The Maze at Windermere: A Novel
Written by Gregory Blake Smith
Narrated by Richard Topol, Edoardo Ballerini, Raphael Corkhill and
4/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this audiobook
A richly layered novel of love, ambition, and duplicity, set against the storied seascape of Newport, Rhode Island
A reckless wager between a tennis pro with a fading career and a drunken party guest—the stakes are an antique motorcycle and an heiress's diamond necklace—launches a narrative odyssey that braids together three centuries of aspiration and adversity. A witty and urbane bachelor of the Gilded Age embarks on a high-risk scheme to marry into a fortune; a young writer soon to make his mark turns himself to his craft with harrowing social consequences; an aristocratic British officer during the American Revolution carries on a courtship that leads to murder; and, in Newport's earliest days, a tragically orphaned Quaker girl imagines a way forward for herself and the slave girl she has inherited.
In The Maze at Windermere Gregory Blake Smith weaves these intersecting worlds into a brilliant tapestry, charting a voyage across the ages into the maze of the human heart.
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Reviews for The Maze at Windermere
64 ratings4 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Too many time periods and characters to follow. I found the writing engaging at the start, but found myself skimming to the end.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It took me to the end to understand the connection between the stories taking place at Newport Rhode Island at different periods of time. But the search for love is universal. The author knows the language and style of writing for each period of time in which a storyline happens. Yes, Iove and loss is a maze no matter when you are living.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I usually dislike dual time period books because one is always a lot more interesting than the other. However, in this book the author juggled 5 time periods in a very ambitious and writerly exercise that kept me engaged throughout. The story is told in alternating chapters from the points of view of 4 male and 1 female protagonists, each set in Newport, Rhode Island. Each protagonist has a very distinctive voice which is fortunate because towards the end of the book the pov begins to change more rapidly, from paragraph to paragraph, and that could have been a confusing disaster. In 2011, Sandy Alison is a retired tennis player with a bad knee. He never managed to shake his reputation for lacking a killer instinct on the court. His complicated relationships with 3 women at the elegant old Windermere estate get the better of him. In 1896, Franklin Drexel is a handsome, snarky, witty and secretly gay lapdog to wealthy women, including the current owner of Windermere. At 33, Drexel is aging out of his current position and needs to find a rich wife. In 1863, 20 year old budding author Henry James Jr. is keeping a notebook of his observances to use in his future writing (which crops up in both the 2011 and 1896 stories). He meets a young woman who wants more from him than he can give and also confronts the devastation faced by the first negro regiment in the Civil War. In 1778, English soldiers are occupying Newport and plundering its library and synagogue. Major Ballard becomes obsessed with 16 year old Judith Da Silva, the daughter of a wealthy Jewish merchant. Ballard really has no redeeming virtues. Finally, in 1692 15 year old Prudence is a recently-orphaned Quaker who has had to leave school in order to take care of her toddler sister and keep her father's business going with the help of her slave Ashes. Prudence knows exactly how to get what she wants.Love, or something akin to love, plays a role in each of these stories, but this certainly isn't a romance novel. Although 4 of the main protagonists are male, the female characters are definitely not shrinking violets. There are lots of tricky little touches in the book, such as the use by 2 of the characters of "Daisy Miller" quotes to communicate to each other in 2011, or the similar naming of characters in different time periods (Aisha/Ashes). The book may have been a little gimmicky, but it was very enjoyable and it was certainly different. I received a free copy of the ebook from the publisher, however I wound up listening to the excellent audio book version borrowed from the library.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The main narrative of The Maze at Windermere follows a mostly washed-up tennis pro, Sandy Alison, through a summer teaching and living among the very wealthy in Newport, RI. Gregory Blake Smith twists the straightforward novel by weaving four other time periods (1896, 1863, 1778 and 1692) and inhabitants of Newport into the novel. I’m not going to lie--it’s a lot to keep track of. Smith employs a variety of formats to keep the sections distinct--mostly by dated diary and journal entries, and he does a good job of fleshing out each character and time period. Enough so that even as his clearly defined chapters dissolve into briefer montages in the last section of the book the distinction and clarity remain. A number of contrivances that mesh the characters together--the house, names, Henry James--can be seen as clever or annoying...I liked it. The Maze at Windermere is a historically interesting novel that examines love, art, social class and outsiders during five time periods in Newport, RI.