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The Half-Life of Ruby Fielding
- A Novel
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 10 hrs and 5 mins
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The Half-Life of Ruby Fielding
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Summary
From the bestselling author of A Beautiful Poison comes a spellbinding historical mystery about hidden identities, wartime paranoia, and the tantalizing power of deceit.
Brooklyn, 1942. War rages overseas as brother and sister Will and Maggie Scripps contribute to the war effort stateside. Ambitious Will secretly scouts for the Manhattan Project while grief-stricken Maggie works at the Navy Yard, writing letters to her dead mother between shifts.
But the siblings’ quiet lives change when they discover a beautiful woman hiding under their back stairs. This stranger harbors an obsession with poisons, an affection for fine things, and a singular talent for killing small creatures. As she draws Will and Maggie deeper into her mysterious past, they both begin to suspect she’s quite dangerous—all while falling helplessly under her spell.
With whispers of spies in dark corners and the world’s first atomic bomb in the works, the visitor’s sudden presence in Maggie’s and Will’s lives raises questions about who she is and what she wants. Is this mysterious woman someone they can trust—or a threat to everything they hold dear?
Critic reviews
“Saskia Maarleveld's narration is the best part of this historical mystery, set in Brooklyn in October 1942.… The story is told from multiple perspectives, and Maarleveld does a great job creating believable character distinctions and capturing the tension as the story builds to a final twist.”—AudioFile Magazine
“A complex, intertwined narrative.”—Historical Novel Review
“Lydia Kang does it again. The Half-Life of Ruby Fielding is riveting. Set in Brooklyn and New York City at the height of World War II, we are dropped into a world where no one can be trusted. The Manhattan Project is in its early stages and the key to winning the war. But who works for who? Not only are loyalties to country challenged, but family loyalties as well. Characters’ motives and desires shift and twist. No one is who they claim to be. And in the middle of it all is the strange, alluring, and enigmatic Ruby Fielding, who may undo them all. A marvelous, complex, and thrilling read.”—Kim Taylor Blakemore, bestselling author of After Alice Fell
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What listeners say about The Half-Life of Ruby Fielding
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Zenith
- 15-03-23
I do enjoy Lydia Kang's writing...
This is my fourth, but not my favourite. It's also the fourth of the books that link together loosely through generational family ties. Though this is a standalone novel, I like and recommend listening to them in order :)
This book felt a lot less dynamic than the last (a beautiful poison). Yes there were twists and there was suspense, but at the end I wasn't shocked like I was with the last three. Maybe I'm just getting familiar with th writer's methods. Although this book was set in NYC I felt like most of it took place in the same house. I didn't feel like I moved through the city like I did in the last three. I also felt the last book had fuller and more developed characters than this one. But it was still enjoyable, mostly because it continued the thread and some of the characters through Kang's previous books.
Saskia Maarleveld's narration, as always, is great!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Agniete Kampaite
- 06-05-22
Another twisted story from Lydia Kang
Original complex characters and their relationships, although the love triangle was a bit too unorthodox for my taste. As the story developed, I questioned each character's actions, sometimes feeling sorry for them, sometimes getting annoyed for their lack of judgement. It's a great spy story, where you don't know who to trust up until the end. Loved the 1940s references peppered accross the book, too. The narrator did a good job bringing thr story to life.
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