The Red Garden ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Read by Nancy Travis
6 discs
The story opens with the arrival of the first settlers, among them a pragmatic English woman, Hallie, and her profligate, braggart husband, William. Hallie makes an immediate and intense connection to the wilderness, and the tragic severing of that connection results in the creation of the red garden, a small, sorrowful plot of land that takes on an air of the sacred. The novel moves forward in linked stories, each building on (but not following from) the previous and focusing on a wide range of characters, including placid bears, a band of nomadic horse traders, a woman who finds a new beginning in Blackwell, and the ghost of a young girl drowned in the river who stays in the town’s consciousness long after her name has been forgotten. The result is a certain ethereal detachment as Hoffman’s deft magical realism ties one woman’s story to the next even when they themselves are not aware of the connection. – Publishers Weekley
A loner librarian fears the chaotic randomness of existence and is obsessed by death before she is struck by lightning. In a flash, she’s jolted out of her rut, noticing for the first time all that she’s been taking for granted—even the color red, which after the strike she can no longer see. The novel turns sultry when the slowly melting ice queen seeks out reclusive Lazarus Jones, a fellow lightning survivor who came back to life after 40 minutes of death.
parisgirl 