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  • The Secret Chord

  • A Novel
  • Written by: Geraldine Brooks
  • Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
  • Length: 13 hrs and 6 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (6 ratings)

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The Secret Chord

Written by: Geraldine Brooks
Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
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Publisher's Summary

“A page turner... Brooks is a master at bringing the past alive...in her skillful hands the issues of the past echo our own deepest concerns: love and loss, drama and tragedy, chaos and brutality.” (Alice Hoffman, The Washington Post)

A rich and utterly absorbing novel about the life of King David, from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of People of the Book and March. 

With more than two million copies of her novels sold, New York Times best-selling author Geraldine Brooks has achieved both popular and critical acclaim. Now, Brooks takes on one of literature's richest and most enigmatic figures: a man who shimmers between history and legend. Peeling away the myth to bring David to life in Second Iron Age Israel, Brooks traces the arc of his journey from obscurity to fame, from shepherd to soldier, from hero to traitor, from beloved king to murderous despot and into his remorseful and diminished dotage. 

The Secret Chord provides new context for some of the best-known episodes of David's life while also focusing on others, even more remarkable and emotionally intense, that have been neglected. We see David through the eyes of those who love him or fear him - from the prophet Natan, voice of his conscience; to his wives, Mikhal, Avigail, and Batsheva; and finally to Solomon, the late-born son who redeems his Lear-like old age. Brooks has an uncanny ability to hear and transform characters from history, and this beautifully written, unvarnished saga of faith, desire, family, ambition, betrayal, and power will enthrall her many fans.

©2015 Geraldine Brooks (P)2015 Penguin Audio

What the critics say

"Narrator Paul Boehmer delivers a superb performance of Geraldine Brooks's reimagining of the life of King David. Boehmer's characters live through his vocal magic." (AudioFile)

“A page turner...Brooks is a master at bringing the past alive...in [her]skillful hands the issues of the past echo our own deepest concerns:  love and loss, drama and tragedy, chaos and brutality.” (Alice Hoffman, The Washington Post)

“The Secret Chord - a thundering, gritty, emotionally devastating reconsideration of the story of King David - makes a masterly case for the generative power of retelling...some of the magic here has to do with setting and time - for sensory dramatics, it’s hard to compete with the Iron Age Middle East...but Brooks’ real accomplishment is that she also enables readers to feel the spirit of the place.” (The New York Times)

What listeners say about The Secret Chord

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