NATCH

Narrator Evan Sibley captures the tone of empathy and regret in this novel about a young couple's budding relationship. Natch sees himself as "some wild thing let loose on the world." He works as a tree trimmer in northern Georgia and lives simply in a cabin at the end of a dirt road. One day he meets Asha, who works at a convenience store and hopes to put herself through school and become a therapist. Sibley plays both parts with the hard-edged tone of blue-collar young people who are struggling to find their place in the world. When Asha miscarries their child, it launches them into a whirlpool of despair, matched by narrator Sibley's delivery of the audiobook's haunting sadness. R.O. © AudioFile 2025, Portland, Maine [Published: MAY 2025]