This morning I reviewed Angelina’s Bachelors, a novel narrated by Xe Sands. Over the past year I’ve gotten to know Xe via Twitter. Her Twitter stream is a fun mixture of audiobookish links, Going Public goodness, and tempting tidbits of current and upcoming projects. One such project I enjoyed following was The Silence of Trees by Valya Dudycz Lupescu. I knew it was one I’d want to pick up. Here is the description:
In Chicago’s Ukrainian Village, Nadya Lysenko has built her life on a foundation of secrets. When she was sixteen, Nadya snuck out of her house in Western Ukraine to meet a fortuneteller in the woods. She never expected it to be the last time she would see her family. Decades later, Nadya continues to be haunted by the death of her parents and sisters. The myths and magic of her childhood are still a part of her reality: dreams unite friends across time and space, house spirits misplace keys and glasses, and a fortuneteller’s cards predict the future. Nadya’s beloved dead insist on being heard through dreams and whispers in the night. They want the truth to come out. Nadya needs to face her past and confront the secrets she buried. Too often the women of history have been silenced, but their stories have power-to reveal, to teach, and to transform. This is one such story.
Iambik Audiobooks released this title last month and I thought it would be fun to invite others to listen along with me. The MP3 can be purchased and downloaded directly from Iambik’s website for $6.99 and it is just under 10 hours long. I will be listening to it during the last week of April. While I’m listening I’ll be discussing it on Twitter and will hold a more formal discussion about the book here on Thursday, May 3rd.
UPDATE: Iambik Audiobooks is generously making a 20% discount avaiable to everyone participating in The Silence of Trees listen-a-long! Use the code trees-listenalong to receive the 20% discount at checkout.
If you are planning on joining me, I would love it if you would fill out the following form. I’d be happy to send a reminder as the date draws near and let you know when the discussion post has been published. I will be treating one lucky participant to a copy of the audiobook as a thank you for joining me on this little journey. Just sign up by Tuesday, April 10th for your chance to win. Good luck!
So delightful that you’re hosting this, Jennifer! I fell in love with this book from the opening paragraph and it remains one of my favorite reads.
If anyone would like further info before making a choice, Iambik is offering Chapter 1 in its entirety on their website. http://www.iambik.com/books/silence-of-trees-by-v-d-lupescu/
Also, while prepping the book, I was tweeting my thoughts on the read (without spoilers of course!). The author, Valya Dudycz Lupescu, took those tweets and created a Storify presentation, which can be viewed here: http://storify.com/valya/the-silence-of-trees
Very much looking forward to your thoughts on the book
Oh, and it’s probably worth using headphones/earphones to get the most out of this listen as it’s a more quiet/intimate read.
Looking forward to it!
This may just be me and I am only 1 hour and 45 min in but this kind of has the same feel as The Tiger’s Wife, it may be just because its in the same region, or because of the girl on the train talking about the kinds of animals people are not sure and I may be way off too. So far it is mesmerizing and of course Xe Sands narration is beautiful!