Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The Story Keeper by Kelly Rimmer Narrator: Siho Ellsmore
Published by Harlequin Audio on July 21, 2026
Genres: Historical Mystery
Length: 12 hours, 14 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: NetGalley
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Beneath the decaying grandeur of Wurimbirra, a family estate on the east coast of Australia, dark secrets lie buried. Fiona Winslow returns to restore the mansion she once called home, but what she uncovers is more than just decay - it is a mystery locked away for generations.
A forgotten book, The Midnight Estate, leads her into a story of love, loss, and betrayal mirroring her own. And as the lines between fiction and reality blur, Fiona must confront a chilling Is the true mystery hidden in the walls of her ancestral home, or within the pages of a book that seems to have chosen her?
You’re fifty, just became an empty nester as your last child goes off to college and find out your husband and best friend are having an affair and he is leaving you. For most people that would be enough to send you over the edge and into a strong depression. But for Fiona it is a chance to restart her life, buy the old mansion in the middle of nowhere Australia, she spent the first sixteen years of her life in and retore it to the home she remembers. Just one problem, Wurimbirra might be haunted and she might be in a little over her head.
The Story Keeper is a multigenerational tale leaning to gothic mystery. Fiona has moved back home and is excited to start renovations on Wurimbirra, the house she has incredible nostalgia for. Sure there are rumors it is haunted, but she thought those were just stories her uncle liked to tell to keep the kids entertained. However, weird things keep happening. Doors shutting, glasses in other rooms knocked off tables and just strange noises in the middle of the night. Fiona might just be in over her head and the one person still alive that might have answers, her Mother, refuses to talk about it. Is the house haunted or are there reasonable explanations for everything happening? It is an old house, they make a lot of noise, but is it more than that.
I found the flow of this story, while not fast, had a good pace and enough of a mystery to make me want to keep going. Fiona finds multiple copies of a book delivered just after her uncle died. As she reads the story, she can’t help but find that she wants to know more of why the voice of it sounds so familiar. I understood early why the book she found, The Midnight Estate, was going to be important to Fiona. But, it was still so engaging to go on the journey even though I was pretty sure of the destination. I liked how the characters in The Midnight Estate intertwined the lives of the characters built a bond that would last a lifetime.
The Story Keeper has some heavier themes as the book within the book covers a type of domestic violence, coercive control, and one woman’s fight in the 1960s to escape the marriage that would have ended in her death if she didn’t get out. I liked the historical view in the book as it felt real enough without being overdone. Fiona was an easy person to like as even with the death of her marriage and the betrayal of her husband, she has found something to be excited about and focus on. The second half of the book seemed to progress faster than the first half and that made the read easier once you get used to the dual narrative timeline flow.
Overall the setting and story were interesting and kept me engaged even though there is very little romance and it kept the gothic feel throughout. The story resolution was well done leaving just enough to the imagination while answering all of the big questions. This was my first read by Kelly Rimmer and it was solid enough that I would try a few more books from her catalog based on her clear writing voice and ability to make me care about the characters in her book.
Narration:
Performance: ★★★★★
Character Separation: ★★★★
Diction: ★★★★
Pacing/Flow: ★★★★
Sound Effects: None
Siho Ellsmore is a new to me narrator. The book is mostly Australian and for those accents I think it was easier for Siho to represent Fiona. However there were many characters in the book that were American because of the Midnight Estate was mostly set in America. For those, she still did a good job it just seemed like that accent was a bit more difficult to cultivate for all the various voices. Still I really liked how she performed Fiona and was able to make her both strong and vulnerable at the same time. I listened to the audiobook at my usual 1.5x speed.
Listen to a clip: HERE
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