Audiobook, Historical Fiction

This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger

Jonetta | Blue Mood Café

This Tender Land
Odie O’Banion and his older brother Albert were orphaned when his father died, their mother having passed years before. The two then had to call the Lincoln Indian Training School in Minnesota home, the only white boys in attendance and under the supervision of its cruel superintendent Thelma Brickman and her husband Clyde. After four years of hardship, circumstances had them take flight when he was only twelve and Albert sixteen, accompanied by Mose, a mute boy of Sioux origins and Emmy Frost, a little girl whose widowed mother was recently killed and leaving her to be taken in by the Brickmans. These four young children embark on a journey to a different life in the summer of 1932, along the riverbanks of the Gilead River during the harsh era following the Great Depression.

I became a fan of this author’s writing after discovering his Cork O’Connor series years ago. One of the things I love about his stories is the strong sense of time and place, connecting the reader in a way that immerses you into the lives, surroundings and circumstances of the characters. The adventures and hardships these four children encountered were a microcosm of the period where people were struggling to survive. It brought out the best and worst of humanity as seen through Odie’s eyes and heart. These were the days when there were few rules to protect children from the world let alone manipulative adults. Odie and Albert were on a course to find the one relative they had remaining, an aunt in St. Louis, and that trip from Minnesota would have been dangerous under normal situations but even more given the desperation of so many during that time.

This story grabbed me emotionally from the onset and never let go. There were times when I just wanted it to move on because I feared for the well being of these four but each situation mattered in Odie’s maturation and formation. There’s a bit of a paranormal element here, too, that provides answers where there sometimes aren’t any others. I’m not sure where I landed with that but it certainly was thought provoking and often spiritual. I’m very glad I chose to listen to the story as the narrator, Scott Brick, did a great job of storytelling, especially when you consider it’s in the voice of a twelve-year old being recalled by his eighty-year old self. There are some stunning twists near the end but it’s the entire journey that will captivate you and your imagination. I loved the story.

Book Info

  • Release Date: September 2, 2019
  • Narrator: Scott Brick
  • Audio Length: 14 hours, 19 minutes
  • Publisher: Recorded Books

 

 

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(Thanks to Recorded Books for my complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.)

Published by Jonetta | Blue Mood Café

34 thoughts on “This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger”

  1. Pingback: 2020 Audiobook Challenge – Blue Mood Café
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    1. It’s just a website where you can post music sound clips. Publishers like Penguin, Simon & Schuster post audiobook clips there; individuals can post their personal music there. I’ve created clips for those books where the publishers haven’t provided one.

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        5. If you have an iPad, you have iTunes. Your iPad has an iBooks app where you can listen to audiobooks. But, you have to first load the CD onto your laptop or desktop, add them to iTunes library (download the app onto your desktop or laptop if you don’t have it.) Then connect your iPad to your computer and the book.

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  13. Pingback: Learning from the Past to Improve the Future ~ Fiction and Non-fiction recommendations ~ Friday Finds plus Book Blogger Hop – Floras Musings…

  14. Wonderful review Jonetta. I have this book on my TBR and it will also fulfill one of the Popsugar prompts. It is available on Scribd in audio on April 1st, so I am going to grab it and listen.

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