“A bad reader can ruin a book for you, a good reader makes you forget they are ‘there’, skillfully guiding you to ‘see’ the story. I have heard Steven Jay Cohen read before and he does a great job with Rappaccini’s Daughter. In fact I am going to listen to it again this week!” — Susan Curewitz Arthen
“Mr. Cohen has five character voices to differentiate (3 male and 2 female) and he does an excellent job transitioning from narrator to the various character voices (something that seems to throw a lot of audible book readers off balance.)” — Charles S. Houser
“Steven Jay Cohen’s portrayal of the different characters was very engaging. I’d listen to another one of his narrations any time.” — LilMissMolly
“Cohen’s voice brings life to the characters in this story. His accents and tonal changes seem spot on for the characters in the book, and by the end of the story, you will forget that you are listening to a single-voice narration..” — Brian Hawthorne
Rappaccini’s Daughter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
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Young Giovanni arrives in Padua to discover a lush and mysterious garden on the estate of the mysterious Doctor Rappaccini. Amidst the verdant and exotic foliage, Giovanni finds love in the form of Beatrice — the Doctor’s daughter. What deadly secret does the young girl and her father keep hidden?
Published in 1844, Rappaccini’s Daughter, is one of Hawthorne’s most well known works. And, when one reviews the plot, the story can be considered an early example of modern science fiction. Later works, like Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, and other more contemporary pieces, come back to consider what Hawthorne explored in these pages — does man have the right to shape nature to his own will?