Scribe: A Novel

Written by:
Alyson Hagy
Narrated by:
Shannon Mcmanus

Unabridged Audiobook

Ratings
Book
1
Narrator
1
Release Date
October 2018
Duration
6 hours 0 minutes
Summary
A haunting, evocative tale about the power of storytelling

A brutal civil war has ravaged the country, and contagious fevers have decimated the population. Abandoned farmhouses litter the isolated mountain valleys and shady hollows. The economy has been reduced to barter and trade.

In this craggy, unwelcoming world, the central character of Scribe ekes out a lonely living on the family farmstead where she was raised and where her sister met an untimely end. She lets a migrant group known as the Uninvited set up temporary camps on her land, and maintains an uneasy peace with her cagey neighbors and the local enforcer. She has learned how to make paper and ink, and she has become known for her letter-writing skills, which she exchanges for tobacco, firewood, and other scarce resources. An unusual request for a letter from a man with hidden motivations unleashes the ghosts of her troubled past and sets off a series of increasingly calamitous events that culminate in a harrowing journey to a crossroads.

Drawing on traditional folktales and the history and culture of Appalachia, Alyson Hagy has crafted a gripping, swiftly plotted novel that touches on pressing issues of our time―migration, pandemic disease, the rise of authoritarianism―and makes a compelling case for the power of stories to both show us the world and transform it.
Reviews
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Tim M.

Recently, I enjoyed this book on a long drive, and it certainly helped pass the miles, the narrator was decent and did a good job portraying the characters. As a Southerner who grew in the Appalachians near where this book is set, and someone who enjoys dystopian fiction, I was looking forward to this book. However, I found it to be basically a much shortened union of Charles Frazier's 'Cold Mountain' and Stephen King's 'The Dark Tower'. Which sounds like a winner, as I love both books, but somehow it didn't satisfy. It had the setting and time period of 'Cold Mountain', with the bleak surreal fantasy of 'The Dark Tower', but lacked the breadth of either book. Another bit of fantasy at the core of the book, is the tired old dream that a woman can change and tame a BAD BOY, if he would just let her love him enough! We all know how this usually goes in reality, we are who we are, and true change comes from within . . . The book has stuck with me, and caused enough consternation and thought to warrant this review, but would I visit it again? Probably not. Would I recommend it? Maybe to certain friends. But I will remember it! :)

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