ANDY CATLETT Early Travels

For fifty years, Wendell Berry has created stories of life in the fictional town of Port William, Kentucky and shared them with readers. Although fictional, we recognize the characters . . .as real our own ancestors. This memoir-like tale gives us a view of that point in time when we slid from an agrarian to an industrialized society. After Christmas 1943, 9-year-old Andy Catlett makes his first solo visit to Port William. Paul Michael, as an elderly Andy, reflects on that memorable visit to his paternal grandparents, farmers, and his maternal ones, who lived in town. Speaking in a voice full of down-home wisdom, Michael creates an atmosphere in which we can imagine sitting in the company of our own grandpa, soaking up his history, which, by extension, is our own. N.E.M. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine [Published: AUGUST 2008]