Book details

Macmillan Children's Book

The Good House

A Novel

Author: Ann Leary; Read by Mary Beth Hurt

The Good House

The Good House

$26.99

About This Book

The Good House, by Ann Leary, is funny, poignant, and terrifying. A classic New England tale that lays bare the secrets of one little town, this spirited novel will stay with you...

On Sale
01/15/2013

Book Details

The Good House, by Ann Leary, is funny, poignant, and terrifying. A classic New England tale that lays bare the secrets of one little town, this spirited novel will stay with you long after the story has ended.

Now a major motion picture starring Sigourney Weaver and Kevin Kline!

Hildy Good is a townie. A lifelong resident of a small community on the rocky coast of Boston's North Shore, she knows pretty much everything about everyone. And she's good at lots of things, too. A successful real-estate broker, mother, and grandmother, her days are full. But her nights have become lonely ever since her daughters, convinced their mother was drinking too much, sent her off to rehab. Now she's in recovery—more or less.

Alone and feeling unjustly persecuted, Hildy finds a friend in Rebecca McAllister, one of the town's wealthy newcomers. Rebecca is grateful for the friendship and Hildy feels like a person of the world again, as she and Rebecca escape their worries with some harmless gossip and a bottle of wine by the fire—just one of their secrets.

But Rebecca is herself the subject of town gossip. When Frank Getchell, an old friend who shares a complicated history with Hildy, tries to warn her away from Rebecca, Hildy attempts to protect her friend from a potential scandal. Soon, however, Hildy is busy trying to protect her own reputation. When a cluster of secrets becomes dangerously entwined, the reckless behavior of one person threatens to expose the other, and this darkly comic novel takes a chilling turn.

Imprint Publisher

Macmillan Audio

ISBN

9781427228895

Reading Guide

In The News

“Both Hildy's denial and her vulnerability are dramatized extremely well by narrator Mary Beth Hurt. Hurt deftly portrays Hildy's tendency to hide her alcoholism under a veneer of polished perfection; she's a woman who can deal with anyone's problems but her own. As the novel continues, the listener feels the pain of Hildy's breakdown and relapse in Hurt's Delivery, so well does she depict Leary's beautifully plotted story.” —AudioFile Magazine, Earphones Award winner

“Mary Beth Hurt's reading brought out the humor in Leary's prose…Hurt's reading was a very engaging way to absorb this novel.” —National Association of Realtors

The Good House is told in first person, which makes it an ideal audiobook – especially in the hands of reader Mary Beth Hurt, who simultaneously portrays Hildy as smart, funny, prickly, sympathetic and – well, pathetic.” —The Star-Ledger

“Hildy is brought to life – on and off the wagon – by Mary Beth Hurt's fabulous performance.” —Bookpage

“I was constantly entertained by the story and Hurt's total inhabitation of Hildy, who is both star and narrator of her own tale” —Winston-Salem Journal

“Mary Beth Hurt does a fantastic job bringing Hildy to life vocally in all her facets…The author is talented and the reader adept; they have created a comprehensively compelling audio experience.” —New World Review

About the Creators

The Good House

The Good House

$26.99

The Good House
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