
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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A House with Good Bones
- By: T. Kingfisher
- Narrated by: Mary Robinette Kowal
- Length: 6 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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"Mom seems off." Her brother's words echo in Sam Montgomery's ear as she turns onto the quiet North Carolina street where their mother lives alone. She brushes the thought away as she climbs the front steps. Sam's excited for this rare extended visit, and looking forward to nights with just the two of them, drinking boxed wine, watching murder mystery shows, and guessing who the killer is long before the characters figure it out. But stepping inside, she quickly realizes home isn’t what it used to be.
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Narrator Kills It
- By Lucinda Perregil on 04-04-23
By: T. Kingfisher
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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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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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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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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 Hollow Kind
- A Novel
- By: Andy Davidson
- Narrated by: Susie James
- Length: 13 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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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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Guillotine
- By: Delilah S. Dawson
- Narrated by: Elisabeth Ashby
- Length: 5 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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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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The Lamb
- By: Lucy Rose
- Narrated by: Emma Rydal
- Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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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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Lute
- By: Jennifer Thorne
- Narrated by: Victoria Blunt
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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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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Wake the Bones
- A Novel
- By: Elizabeth Kilcoyne
- Narrated by: Bailey Carr
- Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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The sleepy little farm that Laurel Early grew up on has awakened. The woods are shifting, the soil is dead under her hands, and her bone pile just stood up and walked away. After dropping out of college, all she wanted was to resume her life as a tobacco hand and taxidermist and try not to think about the boy she can’t help but love. Instead, a devil from her past has returned to court her, as he did her late mother years earlier. Now, Laurel must unravel her mother’s legacy and tap into her own innate magic before her future and the fate of everyone she loves is doomed.
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Enchanting.
- By Heather A. Dubravac on 07-18-22
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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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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
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Girl in the Creek
- By: Wendy N. Wagner
- Narrated by: Jennifer Pickens
- Length: 8 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Buried secrets only spread. Erin's brother Bryan has been missing for five years. It was as if he simply walked into the forests of the Pacific Northwest and vanished. Determined to uncover the truth, Erin heads to the foothills of Mt. Hood where Bryan was last seen alive. He isn’t the first hiker to go missing in this area, and their cases go unsolved. When she discovers the corpse of a local woman in a creek, Erin unknowingly puts herself in the crosshairs of very powerful forces—from this world and beyond—hell-bent on keeping their secrets buried.
By: Wendy N. Wagner
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Ghost Wall
- A Novel
- By: Sarah Moss
- Narrated by: Christine Hewitt
- Length: 3 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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In the North of England, far from the intrusions of cities but not far from civilization, Silvie and her family are living as if they are ancient Britons, surviving by the tools and knowledge of the Iron Age. For two weeks, the length of her father’s vacation, they join an anthropology course set to reenact life in simpler times. The ancient Britons built ghost walls to ward off enemy invaders, rude barricades of stakes topped with ancestral skulls. When the group builds one of its own, they find a spiritual connection to the past. What comes next but human sacrifice?
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A good read!
- By Chester Johnson on 02-23-19
By: Sarah Moss
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The Honey Witch
- By: Sydney J. Shields
- Narrated by: Mia Hutchinson Shaw
- Length: 13 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Twenty-one-year-old Marigold Claude has always preferred the company of the spirits of the meadow to any of the suitors who’ve tried to woo her. So when her grandmother whisks her away to the family cottage on the tiny Isle of Innisfree with an offer to train her as the next Honey Witch, she accepts immediately. But her newfound magic and independence come with a price: No one can fall in love with the Honey Witch. When Lottie Burke, a notoriously grumpy skeptic who doesn’t believe in magic, shows up on her doorstep, Marigold can’t resist the challenge to prove to her that magic is real.
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Cutesy Romantasy
- By Julia sutton on 08-06-24
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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