The Taxidermist's Daughter: A Richard and Judy bestseller

· Phoenix · Narrated by Clare Corbett
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10 hr 31 min
Unabridged
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About this audiobook

Sussex, 1912. In a churchyard, villagers gather on the night when the ghosts of those who will die in the coming year are thought to be seen. Here, where the estuary leads out to the sea, superstitions still hold sway.

Standing alone is the taxidermist's daughter. At 17, Constantia Gifford lives with her father in a decaying house: it is all that is left of Gifford's once world-famous museum of taxidermy. The stuffed animals that used to grace every parlour are out of fashion, leaving Gifford a disgraced and bitter man.

The bell begins to toll and all eyes are fixed on the church. No one sees the gloved hand pick up a flint. As the last notes fade into the dark, a woman lies dead.

While the village braces itself against rising waters and the highest tide of the season, Connie struggles to discover who is responsible, but finds herself under suspicion. Is Constantia who she seems - is she the victim of circumstances or are more sinister forces at work? And what is the secret that lies at the heart of Gifford House, hidden among the bell jars of her father's workshop?

Told over one summer, THE TAXIDERMIST'S DAUGHTER is the haunting new novel from the bestselling author of LABYRINTH, SEPULCHRE, CITADEL and THE WINTER GHOSTS.

Read by Clare Corbett

(p) 2014 Orion Publishing Group

About the author

Kate Mosse is an international bestselling novelist, non-fiction writer, essayist and playwright. With sales of more than 8 million copies worldwide, her books have been translated into 37 languages and published in 40 countries. Her fiction includes the Languedoc trilogy (Labyrinth, Sepulchre and Citadel), the gothic novels The Winter Ghosts and The Taxidermist's Daughter, a short story collection (The Mistletoe Bride) and more recently a historical adventure series, The Burning Chambers and The City of Tears. Her non-fiction includes the highly-acclaimed memoir An Extra Pair of Hands and she is working on a book and television series based on her global 'Woman in History' campaign. The Founder Director of the Women's Prize for Fiction, Kate is a Visiting Professor of Creative Writing and Contemporary Fiction at the University of Chichester and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. An interviewer and presenter, she hosts the pre-show series at Chichester Festival Theatre, chairs Platform events for the National Theatre and is an Ambassador for Parkinson's UK. She was awarded an OBE in 2013 and a CBE in 2024 for services to literature, women and charity.

Clare Corbett has had a successful career on stage, screen and radio. Theatre credits include 'To Kill A Mocking Bird' 'Pygmalion' and Spoonface Steinberg' and her TV credits include BBC's 'Spooks,' 'Fastnet' and 'Final Demand'. A winner of the prestigious Carleton Hobbs Radio Award, she has appeared in over 250 radio plays including 'Absolute Power' 'Venus and Adonis' and ' Dr Zhivago'. Her other voice work comprises of Aardman Animation's ' the planet sketch' and numerous audiobooks (children and adult) including 'Poppy Shakespeare', 'Swallowing Grandma' and 'Child X'. She read 'Alys, Always' by Harriet Lane for Orion.

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