THE HOME PLACE

Narrator Andrus Nichols quickly engages listeners with this story of family and personal truths amid a hardscrabble existence in the High Plains of Montana. Her rough-edged timbre and soft cadence create an intimate atmosphere as Alma, a successful Seattle lawyer, is called home after her sister is found dead in the streets of Billings. As Alma teases out the tangle of Vicky's drunken, drug-addicted life, she unintentionally exposes family secrets. Using careful pacing and limited dramatization, Nichols emphasizes both the beauty of La Seur’s prose and Alma's deeply emotional journey to self-acceptance. Although the plot involves the mystery of Vicky’s death, the novel’s focus is the myriad ways that home and place intertwine to shape us. Nichols's performance is outstanding. C.B.L. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine [Published: SEPTEMBER 2014]