Graveminder

Graveminder

by Melissa Marr

Narrated by Emma Galvin

Unabridged — 10 hours, 26 minutes

Graveminder

Graveminder

by Melissa Marr

Narrated by Emma Galvin

Unabridged — 10 hours, 26 minutes

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Overview

Three sips to mind the dead . . .

Rebekkah Barrow never forgot the attention her grandmother Maylene bestowed upon the dead of Claysville, the small town where Bek spent her adolescence. There wasn't a funeral that Maylene didn't attend, and at each one Rebekkah watched as Maylene performed the same unusual ritual: She took three sips from a silver flask and spoke the words ""Sleep well, and stay where I put you.""

Now Maylene is dead, and Bek must go back to the place she left a decade earlier. She soon discovers that Claysville is not just the sleepy town she remembers, and that Maylene had good reason for her odd traditions. It turns out that in Claysville the worlds of the living and the dead are dangerously connected; beneath the town lies a shadowy, lawless land ruled by the enigmatic Charles, aka Mr. D. If the dead are not properly cared for, they will come back to satiate themselves with food, drink, and stories from the land of the living. Only the Graveminder, by tradition a Barrow woman, and her Undertaker-in this case Byron Montgomery, with whom Bek shares a complicated past-can set things right once the dead begin to walk.

Although she is still grieving for Maylene, Rebekkah will soon find that she has more than a funeral to attend to in Claysville, and that what awaits her may be far worse: dark secrets, a centuries-old bargain, a romance that still haunts her, and a frightening new responsibility-to stop a monster and put the dead to rest where they belong.


Editorial Reviews

Laura Whitcomb

…the peculiar setting—half Western ghost town, half Renaissance bodice-ripper—is vivid and original…Marr creates sympathetic characters, she takes readers to places both sinister and delightful, and there's a satisfying end to a wonderfully awful villain. It's a fast read, spooky enough to please but not too disturbing to read in bed. Fans will be looking for a sequel to this cozy horror story as soon as they read the last page.
—The Washington Post

Publishers Weekly - Audio

Rebekkah Barrow returns to the town of Claysville following the brutal murder of her grandmother, Maylene. There she and old flame Byron Montgomery discover that the town’s founders made a deal with a mysterious Mr. D. In exchange for the health and welfare of its residents, the town must provide a Graveminder to ensure the dead easy passage into the next world. As it turns out, Maylene was the Graveminder for decades and now Rebekkah has inherited the job. But in Maylene’s absence the dead have started to rise. Now Rebekkah and Byron must work to get things back to normal before the dead outnumber the living. Emma Galvin’s narration is solid and appropriate, and the slightly Southern twang she delivers perfectly captures the gothic atmosphere of this haunting novel. Her characterizations are simple but distinct, and her interpretation of the creepy Mr. D. is particularly captivating. A William Morrow hardcover. (May)

Publishers Weekly

YA bestseller Marr (Wicked Lovely), in her first novel for adult readers, serves up a quirky dark fantasy fashioned around the themes of fate, free will—and zombies. When Rebekkah Barrow is summoned home to Claysville for the funeral of her beloved grandmother, Maylene, Rebekkah doesn't know that she's been designated Maylene's successor as the town Graveminder, whose job it is to give the recently deceased food to keep them in the Land of the Dead. Not coincidentally, her sometimes lover, Byron Montgomery, has just succeeded his dad as the Undertaker, who works intimately with the Graveminder. Even as the pair ponder the grave responsibilities that their weird destinies have thrust upon them, they doggedly pursue Daisha, an adolescent who died under suspicious circumstances and who, unburied and untended, is wreaking havoc around town as a rampaging member of the Hungry Dead. Not everything adds up in Marr's story, but the well-drawn characters and their dramatic interactions keep the tale loose and lively. 6-city author tour. (June)

From the Publisher

Dark and dreamy . . . Rod Serling would have loved GRAVEMINDER . . . Marr is not tapping into the latest horde of zombie novels, she’s created a new kind of undead creature . . . A creatively creepy gothic tale for grown-ups.” — USA Today

“Melissa Marr has created a fabulous, richly-imagined world in Claysville and its attendant piece of the Underworld.” — Seattle Post-Intelligencer

“Compelling, sexy, and riveting, you will not want to miss Graveminder!” — Jeaniene Frost, New York Times bestselling author of the Night Huntress series

“Plan ahead to read this one, because you won’t be able to put it down! Haunting, captivating, brilliant! ” — Library Journal (starred review)

“Marr serves up a quirky dark fantasy fashioned around themes of fate, free will-and zombies…well-drawn characters and their dramatic interactions keep the tale loose and lively.” — Publishers Weekly

“The über-talented Marr takes her mesmerizing storytelling talents into the adult arena. In her atmospheric and eerie tale, readers and protagonists jointly discover the secrets literally buried in this small town as Marr weaves a richly gothic tale filled with curses, responsibility and death. Outstanding!” — RT Book Reviews (top pick)

“A deliciously creepy tale that is as skillfully wrought as it is spellbindingly imagined.” — Kelley Armstrong

“No one builds worlds like Melissa Marr.” — Charlaine Harris

“The emotional dance between Rebekkah and Byron will captivate female readers [and] fantasy-horror fans will demand more.” — Kirkus Reviews

“If anyone can put the goth in Southern Gothic, it’s Melissa Marr...Marr [is] careful to ensure that the book’s wider themes ... matter to us as much as the multiple cases of heebie-jeebies she doles out.” — NPR

“Marr creates sympathetic characters, she takes readers to places both sinister and delightful, and there’s a satisfying end to a wonderfully awful villain...Fans will be looking for a sequel to this cozy horror story as soon as they read the last page.” — Washington Post

Kelley Armstrong

A deliciously creepy tale that is as skillfully wrought as it is spellbindingly imagined.

Charlaine Harris

No one builds worlds like Melissa Marr.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Melissa Marr has created a fabulous, richly-imagined world in Claysville and its attendant piece of the Underworld.

USA Today

Dark and dreamy . . . Rod Serling would have loved GRAVEMINDER . . . Marr is not tapping into the latest horde of zombie novels, she’s created a new kind of undead creature . . . A creatively creepy gothic tale for grown-ups.

RT Book Reviews (top pick)

The über-talented Marr takes her mesmerizing storytelling talents into the adult arena. In her atmospheric and eerie tale, readers and protagonists jointly discover the secrets literally buried in this small town as Marr weaves a richly gothic tale filled with curses, responsibility and death. Outstanding!

Jeaniene Frost

Compelling, sexy, and riveting, you will not want to miss Graveminder!

NPR

If anyone can put the goth in Southern Gothic, it’s Melissa Marr...Marr [is] careful to ensure that the book’s wider themes ... matter to us as much as the multiple cases of heebie-jeebies she doles out.

USA Today

Dark and dreamy . . . Rod Serling would have loved GRAVEMINDER . . . Marr is not tapping into the latest horde of zombie novels, she’s created a new kind of undead creature . . . A creatively creepy gothic tale for grown-ups.

Washington Post

Marr creates sympathetic characters, she takes readers to places both sinister and delightful, and there’s a satisfying end to a wonderfully awful villain...Fans will be looking for a sequel to this cozy horror story as soon as they read the last page.

Washington Post

Marr creates sympathetic characters, she takes readers to places both sinister and delightful, and there’s a satisfying end to a wonderfully awful villain...Fans will be looking for a sequel to this cozy horror story as soon as they read the last page.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Melissa Marr has created a fabulous, richly-imagined world in Claysville and its attendant piece of the Underworld.

(top pick) - RT Book Reviews

"The über-talented Marr takes her mesmerizing storytelling talents into the adult arena. In her atmospheric and eerie tale, readers and protagonists jointly discover the secrets literally buried in this small town as Marr weaves a richly gothic tale filled with curses, responsibility and death. Outstanding!"

Library Journal

Wow, a Marr book without a single fey! The best-selling author of the young adult "Wicked Lovely" series brings something entirely different to the table in her adult fiction debut. Residents of Claysville stay in Claysville—not because they don't want to leave, but because they can't. The small town is immediately familiar but leaves an eerie, prickly feeling at the back of your neck. The Town Council knows things the other residents can't imagine. Claysville is safe enough, as long as the dead stay dead. The Undertaker and his Graveminder uphold the centuries-old contract between this world and the next, but the town's Graveminder has been murdered. New Undertaker Byron loves Rebekkah—he always has—but now he has to convince her that she belongs to him and the dead. In the town of Claysville, there are the living, the dead, and those who exist between. VERDICT You need to plan ahead to read this one, because you won't be able to put it down! Haunting, captivating, brilliant!—Jennifer Anderson, Texas A&M Univ., Corpus Christi

Product Details

BN ID: 2940170151639
Publisher: HarperCollins
Publication date: 05/17/2011
Edition description: Unabridged
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