Audiobooks by Ron Rash

Can Eugene's recollections be trusted? And will the truth set him free and offer salvation . . . or destroy his damaged life and everyone he loves? Book Description A suspenseful and evocative tale of two brothers whose lives are altered irrevocably by the events of one long-ago summer While swimming in a secluded creek on a hot Sunday in 1969, sixteen-year-old Eugene and his older brother, Bill, meet Ligeia. A free-spirited, rebellious teenager from Daytona Beach banished to their small North Carolina town, she not only entrances the two brothers, but lures them into a struggle that reveals the hidden differences in their natures. Eugene falls deeper under Ligeia's spell as she introduces him to the thrills and pleasures of the counterculture-but just as the movement's youthful optimism turns dark elsewhere in the country that summer, so does Eugene and Ligeia's brief romance. Eugene grows further and further apart from his brother, and when Ligeia vanishes as suddenly as she appeared, the growing rift between the two boys becomes immutable. Decades later, the once-close brothers now lead completely different lives. Bill is a gifted and successful surgeon, a paragon of the community, while Eugene is a failed writer and determined alcoholic. When a shocking reminder of the past unexpectedly surfaces, Eugene is forced to remember that fateful summer and the girl he cannot forget. The deeper he delves into his memories, the closer he comes to finding the truth. But can Eugene's recollections be trusted? And will the truth set him free and offer salvation, or destroy his damaged life and everyone he loves?

Ron Rash (Author), Richard Ferrone (Narrator)

Audiobook

Above the Waterfall: A Novel

In this poetic and haunting tale set in contemporary Appalachia, New York Times bestselling author Ron Rash illuminates lives shaped by violence and a powerful connection to the land. Les, a long-time sheriff just three-weeks from retirement, contends with the ravages of crystal meth and his own duplicity in his small Appalachian town. Becky, a park ranger with a harrowing past, finds solace amid the lyrical beauty of this patch of North Carolina. Enduring the mistakes and tragedies that have indelibly marked them, they are drawn together by a reverence for the natural world. When an irascible elderly local is accused of poisoning a trout stream, Les and Becky are plunged into deep and dangerous waters, forced to navigate currents of disillusionment and betrayal that will force them to question themselves and test their tentative bond—and threaten to carry them over the edge. Echoing the heartbreaking beauty of William Faulkner and the spiritual isolation of Carson McCullers, Above the Waterfall demonstrates once again the prodigious talent of “a gorgeous, brutal writer” (Richard Price) hailed as “one of the great American authors at work today” (Janet Maslin, New York Times)

Ron Rash (Author), Richard Ferrone, Tavia Gilbert (Narrator)

Audiobook

Something Rich and Strange: Selected Stories

From the critically acclaimed, award-winning author of Serena and The Cove, thirty-four of his finest short stories, collected in one volume No one captures the complexities of Appalchia, a rugged, brutal landscape of exquisite beauty, as evocatively and indelibly as author and poet Ron Rash. Winner of the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, two O. Henry prizes, and a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award, Rash brilliantly illuminates the tensions between the traditional and the modern, the old and the new south, tenderness and violence, man and nature. Though his focus is regional, the themes of Rash's work are universal, striking an emotional chord that resonates deep within each of our lives. Something Rich and Strange showcases this acclaimed master's artistry and craftsmanship in thirty-two stories culled from previously published collections and two available for the first time in book form: Outlaws and Shiloh. Each work of short fiction demonstrates Rash's dazzling ability to evoke the heart and soul of this land and its people, men and women inexorably tethered to the geography that defines and shapes them. Filled with suspense and myth, hope and heartbreak, and told in language that flows like shimmering, liquid poetry (Atlanta Journal-Constitution), Something Rich and Strange is an iconic work from an American literary virtuoso.

Ron Rash (Author), Christian Baskous (Narrator)

Audiobook

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Ron Rash has been acclaimed as 'the best American novelist I have come upon in the last twenty years' by The Scotsman. Set deep in the heart of the Appalachian mountains, this new collection of short stories confirms his reputation again and again. Nothing Gold Can Stay transports the reader to another place, and illuminates the world around us in unexpected ways.

Ron Rash (Author), William Roberts (Narrator)

Audiobook

Nothing Gold Can Stay: Stories

PEN/Faulkner Award finalist and New York Times bestselling author Ron Rash turns again to Appalachia to capture lives haunted by violence and tenderness, hope and fear, in unforgettable stories that span from the Civil War to the present day. In the title story, two drug-addicted friends return to the farm where they worked as boys to steal their former boss's gruesomely unusual war trophies. In "The Trusty," which first appeared in The New Yorker, a prisoner sent to fetch water for his chain gang tries to sweet-talk a farmer's young wife into helping him escape, only to find that she is as trapped as he is. In "Something Rich and Strange," a diver is called upon to pull a drowned girl's body free from under a falls, but he finds her eerily at peace below the surface. The violence of Rash's characters and their raw settings are matched only by their resonance and stark beauty, a masterful combination that has earned Rash an avalanche of praise.

Ron Rash (Author), Alexander Cendese, Christian Baskous, Phoebe Strole, Prentice Onayemi, Robert Petkoff (Narrator)

Audiobook

Woe to Live On: A Novel

Set in the border states of Kansas and Missouri, WOE TO LIVE ON explores the nature of lawlessness and violence, friendship and loyalty, through the eyes of young recruit Jake Roedel. Where he and his fellow First Kansas Irregulars go, no one is safe, no one can be neutral. Roedel grows up fast, experiencing a brutal parody of war without standards or mercy. But as friends fall and families flee, he questions his loyalties and becomes an outsider even to those who have become outlaws.

Daniel Woodrell, Ron Rash (Author), Bernard Clark (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Cove: A Novel

The New York Times bestselling author of Serena returns to Appalachia, this time at the height of World War I, with the story of a blazing but doomed love affair caught in the turmoil of a nation at war Deep in the rugged Appalachians of North Carolina lies the cove, a dark, forbidding place where spirits and fetches wander, and even the light fears to travel. Or so the townsfolk of Mars Hill believe-just as they know that Laurel Shelton, the lonely young woman who lives within its shadows, is a witch. Alone except for her brother, Hank, newly returned from the trenches of France, she aches for her life to begin. Then it happens-a stranger appears, carrying nothing but a beautiful silver flute and a note explaining that his name is Walter, he is mute, and is bound for New York. Laurel finds him in the woods, nearly stung to death by yellow jackets, and nurses him back to health. As the days pass, Walter slips easily into life in the cove and into Laurel's heart, bringing her the only real happiness she has ever known. But Walter harbors a secret that could destroy everything-and danger is closer than they know. Though the war in Europe is near its end, patriotic fervor flourishes thanks to the likes of Chauncey Feith, an ambitious young army recruiter who stokes fear and outrage throughout the county. In a time of uncertainty, when fear and ignorance reign, Laurel and Walter will discover that love may not be enough to protect them. This lyrical, heart-rending tale, as mesmerizing as its award-winning predecessor Serena, shows once again this masterful novelist at the height of his powers.

Ron Rash (Author), Merritt Hicks (Narrator)

Audiobook

Serena

The year is 1929, and newlyweds George and Serena Pemberton travel from Boston to the North Carolina mountains where they plan to create a timber empire. Although George has already lived in the camp long enough to father an illegitimate child, Serena is new to the mountains - but she soon shows herself to be the equal of any man, overseeing crews, hunting rattlesnakes, even saving her husband's life in the wilderness. Together this lord and lady of the woodlands ruthlessly kill or vanquish all who fall out of favor. Yet when Serena learns that she will never bear a child, she sets out to murder the son George fathered without her. Mother and child begin a struggle for their lives, and when Serena suspects George is protecting his illegitimate family, the Pembertons' intense, passionate marriage starts to unravel as the story moves toward its shocking reckoning. Rash's masterful balance of violence and beauty yields a riveting novel that, at its core, tells of love both honored and betrayed. "Serena catapults Ron Rash to the front ranks of the best American novelists." - Pat Conroy "A complex and compelling study of human greed and the grimmest of lusts - that for wealth and power...An epic achievement." - Jeffrey Lent, bestselling author of In the Fall

Ron Rash (Author), Phil Gigante (Narrator)

Audiobook