As a child, William Bellman nastily kills a bird with a slingshot but doesn't suffer the consequences until decades later when all his good fortune starts crumbling away. Soon, a black-garbed stranger arrives, and William finds that he can save what little he has left if he agrees to enter into the spooky business concern that becomes Bellman & Black. You expected something lighthearted after the dark and intriguing knottiness of Setterfield's No. 1 New York Times best seller, The Thirteenth Tale? Lots of anticipation; over 800 folks have already proclaimed their interest on Goodreads.

Eerily told and prosaically performed, this ghost story recounts what appears to be the simple life of William Bellman and his subsequent rise to fortune. Little does he know that a chance act of childhood cruelty will shift his life into the realm of the macabre. Narrator Jack Davenport superbly captures the ambiance of rural Victorian England, a setting that has echoes of Thomas Hardy's works. Davenport captures life in a textile mill with an admirable ease of expression, pacing, accent, and tone. The plot slips into the gothic when a mysterious stranger appears, altering William's life, and Davenport's performance reflects the shift with a deeper and darker tone. The black rook that weaves throughout the story adds a bleak and haunting presence. A.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine