The Glass Lake

By: Maeve Binchy

Narrated by: Fionnula Flanagan

Night after night the beautiful woman walked beside the serene waters of Lough Glass. Until the day she disappeared, leaving only a boat drifting upside down on the unfathomable lake that gave the town its name.

Ravishing Helen McMahon, the Dubliner with film-star looks and unfulfilled dreams, never belonged in Lough Glass, not the way her genial pharmacist-husband Martin belonged, or their spirited daughter Kit.

Suddenly, she is gone and Kit is haunted by the memory of her mother, seen through a window, alone at the kitchen table, tears streaming down her face. Now Kit, too, has secrets: of the night she discovered a letter on Martin’s pillow and burned it, unopened. The night her mother was lost. The night everything changed forever...

©1995 Maeve Binchy (P)1995 Bantam Doubleday Dell Audio Publishing, Bantam Doubleday Dell Audio Publishing, A Division of Random House, Inc.

VERY ENTERTAINING

What made the experience of listening to The Glass Lake the most enjoyable?

It was like I was one of the characters. I enjoyed every minute of the story being read to me, made the book seem more real.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The mother. I think she thought leaving would be like the old saying says the grass would be greener. But in even though she loved this new man so much. Her past was always on her mind, she carried it like old luggage.

What about Fionnula Flanagan’s performance did you like?

Beautiful, plus am a fan of hers.Need I say more?

Who was the most memorable character of The Glass Lake and why?

The daughter. In trying to save her father's heartache, she just increased exponentially, because she left him with so many unanswered questions, which if he would have read the letter, it still would have hurt but at least he would have known why.

Any additional comments?

I recommend this book, it's been around for awhile and if you have not read it or now listen to it, you ave missed a great story.

Great book, bad recording

In my opinion, this is Maeve Binchy's best book. It's well written, and actually, it's well read also. The 'bad recording' comes from the fact that the volume goes up and down during playback, and the occasional music comes across as shrill, and it overpowers the narrator from time to time. I assume this is because it was converted from format 1 to format 2. I have heard bits of this on cassette tape, and the sound recording was fine, so it appears to be just this particular format.

But, if you can ignore the poor sound quality, this is a great book for listening.

Also, I have to say that I did notice the sound going up and down on the 'preview' bit that I listened to, but it wasn't so bad during that.

Hard to hear!

I really enjoy Maeve Binchy's books. This one was no exception. The recording, however, was so BAD that I missed a lot of the story. At times the music was louder than the narrator. Not a good listen at all. I was very disappointed.

Love the the story

I think the narration was very good, but I did not like it when the music played at the same time as the narration. Otherwise I would've given the performance five stars.

ABRIDGED!!

Unfortunately I didn't notice this was an abridged version until the very end of the listen. As I was listening, I kept feeling like the action was truncated, and that it would be so much better if the action and the characterization were more fleshed out. Assume this would be the case in the unabridged version.

The story is a little sensationalistic; not entirely believable - a few Dickensian coincidences in the connections between characters. Perhaps this is Maeve Binchy classic, I'm not sure - this being only my second of her novels. But the plot is definitely compelling - an examination of the difficult relationship choices women face and the long-term consequences of those choices. The characters are well drawn and sympathetic (would be more credible, I'm guessing, in the full version), and the nature of the small community very appealing. The reader is terrific - Irish accent is lovely and authentic.

One minor flaw was the incidental music - which could have been a nice touch, but was often too loud, even drowning out the text where they overlapped for a few seconds, and at times the choice of music seemed trite - too melodramatic, or cutesy, or whatever. Didn't add much, and may have detracted. (But there is not that much of it - not a big deal.)

Wonderful, heart warming story

Maeve Bichy is a master story teller. Rich characters, amazing detail so vibrant you can actually hear them speaking their story to you. Not one of her books has been a disappointment!

Unlistenable!!

Had I noticed this book was in resolution 2, I would not have purchased it. I would not recommend purchasing books in any resolution lower than 3, unless there is absolutely NO choice.

too cruelly abridged

they took out so much of the wonderful story, I felt cheated. this is a favorite of mine and they butchered it.

Too abridged

If you loved the original book as written, this audiobook will disappoint you greatly. It has been stripped down to almost nothing.

Would have liked the unabridged version

Audible does not offer the unabridged version -this was about 25% of the original book and it’s a very choppy, and abbreviated version which lacks the depth and richness of the original book the Glass Lake-I would buy it if you offered the unabridged book.