Helen Keller in Love by Rosie Sultan

Title: Helen Keller in Love
Author: Rosie Sultan
Type:  Audiobook
Narrator: Christine Williams
Genre: Fiction
Series: No
Copyright: 2012
Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5


Summary: from Good Reads
A captivating novel that explores the little-known romance of a beloved American icon

Helen Keller has long been a towering figure in the pantheon of world heroines. Yet the enduring portrait of her in the popular imagination is The Miracle Worker, which ends when Helen is seven years old.

Rosie Sultan’s debut novel imagines a part of Keller’s life she rarely spoke of or wrote about: the man she once loved. When Helen is in her thirties and Annie Sullivan is diagnosed with tuberculosis, a young man steps in as a private secretary. Peter Fagan opens a new world to Helen, and their sensual interactions—signing and lip-reading with hands and fingers—quickly set in motion a liberating, passionate, and clandestine affair. It’s not long before Helen’s secret is discovered and met with stern disapproval from her family and Annie. As pressure mounts, the lovers plot to elope, and Helen is caught between the expectations of the people who love her and her most intimate desires.

Richly textured and deeply sympathetic, Sultan’s highly inventive telling of a story Keller herself would not tell is both a captivating romance and a rare glimpse into the mind and heart of an inspirational figure.

Feelings: 
I felt like this was a really good story but it was slow and when I wasn't listening to it I didn't think about it at all. If I hadn't been driving I wouldn't have finished the story. As it was it took me 2 months to finish this audiobook.

The narrator of the audiobook was very good and I liked her different voices for different characters. I generally liked all of the characters except for Helen, she was at times annoying and at times overly confident in herself. Yes she was famous, and no I haven't read her autobiography but I am not sure I believed the character. This may have been because things are described visually and that doesn't seem accurate to me. I would have thought they would be described by feel. To a small extent things are described by how they feel by lots of things are described by how they look or how they sound and that didn't seem real to me. The narrative itself addresses the issue which for me made if feel less real. If an issue must be addressed and explained in detail I feel like maybe it isn't as well done as it could be I should be able to sit back and enjoy the story without questioning the details.

That is my biggest complaint about the story. It was beautifully written and while it wasn't the most exciting story, not that much happens within the story, it was nice to listen to. It is a love story that from the very beginning you know is not going to have a happy ending and it is the bittersweet story of longing for what we don't have and trying to hold onto it once we get it.