tinglers of Jeff Vandermeer (Paul Tremblay, author of A Head Full of Ghosts)
Five siblings in West Virginia unearth long-buried secrets when the supernatural bargain entwining their fate with their ancestral land is suddenly ruptured
Since time immemorial, the Haddesley family has tended the cranberry bog. In exchange, the bog sustains them. The staunch seasons of their lives are governed by a strict covenant that is renewed each generation with the ritual sacrifice of their patriarch, and in return, the bog produces a “bog-wife.” Brought to life from vegetation, this woman is meant to carry on the family line. But when the bog fails—or refuses—to honor the bargain, the Haddesleys, a group of discordant siblings still grieving the mother who mysteriously disappeared years earlier, face an unknown future.
Middle child Wenna, summoned back to the dilapidated family manor just as her marriage is collapsing, believes the Haddesleys must abandon their patrimony. Her siblings are not so easily persuaded. Eldest daughter Eda, de facto head of the household, seeks to salvage the compact by desecrating it. Younger son Percy retreats into the wilderness in a dangerous bid to summon his own bog-wife. And as youngest daughter Nora takes desperate measures to keep her warring siblings together, fledgling patriarch Charlie uncovers a disturbing secret that casts doubt over everything the family has ever believed about itself.
At once a gothic eco-horror, a psychological drama, and a family saga, The Bog Wife is a propulsive read for fans of Shirley Jackson, Karen Russell, and Matt Bell that speaks to what is knowable and unknowable within a family history and how to know when it is time to move forward.
©2024 by Kay Chronister. (P)2024 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.Listeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
“This Gothic family tale will give you the spooky story you've been waiting for all year. Set in the Appalachian mountains of West Virginia, the novel centers around the Haddesley family and their cranberry bog. Weaving in elements of the paranormal, Chronister gives us the long history of the family and their dark relationship with the land, complete with family secrets laid bare, and complicated sibling dynamics. It's full of tales of family sacrifices, a missing mother, and deadly rituals.”—Bernadette Roe, Women.com
"An immersive, haunting, and compelling tale of a family being crushed by the weight of their secrets and held hostage by their traditions. It's a lush and uneasy tale that leaves both characters and readers at the mercy of the land itself."—Booklist
"The Bog Wife is a creeping, Appalachian folktale, an astute allegory for a decaying America, and a haunting, brilliant novel. This one is going to stay with me for a while."—Paul Tremblay, author of The Cabin at the End of the World and A Head Full of Ghosts
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Story
Driven by the glory he'll earn from the Royal Horticultural Society for such an achievement, Gregor ignores the flaws in his plan: that intelligence cannot be controlled; that plants cannot be reasoned with; and that the only way his plant-beast will flourish is if he uses a recently deceased corpse for the substrate. The experiment-or Chloe, as she is named-outstrips even Gregor's expectations, entangling their strange household. But as Gregor's experiment flourishes, he wilts under the cost of keeping it hidden from jealous eyes.
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Odd….
- By Liz on 09-18-24
By: Noah Medlock
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The Hollow Kind
- A Novel
- By: Andy Davidson
- Narrated by: Susie James
- Length: 13 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Nellie Gardner is looking for a way out of an abusive marriage when she learns that her long-lost grandfather, August Redfern, has willed her his turpentine estate. She throws everything she can think of in a bag and flees to Georgia with her eleven-year-old son, Max, in tow. It turns out that the "estate" is a decrepit farmhouse on a thousand acres of old (rotting) pine forest, but Nellie is thrilled about the chance for a fresh start for her and Max. So it takes her a while to notice the strange scratching in the walls, the faint whispering at night, how the forest is eerily quiet.
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not spoon fed
- By Amazon Customer on 03-02-23
By: Andy Davidson
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Lute
- By: Jennifer Thorne
- Narrated by: Victoria Blunt
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
On the idyllic island of Lute, every seventh summer, seven people die. No more, no less. Lute and its inhabitants are blessed, year after year, with good weather, good health, and good fortune. So it’s only fair that every seven years, on the day of the tithe, the island’s gift is honored. Nina Treadway is new to The Day. A Florida girl by birth, she became a Lady through her marriage to Lord Treadway, whose family has long protected the island. Nina’s heard about The Day, of course. It's all superstitious nonsense. Then The Day begins. And it's a day of nightmares.
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Slow to unwind- but what a finish!
- By linda on 10-08-22
By: Jennifer Thorne
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Eat the Ones You Love
- By: Sarah Maria Griffin
- Narrated by: Barry McStay, Lauren O’Leary
- Length: 8 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
After losing her job and her fiancé and moving back from the city to live with her parents, Shell Pine needs some help. And according to the sign in the window, the florist shop in the mall does too. Shell gets the gig, and the flowers she works with there are just the thing she needs to cheer up. Or maybe it’s Neve, the beautiful shop manager, who is making her days so rosy? But you have to get your hands dirty if you want your garden to grow—and Neve’s secrets are as dark and dangerous as they come.
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Amazing book
- By Rose Bowen on 05-08-25
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Guillotine
- By: Delilah S. Dawson
- Narrated by: Elisabeth Ashby
- Length: 5 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Thrift fashionista Dez Lane doesn't want to date Patrick Ruskin; she just wants to meet his mother, the editor-in-chief of Nouveau magazine. When he invites her to his family's big Easter reunion at their ancestral home, she's certain she can put up with his arrogance and fend off his advances long enough to ask Marie Caulfield-Ruskin for an internship someone with her pedigree could never nab through the regular submission route. But once all the family members are on the island and the ferry has departed, things take a dark turn.
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SO FUN AND SURPRISINGLY GORY
- By Bradley on 09-27-24
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Graveyard Shift
- A Novella
- By: M. L. Rio
- Narrated by: Jess Nahikian, M. L. Rio, Max Meyers, and others
- Length: 3 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Every night, in the college’s ancient cemetery, five people cross paths as they work the late shift: a bartender, a rideshare driver, a hotel receptionist, the steward of the derelict church that looms over them, and the editor-in-chief of the college paper, always in search of a story. One dark October evening in the defunct churchyard, they find a hole that wasn’t there before. A fresh, open grave where no grave should be. But who dug it, and for whom?
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Honestly, what was this even about?
- By The Dutchess on 09-25-24
By: M. L. Rio
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The Unmothers
- By: Leslie J. Anderson
- Narrated by: Chelsea Stephens
- Length: 8 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Marshall is still trying to put the pieces together after the death of her husband. After she is involved in a terrible accident, her editor sends her to the small, backwards town of Raeford to investigate a clearly ridiculous rumor: that a horse has given birth to a healthy, human baby boy. When Marshall arrives in Raeford, she finds an insular town that is kinder to the horses they are famous for breeding than to their own people. But when two horribly mangled bodies are discovered in a field—one a horse, one a human—she realizes that there might be a real story here.
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Beautifully raw writing
- By Sophia Camphorst on 11-20-24
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The Lamb
- By: Lucy Rose
- Narrated by: Emma Rydal
- Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Margot and Mama have lived by the forest ever since Margot can remember. When Margot is not at school, they spend quiet days together in their cottage, waiting for strangers to knock on their door. Strays, Mama calls them. People who have strayed too far from the road. Mama loves the strays. She feeds them wine, keeps them warm. Then she satisfies her burning appetite by picking apart their bodies. But Mama’s want is stronger than her hunger sometimes.
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This book ATE
- By Danielle Carney on 02-07-25
By: Lucy Rose
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Hungerstone
- By: Kat Dunn
- Narrated by: Perdita Weeks
- Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
It’s the height of the industrial revolution and ten years into Lenore’s marriage to steel magnate Henry, their relationship has soured. When Henry’s ambitions take them from London to the remote British moorlands to host a hunting party, a shocking carriage accident brings the mysterious Carmilla into their lives. Carmilla, who is weak and pale during the day but vibrant at night. Carmilla, who stirs up something deep within Lenore. And before long, girls from the local villages fall sick, consumed by a terrible hunger . . .
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11/10 for both the novel itself and for the narration
- By britney giraffe on 03-10-25
By: Kat Dunn
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Together We Rot
- By: Skyla Arndt
- Narrated by: Michael Crouch, Jesse Vilinsky
- Length: 8 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
These days, Wil obsessively gathers not-so-legal evidence on her mom’s disappearance while she and her checked-out dad try to make ends meet at their failing motel. They’re a hair’s breadth away from foreclosure, and the powerful Clarkes have their eye on the property. Elwood has been counting down the days until winter break. He hasn’t told anyone he won’t be coming back to school to finish out senior year—his pastor father is training him to lead their congregation, the Garden of Adam. But after one last night out with his friends, he comes face-to-face with a more chilling fate.
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so bad
- By Rachel on 09-15-23
By: Skyla Arndt
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Don't Let the Forest In
- By: C.G. Drews
- Narrated by: Michael Crouch
- Length: 8 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
High school senior Andrew Perrault finds refuge in the twisted fairy tales that he writes for the only person who can ground him to reality—Thomas Rye, the boy with perpetually ink-stained hands and hair like autumn leaves. And with his twin sister, Dove, inexplicably keeping him at a cold distance upon their return to Wickwood Academy, Andrew finds himself leaning on his friend even more. But something strange is going on with Thomas. His abusive parents have mysteriously vanished, and he arrives at school with blood on his sleeve.
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Beautiful story but…
- By wheelchairmommy on 01-15-25
By: C.G. Drews
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Starve Acre
- A Novel
- By: Andrew Michael Hurley
- Narrated by: Richard Burnip
- Length: 5 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The worst thing possible has happened. Richard and Juliette Willoughby's son, Ewan, has died suddenly at the age of five. Starve Acre, their house by the moors, was to be full of life, but is now a haunted place. Convinced Ewan still lives there in some form, Juliette seeks the help of the Beacons, a seemingly benevolent group of occultists. Richard, to try and keep the boy out of his mind, has turned his attention to the field opposite the house, where he patiently digs the barren dirt in search of a legendary oak tree.
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Pointless book
- By Jessica on 02-05-25
Creepy
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Enjoyable and interesting
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So Immersive
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incredible book.
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Interesting read
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Gothic Appalachia
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Excellent writing that backs out of its own ending
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3.75 stars
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Folklore and mountain magic
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As I felt as though the Flanagan cast could easily accept this author’s narrative world and its constructs as true to the natural order of the world, and in my head, it was easy to see them build it around the narrator.
Because in these shared universal narratives, it’s just a matter of fact that some families happen to inherit haunted houses, others inherit an enchanted pool of very thick water that you have to offer tribute to “or else”.
Some families have huge mansions, that contain a hidden trap door, that leads to a place in the floor, called the “forbidden root cellar”, that long ago, swallowed up the old caretaker, but in fact, it was actually the original owner of the house.
But then there are other more normal families, that just have your run of the mill- typical Bog on their inherited wild antebellum property, that your family has apparently had had a compact with. But, ya know , that’s just, ….well…
heck,
that’s so commonplace & pedestrian, right?
I don’t even think I even need to explain it.….right?
A West Virginian Cranberry Bog provides an ideal setting for this book’s modern day Appalachian Gothic family reunion.
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