Here is yet another novel about the harrowing events of World War Two, with the Fairy Tales a beloved French grandmother told to her grand-daughter used to find two missing men.
What a fabulous concept! What a pity it was not as well executed as it might have been.
First, I would like to talk about all the wonderful things in this novel. Author Kristin Harmon got most everything right. Her characters (with one exception) were compelling: the male characters interesting and multi-dimensional, the whiny teenager growing into a young woman, and the grandmother (although largely absent) a compelling presence. And who couldn’t love a novel located in a French Bakery in Cape Cod with a trip to Paris fitted in?
But there were some problems that ruined the experience. As most of you know, audiobooks can be very unforgiving of narrative style. Which means that if you, as the author, have some irritating tics, they are going to be magnified by the audio experience, especially when the narrator speaks in a mind-numbing monotone.
Where Ms. Harmon really fell down was with her dialogue tags. As other readers have noted it was extremely irritating to have the characters “muttering” or “mumbling’ or “saying things in a small voice.” You can get away with this sort of thing ONCE, but NOT multiple times. Instead, you have to pick words that are either invisible (like “said”) or provide insight or interest into what is going on. The experience of listening to these boringly repetitive dialogue tags was NOT edifying. Instead, it was like listening to chalk grating on chalkboard.