The Heiress: A Novel

Rachel Hawkins

Jan 2024 · Macmillan Audio · Narrated by Dan Bittner, Eliza Foss, John Pirhalla, and Patti Murin

About this audiobook

"Narrators Dan Bittner, Eliza Foss, John Pirhalla, and Patti Murin provide outstanding performances, creating such believable characters that listeners might wonder if the story is based in fact."—Library Journal

This program features multicast narration.

New York Times bestselling author Rachel Hawkins returns with a twisted new gothic suspense about an infamous heiress and the complicated inheritance she left behind.

THERE’S NOTHING AS GOOD AS THE RICH GONE BAD

When Ruby McTavish Callahan Woodward Miller Kenmore dies, she’s not only North Carolina’s richest woman, she’s also its most notorious. The victim of a famous kidnapping as a child and a widow four times over, Ruby ruled the tiny town of Tavistock from Ashby House, her family’s estate high in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

But in the aftermath of her death, her adopted son, Camden, wants little to do with the house or the money—and even less to do with the surviving McTavishes. Instead, he rejects his inheritance, settling into a normal life as an English teacher in Colorado and marrying Jules, a woman just as eager to escape her own messy past.

Ten years later, his uncle’s death pulls Cam and Jules back into the family fold at Ashby House. Its views are just as stunning as ever, its rooms just as elegant, but the legacy of Ruby is inescapable.

And as Ashby House tightens its grip on Jules and Camden, questions about the infamous heiress come to light. Was there any truth to the persistent rumors following her disappearance as a girl? What really happened to those four husbands, who all died under mysterious circumstances? And why did she adopt Cam in the first place? Soon, Jules and Cam realize that an inheritance can entail far more than what’s written in a will––and that the bonds of family stretch far beyond the grave.

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin’s Press.

Ratings and reviews

If you love rich people behaving badly, then this book is for you. I struggle with an entire cast of unlikable characters, and everyone in this story tested my patience and tolerance. Even Cam, whom I was initially rooting for, became a disappointment. I would have been happy if they’d all died at the end. That being said, the writing is strong. Hawkins weaves an intriguing tale. I loved the full cast of narrators! They embodied the characters, infusing personality and life into the story. *Thanks to Macmillan Audio for the free download!*

4.5 Stars. I listened to the audio version of this book narrated by Dan Bitner, Eliza Foss, John Pirhalla and Patti Murin, mixed in with reading the ebook . The narration was very good. This was a very good mystery based around the life of a woman who had been "taken" when she was a three year old. She was found and returned to her very wealthy family. Some of the story involves letters that she wrote that are found by her family after her death. She had left all her fortune to her adopted son. There's lots of family drama and tons of twists and turns. Things were never what they seemed and there was surprise after surprise! I really enjoyed the book. Thanks to St. Martin's Press, Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the complimentary copies. All thoughts are my own.

About the author

Rachel Hawkins is the New York Times bestselling author of The Wife Upstairs, Reckless Girls, The Villa, and The Heiress, as well as multiple books for young readers. Her work has been translated into over a dozen languages. She studied gender and sexuality in Victorian literature at Auburn University and currently lives in Alabama.