Lute

First off, I enjoyed the narrator. Her voice had an almost hypnotic quality to it which worked quite well with this book.

Nina Treadway is an American woman who meets Lord Hugh Treadway on a ship. He takes her back to the beautiful idyllic Island of Lute where he was raised and has a home. Residents enjoy a life free of the war that rages around them. They have good fortune, good health, and good weather. To enjoy such good fortune, there is a day a.k.a. “The Day” every seven years. Nina has been told that unless you experience ‘the day’ then you don’t know what it is about. But the day is different, it is not like the other carefree days on the island, this is the day the residents pay the island back. There will be tragedy and lives lost.

The author did a wonderful job of building her community and showed how they come together on ‘the day’. Nina is an interesting character as she is an outsider and yet due to being married to Lord Treadway, she takes on a roll of leadership.

This book has an interesting vibe to it. As I mentioned, I enjoyed the narrator and her voice with the hypnotic quality really set the stage. The plot just rolls along. It’s not very fast and I am not a fan of slow burns, but this book had such a pull to it. I just wanted to keep listening, to keep learning about ‘the day’ and the residents. There is some unease to the book. That what-is-going-to-happen-at-the-end-of-the-day feel to it.

Traditions, community, family, and survival are all woven into this book.

This book is categorized as folk horror.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.