Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    The Twelfth Enchantment
    Unavailable
    The Twelfth Enchantment
    Unavailable
    The Twelfth Enchantment
    Audiobook14 hours

    The Twelfth Enchantment

    Written by David Liss

    Narrated by Susan Duerden

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Lucy Derrick is a young woman of good breeding and poor finances. After the death of her beloved father, she is forced to maintain a shabby dignity as the unwanted boarder of her tyrannical uncle, fending off marriage to a local mill owner. But just as she is on the cusp of accepting a life of misery, events take a stunning turn when a handsome stranger - the poet and notorious rake Lord Byron - arrives at her house, stricken by what seems to be a curse, and with a cryptic message for Lucy. Suddenly her unfortunate circumstances are transformed in ways at once astonishing and seemingly impossible.

    With the world undergoing an industrial transformation, and with England on the cusp of revolution, Lucy is drawn into a dangerous conspiracy in which her life, and her country's future, are in the balance. Inexplicably finding herself at the center of cataclysmic events, Lucy is awakened to a world once unknown to her: where magic and mortals collide, and the forces of ancient nature and modern progress are at war for the soul of England . . . and the world. The key to victory may be connected to a cryptic volume whose powers of enchantment are unbounded. Now, challenged by ruthless enemies with ancient powers at their command, Lucy must harness newfound mystical skills to prevent catastrophe and preserve humanity's future. And enthralled by two exceptional men with designs on her heart, she must master her own desires to claim the destiny she deserves.

    The Twelfth Enchantment is the most captivating work to date of a master literary conjurer.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateAug 9, 2011
    ISBN9781455831432
    Unavailable
    The Twelfth Enchantment
    Author

    David Liss

    David Liss is a proud science fiction geek. When not acting like a total fanboy, he’s generally working on his books, stories, and comics. Liss has written eight bestselling novels for adults, most recently The Day of Atonement, and is the author of numerous comics, including Mystery Men, Sherlock Holmes: Moriarty Lives, and Angelica Tomorrow. He lives in San Antonio, Texas.

    More audiobooks from David Liss

    Related to The Twelfth Enchantment

    Related audiobooks

    Historical Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The Controversial King

      Jan 7, 2022

      The Controversial King
      5 min read

    • Article

      Book Club

      Oct 27, 2021

      Nineteen-year-old Casey’s name was splashed across the headlines after the US family she was nannying for were found brutally murdered. Years later, back in England and living as ‘Rachel’, Casey’s life is the centre of a police investigation for a se

      1 min read

    • Article

      Books Of The Month

      Apr 19, 2024

      By Oliver K Langmead Langmead made his debut in 2015 with Dark Star, a science fiction/noir detective story in iambic pentameter. After two SF novels in prose, he returns to the long-form poem with this epic tale of a bold plan to bioengineer a new h

      2 min read

    • Article

      Books

      Apr 22, 2024

      Books
      1 min read

    • Article

      Better Books

      Apr 30, 2020

      Sue Monk Kidd, $32.99 Ana is a rebellious young woman, a gifted writer with a curious, brilliant mind, who writes secret narratives about the neglected and silenced women around her. Raised in a wealthy family in Galilee, she is sheltered from the br

      2 min read

    • Article

      Books

      Mar 16, 2021

      For more books information, see goodtoknow.co.uk/ books The winner of Richard & Judy’s Search For A Bestseller competition is a heartwarming story of three generations of a Chinese immigrant family living in rural Wales. Amy is 34 and has moved bac

      1 min read

    • Article

      Books

      Apr 11, 2022

      by Okwiri Oduor (One World Publications, ISBN 9780861543878) oneworld-publications.com Twelve-year-old Ayosa inhabits a world of blurred boundaries. Her memories pre-date her birth; wraiths, ghosts, emotions and nightmares are as real and compelling

      4 min read

    • Article

      Summer Reading Special

      Dec 28, 2023

      The distinctive depth of characterisation shines in this tightly knitted story of therapist Nick and retired solicitor wife Zoe, as they decide to view a deconsecrated Victorian church which is for sale. It’s “even more picturesque than it looked onl

      11 min read

    • Article

      Summer Reading Special

      Dec 28, 2023

      Summer Reading Special
      11 min read

    • Article

      Soul Searchers

      May 7, 2023

      Soul Searchers
      4 min read

    • Article

      5 New Fantasy Novels Invigorate Old Tropes

      May 18, 2023

      Spell books, dragons, mermaids, fairies and a magic circus all take on new life in the pages of these five enchanting tales hitting shelves in May and June.

      5 min read

    • Article

      Books Of The Month

      Nov 17, 2023

      By Melinda Taub Novels about witches are thick on the ground, but this one stands out for its wit and charm. The second novel by the Emmy award-winning former TV writer addresses the hidden life of Lydia, the youngest (and wildest) Bennet sister from

      2 min read

    • Article

      'Queen Of The Conquered' Serves Revenge With Delicacy And Savagery

      Nov 14, 2019

      In their new novel, Kacen Callender builds a vast, immersive landscape based on the colonial history of the Caribbean, but it's their morally conflicted heroine who will really hook readers.

      2 min read

    • Article

      Books Of The Month

      Feb 17, 2023

      Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries By Heather Fawcett Emily Wilde, an expert in the study and classification of faeries, is looking forward to solitary fieldwork in the far north, hoping to discover more about the secretive Hidden Ones. She aims

      2 min read

    • Article

      International Books

      Sep 8, 2019

      Desperate to feel safe after a violent assault, a young author leaves London to teach at a university in the country. But as she navigates through student dramas and a demanding job, she realises her sense of safety is an illusion. A feeling of const

      5 min read

    • Article

      THE Reading Room

      Sep 11, 2019

      THE Reading Room
      4 min read

    • Article

      4 Ways to Write Hooks for Books

      Dec 11, 2023

      Book authors have to hook readers twice. Like all other writers, authors have to hook readers with the writing in their books. But they also have the additional challenge of hooking readers before they ever crack open the spine or open the digital fi

      5 min read

    • Article

      Books Of The Month

      Jan 7, 2022

      A round-up of the best recent science fiction, fantasy and horror by Neal Stephenson Stephenson opens about 10 years in the future, on a day when the air in Houston is too hot to support planes. This means the private jet flown by the queen of the Ne

      2 min read

    • Article

      Books Of The Month

      Sep 15, 2023

      By Lavie Tidhar The latest science fiction offering from acclaimed author Lavie Tidhar (Central Station) theorises that a 1950s American pulp writer discovered the true nature of reality and encoded it into an obscure paperback novel before founding

      2 min read

    • Article

      Books

      Apr 16, 2021

      Books
      4 min read

    • Article

      Books

      Jul 30, 2018

      Books
      1 min read

    • Article

      Sizzling Summer Book Reviews

      Dec 4, 2020

      by Malcolm Pryce Published by Bloomsbury Publishing ISBN 978140889529 $29.99 It’s 1948 and Jack Wenlock’s young life appears to be following the unhappy trajectory of the British Empire which produced him, the latter never having been the same since

      4 min read

    • Article

      Book CLUB

      Jul 11, 2023

      Book CLUB
      2 min read

    • Article

      Books

      Mar 30, 2021

      Aspiring writer Florence Darrow jumps at the chance to assist the celebrated, yet anonymous author Maud. But when, on a ‘research trip’ to Morocco, a car crash leads to Maud’s disappearance, Florence sees an opportunity to step into someone else’s li

      1 min read

    Reviews for The Twelfth Enchantment

    3.5/5

    118 ratings14 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      Lucy Derrick is a slightly down-at-heel young woman with a tainted past wondering where her life is going in early 19th century England and resigned to being pushed into a marriage and future over which she has little control. Then she finds out she is a witch and has a pivotal role to play in a major battle between light and dark forces, affecting the direction of society.I initially read this as, at best, an homage to 'Jonathan Strange and Doctor Morell'. The setting, England at the turn of industrialisation, and premiss, the existence of magic in the world as a real force like heat or light, are the same and there are many paralells of characterisation and plotting. However, I think there is a little something in this book that sets it aside as just another blockbuster-bandwagon-jumper.As the Industrial Revolution gained ground there was support across the country for the new technologies, new economic paradigms and new opportunities, but also a backlash wanting to preserve the older ways of working focusing on the human aspects of change - dignity, closeness to the land and the impacts of migration and disruption. David Lisa addresses these concerns well by not presenting a purely black-and-white view. An older, more animistic magic seeks to eliminate the new technologies through the Luddite cause. A more science oriented group promotes technology through the Roscrucians. But these perspectives are presented with complex grey edges and the battle is between characters acting in good or bad ways rather than just being god or bad. We have some sympathies for almost everyone in the book.
    • 5/5
      Absolutely fantastic. I loved every minute of this book. It was well written, smart, and had something very rare, a smart heroine. It is a rare book indeed that I don't at some point want to reach into the book and smack the heroine for doing something so completely stupid. I loved the magic, the romance, and the fact that the mystery lasted to the very last chapter. I devoured this book as fast as my schedule would allow. Others have complained that this book was not on par with others written by this author, but as this is the first book I've read by David Liss, I didn't have that problem. If the other books written by him are indeed better, I look forward to reading them!
    • 3/5
      This was an enjoyable book. I like Liss's other historical works more, but considering how much I like Liss's other historical works, I can say that and still have enjoyed The Twelfth Enchantment quite a lot. Perhaps the Austenesque aspects made me love it a bit less than the others, since I was never a fan of Jane Austen. But the fact remains this was the best book featuring a tortoise attack that I read this year.
    • 5/5
      I enjoyed this book very much ... a tiny bit to long but worth listening ton
    • 3/5
      This was an enjoyable book. I like Liss's other historical works more, but considering how much I like Liss's other historical works, I can say that and still have enjoyed The Twelfth Enchantment quite a lot. Perhaps the Austenesque aspects made me love it a bit less than the others, since I was never a fan of Jane Austen. But the fact remains this was the best book featuring a tortoise attack that I read this year.
    • 5/5
      Lucy Derrick is a bad judge of characterAt the age of 20, Lucy Derrick is a sadder but wiser girl. The last few years have been terrible. When she was just 16, she made an error in judgment. She eloped very briefly with Mr. Jonas Morrison, but returned before anything untoward could happen between them. Unfortunately, her family suffered more than a scandal, because in the brief time that she was gone her beloved eldest sister died suddenly, followed a year later by her father. That left only Lucy and her older sister Martha, who sacrificed her own happiness to marry the male cousin who had inherited their home. But after the wedding, he turns Lucy out of the house. As the novel opens, she has been forced to accept the reluctant charity of a cold uncle and his abusive servant.Does this sound more like a Jane Austen novel than your typical fantasy? It should. Novelist David Liss is well-known for intricately researched and plotted period thrillers. Here he turns his talents to something different from what we’ve seen in the past. Regency England is rendered in fine historical detail, and Lucy Derrick is the young woman that Austen’s disgraced Lydia Bennett might have matured into. But there is an even more direct link to the work of Jane Austen. One of The Twelfth Enchantment’s main characters is pulled straight from the pages of Mansfield Park.Further, this is the first time that Mr. Liss has delved into the fantastic, and it doesn’t take long for things to get strange. Lucy is being forced into an unhappy marriage with a wealthy mill owner, Mr. Olsen. One evening a beautiful, disheveled stranger comes to her uncle’s door shouting Lucy’s name. As he collapses, he pronounces, “You must not marry him!” It quickly becomes apparent that something very extraordinary ails this man. He is cursed. So begins a new chapter in Lucy’s life. She discovers there is more to the world than she ever knew—and more to herself. Lucy is saucier, stronger, and far more talented than anyone suspected.With the help of her new acquaintance, Mary Crawford, Lucy cures the stranger of his curse. It turns out that he is none other than Lord Byron, and he is not the only historical figure to play a role in the story. The novel has a lengthy set up. There is a large cast of characters; a time, place, and system of magic to be established; and in true Liss style, a larger socio-economic component to the tale. Liss’s characters don’t exist in a vacuum, and this was a pivotal period in British history, with industrialization taking a foothold and changing a way of life. I can feel this review wanting to spiral out of control. I took a ridiculous number of notes and quotes as I read this novel because it is, in a word, substantive. There is a whole lot going on here, on so many levels! Janeite that I am, I absolutely LOVED the homage to her work. As you might suspect, there is a strong romantic component to this tale, and the dashing Lord Byron is only one of Lucy’s charismatic and inappropriate suitors. There is also a delightful vein of comedy balancing heavier elements of the story. As a fantasy fan, I enjoyed the system of magic and the quest that Liss constructed. It did add a little sumpin’ sumpin’ that Austen never had. And as a Liss fan, I appreciated the complexity and intelligence of the tale being told. I never feel that I have to work as I read his novels, but I will admit to hitting Wikipedia more than once to satisfy my own curiosity. I love that his novels awaken my curiosity!More than anything, Mr. Liss is telling a good story. I joked above that Lucy Derrick is a bad judge of character. Well, so am I, because there were enough secrets, twists, reversals, betrayals, and shocking revelations to keep me constantly guessing and turning the pages late, late into the night. And when I reached the end in record time, I wasn’t disappointed in the slightest.
    • 3/5
      I wished this had been something more. At least the ending was satisfactory. But the novel needed tightening.
    • 3/5
      Delightful literary fantasy set in Regency times, featuring an impoverished young woman lodging with cruel relatives, who encounters Lord Byron, William Blake, and supernatural forces; I'd give it four stars but I read Liss's Conspiracy of Paper and it was fabulous historical literary mystery fare. This isn't up to the standard of that book. So, 3 stars given what he could've written, he's so talented. However I think fans of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, A Discovery of Witches, or of Jane Austen crossed with fantasy would enjoy it.
    • 4/5
      Lord Byron, William Blake, the industrialization of England, magic, golems...golems?!? A departure for Liss...still in the historical fiction realm, but jumping into the hot fantasy/monsters/historical figures/Jane Austen thing. Fun, well written...could have been a disaster, but I enjoyed it. Nice to see an author step outside what he normally does once in a while.
    • 5/5
      I can't count all the ways I loved this book much more than the Harkness book. The story was fast-moving, and the character of Lucy Derrick was engaging and sympathetic. I also liked the mystery of her friend Mary and her servant Mrs. Emmett. I've enjoyed Liss's books before (A Conspiracy of Paper and the book on coffee), but this was a book I thought he wrote for those fans of Austen paranormal crossovers. Of course this is not an Austen pastiche, but the notion of the plight of a near friendless young woman of particular talents is a kind of Austen trope, even if, in this case, her skills lie not in writing but in magic. I enjoyed not only the romance of the work but also the Romantic aspects of the work, with Blake and Byron as characters. The book in many ways reminded me of Maurice Sendak's tale of the young woman who wakes to find her baby brother replaced by a changeling. In that book, Mozart makes an appearance. And so perhaps that's why I liked this book so much.
    • 4/5
      I kept seeing this book at my bookstore and finally gave in one day when I was feeling a slight reading slump coming on. I’m glad I picked it up that day because when the slump hit, this was a perfect little book to bring me out of it. The characters are sweet, lovingly hateful, and were Austen-esque enough to make me happy.Lucy Derrick comes from a good family; just a family without money now. She lives with an uncle who would prefer her to disappear and his plan to make this happen is to have her marry a man she doesn’t care for one bit. Her only companion in the house, Mrs. Quince, teases her relentlessly mentally and physically. She begins to accept that her life is going to be full of misery until a man named Lord Byron shows up at her uncle’s home saying she must not marry Mr. Olson. He then vomits pins and passes out. With the help of a new neighbor, Ms. Crawford, who knows something of the magical arts, Lucy helps Lord Byron to recover. Ms. Crawford, seeing a magical spark in Lucy, begins teaching her what she knows and Lucy understands for the first time how her life does not have to be one of misery.The beginning of this book feels very reminiscent of Mansfield Park. A young woman far from loved ones, harassed and unwanted in the home she lives in, knowing her only way out the house is into another full of the same misery. Mansfield Park is by far not one of my favorite Austen books but this book brought back some lovely memories of it. Mostly of the hateful characters but still good memories. The magical element is interesting and Lucy’s understanding of it happens quickly. A little too quickly if you ask me and that’s a small quibble I had with this story. She excels; exponentially fast. I’m all for magical education compounding but she’s like the magical god-child. It didn’t ruin the story for me but made me wonder at several points how she became so proficient so quickly. When I picked this book up I was hoping for a fun and easy read and I got that. It’s entertaining, the characters are fun, some even mean, and you love to see them all make fools of themselves. The setting, England on the cusp of an industrial revolution, is interesting. If you have a thing for Victorian England with a little magic thrown it, take a look at this one.
    • 4/5
      Let me start by saying that while I love historical fiction, I'm not a fan of fantasies or mysteries. So if you are into ghosts, faeiries, revenants, sorcerers, devil dogs, and the like, you will probably enjoy this book more than I did. My interest was held more by the arrival of literary figures Lord Byron and William Blake and the depiction of the burgeoning industrialization of England.The novel's young heroine, Lucy Derrick, has been cheated out of her inheritance and almost cheated out of her reputation. Her quest is to set the first wrong aright and to overcome the second. When evil forces replace her baby niece with an evil changeling, Lucy's search for the pages of an ancient mystical book and her desire to defeat her--and England's--enemies accelerate. Along the way, Liss throws in a bit of romance. (After all, who could NOT be attracted to the handsome Lord Byron?)As others have mentioned, there were a few holes in the story, places where more background information would have helped. And Lucy seemed at times a bit too naive, even for a young woman of the eighteenth century. But the writing was lively and the book generally held my attention. Recommended for those who like their history blended with fantasy.
    • 4/5
      This book is not the usual kind of book that I read, but I love David Liss's writing, so I persevered. It wasn't bad at all. The book is a historical romance with a very large dose of magic and the occult. Lucy Derrick is an interesting protagonist, and we see her develop and grow as she discovers her supernatural powers and as she finds the scattered pages of an ancient and powerful book. Mr. Liss's book is set in England during the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. The entire world is changing and many people do not look forward to the change. And of course there are many who wish to take advantage of people while England goes through this change. Lucy works with two very captivating men to try to stop some of the bloodshed. I found it fascinating to explore Lucy's supernatural world, and Liss makes it all so believable. If nothing else, the book is wildly entertaining and a wonderful form of escapism.
    • 4/5
      This book had a decent blend of history and magic. I fell into the story quickly and was interested to see where the main character would ultimately end up. I wanted to love it more than I did, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it!