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
    Cuckoo
    Unavailable
    Cuckoo
    Unavailable
    Cuckoo
    Audiobook11 hours

    Cuckoo

    Written by Sophie Draper

    Narrated by Emma Pallant

    3.5/5

    ()

    Unavailable in your country

    Unavailable in your country

    About this audiobook

    ‘Spooky and absorbing. I was gripped from the first page!’ CASS GREEN

    There’s a stranger in your house…

    When her stepmother dies unexpectedly, Caro returns to her childhood home in Derbyshire. She hadn’t seen Elizabeth in years, but the remote farmhouse offers refuge from a bad relationship, and a chance to start again.

    But going through Elizabeth’s belongings unearths memories Caro would rather stay buried. In particular, the story her stepmother would tell her, about two little girls and the terrible thing they do.

    As heavy snow traps Caro in the village, where her neighbours stare and whisper, Caro is forced to question why Elizabeth hated her so much, and what she was hiding. But does she really want to uncover the truth?

    A haunting and twisty story about the lies we tell those closest to us, perfect for fans of Ruth Ware and Cass Green. If you love CUCKOO, don’t miss Sophie Draper’s brand-new mystery MAGPIE, available to order now!

    Readers love CUCKOO:

    ‘A remarkably, taut and chilling debut. I absolutely loved it. Brilliant writing. All the creepiness. A heart-stopping ending’ CLAIRE ALLAN

    ‘Sophie Draper is a remarkable new voice, combining beautiful writing with a gothic creepiness and a level of suspense which will keep the reader gripped to the end’ STEPHEN BOOTH

    'A brilliant, sinister debut that creeps under your skin and keeps you hooked until the shocking ending' ROZ WATKINS

    ‘Wow! This is what a horror story is supposed to be! Super spooky and absolutely wonderful in all its gothic glory’ NETGALLEY REVIEWER

    ‘The ending was amazing. Psychological fiction at its best. Five Stars’ NETGALLEY REVIEWER

    ‘I never use the term "jaw-dropping" but it best describes the rest of this spectacular read!’ NETGALLEY REVIEWER

    ‘The ending BLEW. ME. AWAY. I feel like I’m going to have a book hangover now. SO, SO GOOD’ NETGALLEY REVIEWER

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins Publishers
    Release dateNov 29, 2018
    ISBN9780008311308
    Unavailable
    Cuckoo

    More audiobooks from Sophie Draper

    Related to Cuckoo

    Related audiobooks

    Thrillers For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Penny

      Jul 2, 2020

      Penny
      6 min read

    • Article

      The White Fox

      Oct 13, 2017

      The White Fox
      10 min read

    • Article

      What The Magpie Says

      Oct 16, 2022

      What The Magpie Says
      8 min read

    • Article

      J. Jezewska Stevens

      Dec 15, 2017

      The party was a failure. I can’t even tell you what a failure it was. There are no words. Only a great pain in my chest when I wake up. On the veranda. It’s better when I sit in the chair. Oh, but then I can see around. The gauzy curtains, pushed by

      15 min read

    • Article

      Diary of My Leg Hair

      Dec 8, 2022

      Diary of My Leg Hair
      21 min read

    • Article

      The Family Plot

      May 7, 2020

      The Family Plot
      10 min read

    • Article

      Why I Don’t Write

      Mar 7, 2019

      Why I Don’t Write
      6 min read

    • Article

      Longer on Moon

      Sep 22, 2022

      Longer on Moon
      19 min read

    • Article

      Rising Sign

      Feb 4, 2021

      Rising Sign
      10 min read

    • Article

      The Duplex

      Jun 9, 2020

      I moved to Los Angeles to sing. When was this? August? June? I was twenty-nine, and those were shapeless months, when the days blended together and I refused to pull them apart. My landlord was unusually close to her adult son. His name was Jeffrey,

      21 min read

    • Article

      Averted Vision

      Sep 1, 2022

      Averted Vision
      25 min read

    • Article

      Mrs Macarthur’s Secret Diary

      Jun 17, 2020

      Mrs Macarthur’s Secret Diary
      7 min read

    • Article

      Marta

      Oct 15, 2019

      Marta
      4 min read

    • Article

      Noctuary

      Sep 2, 2021

      Noctuary
      11 min read

    • Article

      Mrs Macarthur’s Secret Diary

      Jun 17, 2020

      Mrs Macarthur’s Secret Diary
      7 min read

    • Article

      The Art Of Secretion

      May 5, 2022

      The Art Of Secretion
      8 min read

    • Article

      Haunted

      Sep 27, 2023

      Haunted
      6 min read

    • Article

      After “The End”

      Oct 10, 2022

      I walked down the road with a hunched back and a wet cigarette in my mouth—the fire had died a while back. My hands were tucked into the pockets of my jacket, and my hair fell over my face, limiting my sight. But I wasn’t really seeing where I was go

      10 min read

    • Article

      Summer Beach Reads

      Jan 10, 2021

      Summer Beach Reads
      7 min read

    • Article

      Dark Tales

      Dec 2, 2021

      Dark Tales
      6 min read

    • Article

      Foxes

      Jun 15, 2019

      What’s worth happening happens in deep woods. Or so my daughter tells me. Her plotlines: In the deep woods someone is chasing, someone else is getting hacked. Hatchets are lifted, brought downdowndown. Men stutter blood onto snow. A cast of animals—s

      17 min read

    • Article

      Begin Again

      Jun 14, 2022

      My grandfather came to live with me. There was nowhere else for him to go. What had happened to all his children? Death, decay, exile—I hardly know. My own parents died of pain. But I must not be too gloomy, at the beginning, or you will leave me, an

      6 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Cuckoo

    3.5/5

    12 ratings4 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      The Stranger in Our Home by Sophie Draper is an eerie mystery which incorporates creepy adult fairy tales and an evil stepmother into the storyline.

      Illustrator Caro Crowther returns to her childhood home the English countryside following her stepmother's death.  She is also reunited with her estranged sister Steph who is not interested in her part of their inheritance but would like to repair their relationship. Unfortunately, Steph works in New York so the women rely on skype and phone calls to get to know each other. Caro is isolated  at the family house and the townspeople are not thrilled with her return. Caro is hoping the estate goes through probate quickly because being back in her home is bringing back some very puzzling and frightening memories. Caro is becoming more and more uneasy living by herself and the shocking discoveries about the events of her childhood are increasing her anxiety. Can Caro trust the new memories that are surfacing? And what, if anything do these remembrances have to do with what is happing in the present?

      Caro is a likable young woman who is rather timid and non-confrontational. Having recently escaped from an unhealthy relationship, returning to her childhood home will hopefully give her the opportunity to get back on her feet again. In the beginning, her current project helps keep her mind off her troubles. However once Caro begins to see parallels between the dark fairy tales and her own life, she is so rattled that she finds it difficult to focus. She is also dealing with some occurrences that are very unnerving. Caro is so shaken by the events that she begins to doubt her perception of the things that are happening to her.

      As much as Caro would like to fix her relationship with her sister, Steph is not exactly someone she can rely on when things get rough. Caro is also a bit bewildered by some of Steph's reactions to the events that are happening in her absence. Her cryptic responses are another source of frustration for Caro as she tries to understand what her newfound knowledge means.

      The bright spot in Caro life is her surprising romance with neighbor Craig Atherton. Despite their intense attraction, Caro is a little uneasy about some aspects of their steamy romance.  However, she does not let her doubts ruin her chance at happiness. But when Craig is not exactly supportive after a traumatic discovery, can the fractures in their relationship be repaired?

      The Stranger in Our Home is a slow burning mystery that is quite atmospheric. Caro is a sympathetic protagonist but her propensity to ignore problems is a little frustrating. The family house is a little shabby and its isolated location provides a sinister element to the unfolding story.  While the first two thirds of the novel are a little slow, the final third moves at a blistering pace. With unexpected twists and stunning turns, Sophie Draper brings this spellbinding mystery to an absolutely jaw-dropping conclusion that is also a little ambiguous.  A fantastic debut that I really enjoyed and highly recommend to fans of the genre.

      As a side note, the book is titled Cuckoo in the UK.
    • 4/5
      This book had a big cover reveal back in October and I can see why. The cover is just gorgeous but not only that, it's actually completely relevant to the story.Caro Crowther is a children's book illustrator. After the death of her stepmother, Elizabeth, with whom she had a very turbulent relationship, she returns to her childhood home. Elizabeth's death also brings Caro back into contact with her sister, Steph, who she hasn't seen for many years. And going through Elizabeth's belongings unearths an item that brings back many unhappy memories for Caro. Cuckoo is one of those books with a delightfully unreliable narrator in Caro. Her return to the farmhouse triggers all sorts of feelings and memories but we don't know if the place is haunted, whether Caro is suffering from some sort of hallucinations or whether somebody is simply trying to play tricks on her or drive her out. So as the reader, I was completely in the dark and feeling all the same kinds of discomfort as Caro.I found her relationship with Steph fascinating, especially when some incredible secrets are brought to light. It's amazing how much the brain can block out to protect us from unpleasant events. I also really enjoyed the whole stepmother/stepchild dynamic between Caro and Elizabeth as Caro reflects on the past.The story is set in Derbyshire in a small village close to Ashbourne. This pleased me for two reasons: one was that I'm familiar with some of the places mentioned (I've been to Ashbourne and Carsington Water a few times) and the other reason was that small villages offer that claustrophobic vibe, where everybody knows your business. Caro certainly feels that whilst she knows nobody, everybody knows her quite well. Cuckoo is full of twists and turns, none of which I was expecting. And that ending - wow is all I can say. It's certainly a psychological story, full of manipulation and mind games and it has a distinctly gothic style to it. Whilst it's not the most fast-paced of books, it doesn't need to be as it's less of a thriller and more of a slow reveal from the recesses of Caro's mind. I enjoyed it very much and hope that Sophie Draper will write more of the same.
    • 4/5
      "The flashy one or the nutcase?"

      If ever there was a wicked stepmother, it was Elizabeth, who made a point of letting Caro know she didn't belong, and tormenting her with horrid stories. That may explain why Caro's older sister Steph flew the coop when she was barely old enough. It doesn't explain why decades went by before she would ever bother with her sister again.
      Now a grown woman, Caro will uncover the reason why her childhood memories are so sparse and what secrets her own mind has hidden from her, as she heads back to her childhood home to clear it out after Elizabeth's death. The locals are less than welcoming, and a charming neighbor who rents the cottage on her property may know more about Caro's past than she does.
      This was a twisty psychological thriller with lots of suspense and a bit of romance thrown in.

      4 out of 5 stars.
      I received an advance copy for review.
    • 3/5
      I didn't love this one. My feelings about this book are actually pretty mixed. I didn't hate it but I am not really sure that I liked it either. I requested this book on NetGalley when it was listed as Can You Keep a Secret? without any details. I am a curious person by nature and I just had to know about this book that was so exciting it had to be kept secret. I don't think I would have asked for this book if I had known what the actual description was. The story opens at the funeral for Caro and Stephanie's stepmother. After the funeral, the estate needs to be settled and Caro needs a place to live so she goes to the house to sort through things. It becomes obvious almost immediately that the people in the small town her stepmother lived in do not think much of Caro. The only person that shows any kindness to Caro is the man living in the cottage on the land her stepmother's home is on, Craig. I found the bulk of the book to be really slow. There is a whole lot of action crammed into the last part of the book but for most of the book, it didn't feel like a whole lot happened. We spend a lot of time in Caro's head thinking about all the things she doesn't know and I hate to that it got old pretty fast. I did wonder if Caro would prove to be an unreliable narrator simply because she seemed so clueless about so many things. There were things that I did like about the book. Once all of the pieces came together near the end, I did find the book to be much more exciting. There were quite a few surprises that were revealed during the book's finale. I also liked the parts of the fairy tales that were worked into the story. I was really pretty interested in the story of the pear drum specifically. I think that a lot of readers might like this book more than I did. I didn't hate this book but it failed to completely grab me. While I found this book easy to set aside at times, I was curious enough about how everything would work out to keep me reading until the very end and I was satisfied with its conclusion. I received a digital review copy of this book from Avon Books UK via NetGalley.