The Puppeteer’s Daughters - Heather Newton

Author: Heather Newton

Narrator: Lauren Ezzo

Genre: Family Drama, Literary Fiction

Rating: 3.75 stars.

In a Nutshell: Slightly different from what I had expected. But interesting nonetheless. Medium-paced, family drama. Character-oriented.

Story Synopsis:

Famous puppeteer Walter Gray, suffering from dementia, makes a shock announcement at his 80th birthday party: he has a fourth daughter. His three daughters aren’t sure if this declaration is a figment of his demented mind or there is a genuine but unknown fourth claimant to the family fortune. His eldest, Jane, is the rigid rule-follower who is fed up of having no benefits but only responsibilities courtesy the Gray surname. His second daughter, Rosie – the offspring of an illicit relationship – hopes to be finally seen as a legitimate part of the family. His youngest, Cora – the only daughter to have enjoyed Walter’s fortune and currently handling his business – is desperate to pursue her own dreams away from the company. The story focusses on each of these daughters, their relationship with each other and with their parents, and their lives before and after the shock announcement.

Where the book worked for me:

💜 The biggest USP of the book is its use of puppets and marionettes in the storyline. You get an inside view of how puppetry and puppeteers work.

💜 I loved how the author used plot points from fairy tales to introduce her chapters. All of these were apt for the content to come – well done!

💜 This is a book about relationships in various forms – parent-child, husband-wife, exes, new romances, office colleagues, and friends. These are written in a fairly realistic way. None of the relationships are perfect, and they are depicted as such.

💜 For a literary fiction, its characters have to be sketched in detail without going overboard with the “telling”. This book handles this quite well. Walter Gray is known as a ‘master manipulator’ for his handling of his marionettes, but that term also applies to how he handles his family. Each of the daughters has a distinct personality and it shows in their behaviour not just with each other but also with their father and the rest of the family members.

💜 The timelines is not your typical straightforward, linear narrative but has lots of shifts back and forth. Add in the complication of having multiple points of view (all from the third person perspective) and you get a complex plot structure. Worked for me because of how intricately it was structured without losing the threads of thought any time. Might not work for some readers.

Where the book could have worked better for me:

⚠ Fat-shaming elements: This is a tricky one. One of the conditions Walter Gray keeps in his will is that Rosie must lose a 100 pounds by his death if she wants to inherit her share of the fortune. While it serves to depict what kind of a jerk Walter was, the result is that there are several scenes that border on fat-shaming. I don’t want to go into spoilers, but some of the statements could be triggering. Then again, it isn’t the author’s voice but the characters’ personalities that demanded some of those scenes. So this point could go either way depending on how you choose to see it.

⚠ Some of the plot turnarounds towards the end were a bit too convenient.

⚠ There was nothing I hated outright. But somehow, the writing didn’t impact me as much as I thought it would. I felt like a bystander watching the proceedings without any emotional investment in the plot or characters.

The audiobook experience:

The audiobook, clocking at just 6.5 hrs, is narrated by Lauren Ezzo. She handles the reading nicely, especially considering the number of characters and back stories she has to cover. She gives a distinct voice to each of the characters. While her male voices are okay, she shines in her portrayal of the three daughters. At the same time, the plot is very complex because of its inherent structure. I wouldn’t recommend this audiobook to audio version newbies. They would be better off reading it.

All in all, pretty good. Kept me invested. Loved the fairy tale and puppet elements and the complex characters. Recommended if you are looking for an intriguing family drama written in lit-fic style.

My thanks to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for the ALC of “The Puppeteer's Daughters”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the audiobook.