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    Quiet Dell: A Novel
    Quiet Dell: A Novel
    Quiet Dell: A Novel
    Audiobook15 hours

    Quiet Dell: A Novel

    Written by Jayne Anne Phillips

    Narrated by Tandy Cronyn

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    From the National Book Award longlisted author of Night Watch, a spectacularly riveting novel based on a real-life crime by a con man who preyed on widows: “a brilliant fusion of fact and fiction” (Stephen King).

    In Chicago in 1931, Asta Eicher, a lonely mother of three, is desperate for money after the sudden death of her husband. She begins to receive seductive letters from a chivalrous, elegant man named Harry Powers, who promises to cherish and protect her, ultimately to marry her and to care for her and her children. Weeks later, Asta and her three children are dead.

    Emily Thornhill, one of the few women journalists in the Chicago press, wants to understand what happened to this beautiful family, particularly to the youngest child, Annabel, an enchanting girl with a precocious imagination and sense of magic. Determined, Emily travels to West Virginia to cover the murder trial and to investigate the story herself, accompanied by a charming and unconventional photographer equally drawn to the case. These heroic characters, driven by secrets of their own, will stop at nothing to ensure Powers is convicted.

    A tragedy, a love story, and a tour de force of obsession, Jayne Anne Phillips’s Quiet Dell “hauntingly imagines the victims’ hopes, dreams, and terror” (O, The Oprah Magazine). It is a mesmerizing and deeply moving novel from one of America’s most celebrated writers.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster Audio
    Release dateOct 15, 2013
    ISBN9781442366718
    Author

    Jayne Anne Phillips

    Jayne Anne Phillips is the author of Night Watch, Lark and Termite, Motherkind, Shelter, and Machine Dreams, and the widely anthologized collections of stories, Fast Lanes and Black Tickets. A National Book Award and National Book Critic’s Circle Award finalist, Phillips is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships, a Bunting Fellowship, the Sue Kaufman Prize, and an Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. She is Distinguished Professor of English and Director of the MFA Program at Rutgers-Newark, the State University of New Jersey, where she established The Writers At Newark Reading Series. Information, essays and text source photographs on her fiction can be viewed at JayneAnnePhillips.com.

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    Reviews for Quiet Dell

    3.5/5

    58 ratings9 reviews

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    • 3/5
      I got this book as a gift, because I'm from West Virginia and have a fascination with serial killers. I had never heard of the villain in this story, so I was eager to jump in. Jayne Anne Phillips' writing style takes some getting used to and makes me slow down from my usual pace, but I stuck with it. As the book progressed, a few plot points had me thinking, "This seems very convenient and a little 'God bless us every one' somehow." As it turns out, three of the main characters (out of four) were fictional characters. While the reporter is an interesting woman and very modern in her thinking, I was disappointed to find out she was invented from whole cloth. I also wonder how the families of Charles O'Boyle and William Malone feel about her portrayal/characterization of them as a closeted gay man (who befriends two of the fictional characters) and a married man having an affar (with one of them), respectively. I would much rather Ms. Phillips had written an entirely fictional story with this actual case as the jumping-off point than think I was reading an enhanced vision of these events. The writing is solid and sometimes lovely; I would recommend it to those who like their murders pretty "vanilla" as far as detail and who like a little romance and a little ghostiness (I know that's not a word). For those who like a bit more grit and sense of urgency, this may not be the book for you.
    • 4/5
      Historical fiction at it's best. Jayne Anne Phillips did a wonderful job of blending fact and fiction in a compelling and descriptive story. Imagine "In Cold Blood" (the fact: multiple murders committed by one man) reported by a sensitive female newspaper correspondent (the fiction) who takes a personal interest in the story and aids the investigation. Actual event took place in 1931. Hard to put down.
    • 5/5
      It starts out with Christmas with a charming family, genteel poverty, but with friends and love. Then you learn the mother is going to marry a man she has been corresponding with. It's based on a true story so it's not a spoiler to say you know this isn't going to end well, and it doesn't.Then the story shifts to a woman reporter covering the case, and the friends she makes and the effect the case and the trial have on her. She is determined to get justice for them. At times she is almost too nice and good, which makes sense because she's one of the invented characters in this story. But it feels good, and the details of the story are so interesting and the characters so genuine. I really liked it.
    • 3/5
      This is just the kind of novel that usually attracts my interest - namely, a true crime story set in the American mid-west in the early 1930s. Harry Powers was a serial killer who preyed upon lonely women he met through a matrimonIal agency. The novel follows the most heinous of his crimes - the murder of Asta Eicher, a widow, and her three young children. The first quarter of the novel immerses us in the day to day life of the Eicher family, including the back story of the adultery and tragic death of Asta's husband. It's a very effective opening, getting the reader to identify with the family, thereby rendering their murders even more shocking.
      The rest of the novel follows a young female journalist as she investigates the murders and follows the trial and conviction of Harry Powers, the murderer. My problems with the novel grew during this part of the story where Jayne Anne Phillips becomes far more interested in Emily, the journalist's relationship with a middle aged bank manager and her friendship with a gay fellow reporter. Since the killer is arrested very early on, there is no mystery or suspenseful manhunt and the trial is also a foregone conclusion. It seems that Phillips is more interested in the difficulties of transgressive relationships in 1930s America (Emily's with the banker unhappily married to a sick wife, the male reporter's burgeoning love for the Eicher's ex-lodger) than she is with the murder case. All of these are Jayne Anne Phillip's own fictional characters and I didn't find them anywhere near as interesting as the real life characters. Furthermore, I don't know if she is accurately recording the way people in that time and place spoke, but I found the dialogue stilted and unnatural.
    • 3/5
      Great story, bad writing!
    • 4/5
      This book presents a fictionalized recounting of the real life murder of Asta Eicher and her three children by a grifter in the 1930's. The tale is a very sad one and it's telling is interspersed with the story of a fictionalized reporter named Emily Thornhill who covers the Eicher murder and becomes emotionally involved with the slain family's story. The story of Asta and her children was the more compelling part of the book for me. You can read about it on Wikipedia. At the time Asta lived it seemed like people were more trusting and her reduced financial circumstances made her more susceptible to her killer. Harry Powers played on Asta's desperation and it spelled the doom of her and her children.The story of Emily and some of the made up characters was where I thought the story dragged a little. The fictionalized characters were composites of people the author knew and were related to. For me, Emily came off as just too good to be true. Over the course of the story she saves the Eicher's dog, adopts a gay man as family, saves a street urchin, and becomes lover to a man who has lost his wife to dementia. All of these side stories took away from the Eicher's murder which I think was compelling enough to stand on it's own. I would have liked more true crime and less historical fiction. Eric Larson, author of the The Devil in the White City is an example of someone who gets historical crime just right. I saw this book compared to Capote's In Cold Blood and it wasn't up to that level either. In any case the Eicher's clearly have personally meaning for the author and that comes through. Their tragic story deserves to be remembered and this book achieves that.
    • 5/5
      Jayne Anne Phillips newest novel is based on the true story of Henry Powers who was a serial killer during the Great Depression, land ured his victims through lonely-hearts advertisements which promised marriage. When Powers (who actually went by several aliases) killed Asta Eicher and her three children (all of whom were under the age of twelve), he did not count on the determination of those who knew the family to seek justice. Those murders resulted in his arrest and later conviction. He was put to death for his crimes.Phillips was intrigued with the story and especially touched by the life of Annabelle, the youngest Eicher child, who was artistic and full of life. In fact, Phillips was only six years old when her mother walked her past the scene of the murders at Quiet Dell, West Virginia. This memory has haunted Phillips and was the inspiration for her novel.The book begins before the murders and introduces the reader to the Eicher family, with a special focus on Annabelle. Emily Thornhill and her cohort Eric Lindstrom are two of the non-historical characters conjured up through the imagination of the author. They arrive after the murders as journalists intent on uncovering the crime and finding justice for the family. Much of the novel centers around Emily, a single woman with an unusual profession (at that time) who becomes emotionally invested in the crime. Her character is forever changed through the course of the investigation and trial. She discovers love and family and finds herself connected to the Eichers on many levels.Jayne Anne Phillips has done a masterful job of recreating the events of 1931 and in the process introduces the reader to beautifully wrought fictional characters. Her novel is a blend of fact and fiction, eliciting strong emotions and in the process giving a voice to the victims of Powers’ crimes.Quiet Dell is the best of fiction – strong characters, carefully wrought details, historical accuracy and an emotional message of redemption and justice for its characters. I loved this book and found myself thinking of the characters…and the real life victims…even after turning the final page.Emotionally rich and exceptionally written, Quiet Dell will appeal to readers who enjoy historical fiction, crime fiction, and literary fiction.Highly recommended.
    • 2/5
      This work of fiction is based on a real crime involving a con man preying on women. In Chicago in 1931, Asta Eicher, an impoverished widow and mother of three, starts a correspondence with Cornelius Pierson who promises her a happy new life. Just after they first meet in person, Asta and her children disappear. Emily Thornhill, a journalist, becomes involved when their bodies are discovered. With the help of Eric Lindstrom, a photographer, and William Malone, the Eicher family banker, Emily not only covers the murder trial but investigates the case as well.The first part of the book, until the family’s disappearance, is very interesting. Each of the Eichers is developed so that they emerge as individuals with distinct personalities. Of course, getting to know the victims adds to the sympathy felt for them. A problem, however, is that “this beautiful family” comes across as too good to be true: though visited by misfortune, they persevere “with such well-bred patience.” Asta is the most understanding of mothers, and the children are almost unfailingly obedient. The introduction of Emily Thornhill further weakens the novel. Her unfailing goodness is cloying and unbelievable. She adopts a dog who has lost his human family and a street urchin who robs her. Everyone loves her; not only does she fall in love at first sight with a man who instantly returns that love, but everyone confides in her. On almost first meeting, a colleague entrusts her with the secret of his homosexuality, and a sheriff investigating the case regularly gives her unprecedented access to people involved in the case and calls her to keep her updated. With the assistance of a ghost, she is even able to provide a clue to the case!The style is repetitive. For instance, the adjective “fine” is used to describe everything: a designer of silver, a tenor, schools, parties, hotels, a gold locket, meals, shoes, children, etc. The author also has an excessive fondness for using “for” as a conjunction.The dialogue sounds unnatural. A man tells his lover, “’My disappointment does not live in any world you inhabit.’” A homosexual colleague tells Emily, “’And I will protect you, always, just as you protect me. . . . [M]y feelings for you run far deeper than appearances. As counsel or help, no matter the need, I am sworn to you.’” The book explores passion in its many guises: “Passion is a capability with which one is born, or not. Passion can destroy, yes, but it seeks and must have. That is its nature.” An Eicher family friend, a homosexual, struggles with his urges: “he’d torn himself on one shoal after another these last years, and righted the wreckage . . . None of it would follow him, but he could not combat his tendencies alone.” There is certainly passion between Emily and William, despite the latter’s marital complications. Passion plays a role in the death of Asta’s husband, in Cornelius’s behaviour, and even in the imaginativeness of nine-year-old Annabel Eicher.There is no doubt that the author did extensive research. Unfortunately, the stilted dialogue, repetitive diction, and unconvincing characterization detract from the quality of that research.Note: I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.
    • 3/5
      I just couldn't get into it, eventually - something about the structure (like In Cold Blood, but with less conviction) or the tone (much, much more literary than I'm used to) just made it a terrible amount of work. 144 pages in, I finally gave up.