The Cartographer's Secret Audiobook By Tea Cooper cover art

The Cartographer's Secret

A Dual Timeline Historical Mystery with a Romance Thread

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The Cartographer's Secret

By: Tea Cooper
Narrated by: Casey Withoos
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International bestselling author Tea Cooper's The Cartographer's Secret is a richly layered historical mystery about how a young woman's quest to heal a family rift becomes a quest to solve one of Australia's greatest puzzles. Perfect for fans of Kate Morton and Natasha Lester's The Paris Seamstress.

The Hunter Valley, 1880. Evie Ludgrove loves to chart the landscape around her home--hardly surprising since she grew up in the shadow of her father's obsession with the great Australian explorer Dr. Ludwig Leichhardt. So when an advertisement appears in The Bulletin magazine offering a thousand-pound reward for proof of where Leichhardt met his fate, Evie is determined to use her father's papers to unravel the secret. But when Evie sets out to prove her theory, she vanishes without a trace, leaving behind a mystery that haunts her family for thirty years.

Letitia Rawlings arrives at the family estate in her Ford Model T to inform her great-aunt Olivia of a loss in their family. But Letitia is also escaping her own problems--her brother's sudden death, her mother's scheming, and her dissatisfaction with the life planned out for her. So when Letitia discovers a beautifully illustrated map that might hold a clue to the fate of her missing aunt, Evie Ludgrove, she sets out to discover the truth. But all is not as it seems, and Letitia begins to realize that solving the mystery of her family's past could offer as much peril as redemption.

The Cartographer's Secret, filled with buried secrets, family legacy, and an exploration of the thin line between passion and obsession, is perfect for fans of historical fiction where the setting is immersive and the seamless blend of fact and fiction brings the story and its characters to life.

20th Century Mystery Historical Fiction Amateur Sleuths World Literature
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Critic reviews

'A young woman investigates her family's role in a decades-old mystery in Australian writer Cooper's moving latest (after The Girl in the Painting) . . . Cooper gets to the heart of a family's old wounds, puzzles, and obsessions, while providing a luscious historical rendering of the landscape. This layered family saga will keep readers turning the pages.'
'Shifting perspectives from Evie in 1880 to Letitia in 1911, Cooper paints a fascinating portrait of two women rebelling in their own ways against the expectations society and their family has for them. Historical-fiction fans will delight in this romantic tale of family and long-held secrets.'
'Tea Cooper's meticulous prose and deft phrasing delight the reader. Her storytelling weaves the places on Evie's map in tandem with the search Lettie makes so that the reader becomes immersed in a distant world. The reader yearns along with Lettie (and Evie, too) for the answer to Leichardt's disappearance and wants Lettie and Nathaniel to surmount the chasm that separates them. This fascinating novel informs the reader about Australia's storied past.'
This historical mystery with a hefty dose of romance is hard to put down. The reader is teleported to Australia's beautiful Hunter Valley . . . nail-biting is sure to ensue.
Strong Characters • Historical Accuracy • Dual Timelines • Engaging Mystery • Rich Descriptions • Good Performance

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I enjoyed this book immensely. Tea Cooper has excellent talent developing her characters and describing the surroundings of the story, the land, environment and history. This is my second book by this author and I am drawn in by the characters and I feel I am in the room with them.

Wonderful read

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Often the book shifted between then and now, without a pause. I had troubles keeping up with the narrators switch, especially at first . I thought it would have benefited from more historical context and I also wanted a conclusion to the story, a definitive answer to the mystery.

Needed a distinction between timelines

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I looked forward to, and enjoyed, listening to the book most of the time. I did not like the parts of the book where Evie was being voiced. the pitch was very high and grading to listen to. the same I would say for the lorrie character in many instances. whenever she was upset about something, she seemed very irritating as a character. I don't know if that is because of the way her voice sounded, it was a bit streaky, or if that was just the character. I feel like I might have enjoyed it better reading it than hearing the way she would be shrieky.


SPOILER

at the end of the book, I realized that the plot points of the book were no longer actually interesting as they didn't really get followed up or tied up very well. so it's hard for me to know how to read it because what was interesting to me about the book as I was reading turned out to not be very interesting by the time the book was over.

I'm conflicted as how to rate this book.

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This is truly one of my favorites, and the narrator was exceptional. Loved everything about this book. I’ve read other books from this particular author, and she never disappoints.

Highly recommend

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I loved everything about this book. It was a beautiful story. The performance was lovely.

Loved it.

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