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A Sudden Country: A Novel Audiobook
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(3.02) - 496 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
A vivid and revelatory novel based on actual events of the 1847 Oregon migration, A Sudden Country follows two characters of remarkable complexity and strength in a journey of survival and redemption. James MacLaren, once a resourceful and ambitious Hudson’s Bay Company trader, has renounced his aspirations for a quiet family life in the Bitterroot wilderness. Yet his life is overturned in the winter of 1846, when his Nez Perce wife deserts him and his children die of smallpox. In the grip of a profound sorrow, MacLaren, whose home once spanned a continent, sets out to find his wife. But an act of secret vengeance changes his course, introducing him to a different wife and mother: Lucy Mitchell, journeying westward with her family. Lucy, a remarried widow, careful mother, and reluctant emigrant, is drawn at once to the self-possessed MacLaren. Convinced that he is the key to her family’s safe passage, she persuades her husband to employ him. As their hidden stories and obsessions unfold, and pasts and cultures collide, both Lucy and MacLaren must confront the people they have truly been, are, and may become. Alive with incident and insight, presenting with rare scope and intimacy the complex relations among nineteenth-century traders, immigrants, and Native Americans, A Sudden Country is, above all, a heroic and unforgettable story of love and loss, sacrifice and understanding.
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"I found this book compelling beyond the situation, history and plot. I was totally immersed in the story, and appreciated the complexity of the characters and their styles of communication. There was a redemtive quality that for me transcended the sorrow faced by the characters. It was a study in how we find the strength to go on, and how we forgive."
— Toni (5 out of 5 stars)
Awards
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A 2006 PEN/Faulkner Award Finalist
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A 2005 Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Prize for First Fiction Finalist
A Sudden Country Listener Reviews
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" Interesting story about the Oregon trail as 40+ families leave Iowa in 1847 to cross the country in search of opportunity in Oregon. Listening rather than reading helped me enjoy more than the rest of the book group; convoluted sentence structure and cumbersome writing made many passages hard to grasp. "
— Becca, 2/19/2014 -
" Lyrical and magical. Out of all the things that happened to these families on the Oregon Trail, there was still hope. "
— Linda, 2/17/2014 -
" I found this book a little hard to read. Karen Fisher is an creative wordsmith but sometimes her descriptions were so involved I didn't get the point. I also found that I didn't care as much about the characters as I would like. But it was an interesting story and I found myself thinking about it for some days afterward. "
— Deborah, 2/17/2014 -
" Good for book group "
— Hallie, 2/8/2014 -
" Gave up after reading my obligatory 50 pages; narrative jumped around alot and never really felt like she got to the telling of a story. Sounded like a good read, but never really materialized. "
— Ian, 1/24/2014 -
" Beautiful writing, troublesome characters. "
— Jane, 1/17/2014 -
" wow. not sure what I thought about the ending...after all that... "
— Michele, 1/16/2014 -
" I didn't finish this book. I did not like her writing style. "
— Ann, 1/13/2014 -
" Really, really liked this book. "
— Karen, 12/13/2013 -
" my book group had mixed reviews for this book; I thought it was terrific - great writer. "
— Carol, 10/1/2013 -
" This book was moving too slowly for my mood, so I am going to try to read it another time when I am in a different mood. "
— Heidi, 8/9/2013 -
" Fiction: A family on the Oregon trail has many hardships, including infidelity "
— Krista, 8/7/2013 -
" What could have been a fascinating journal of life on the Oregon Trail turned out to be a uninteresting story of star-crossed lovers. "
— Mary, 6/27/2013 -
" very good, did not like the ending "
— Annie, 3/28/2013 -
" pioneer novel, how people get through heartache and hardship which I knew about, but compelling. Need to read for more than 10 min increments. "
— Lindsay, 2/17/2013 -
" A sad book; too sad for my sister. This is my favorite period of American history, when the west was just being settled. It is a love story but a sad and somewhat frustrating one. I loved the writing and the sense of the wild beautful country. "
— Anne, 11/11/2012 -
" I loved this book. Very strong woman character crossing on the Oegon Trail in mid 1800's. Based on Karen Fisher's great great aunt's story. "
— Lynne, 9/22/2012 -
" I hated the heroin in this book, as much as I despised Madam Bovary. I couldn't get past how unlikable, whiny, and ridiculous she was. "
— Amanda, 9/19/2012 -
" My book club mostly didn't LOVE this book. They didn't hate it, but it wasn't their FAVE like it is for me. I love historical fiction though, and I think it helped that I had the flu in the middle of winter when I read it, so the opening scene seemed especially intense. "
— Katrina, 7/29/2012 -
" Beautiful descriptions. I found some places a little hard to follow. The life of immigrants moving to the Oregon Territory is a humbling reminder of how little people can live on and their resilience in the face of loss and trauma. "
— Sue, 5/15/2012 -
" An All Iowa Reads finalist, but definitely not (to me) of All Iowa Reads caliber. Set on the Oregon Trail in 1847, it's an old-fashioned, plot-driven historical romance, though a little classier. Not bad, just not much meat to it, & I was suspicious of some of the historical detail. "
— Marvin, 3/9/2012 -
" I liked the parts of this book that articulated how it must have felt to go west and encounter the beauty and hardship of the landscape. "
— Judy, 3/20/2011 -
" Beautiful descriptions. I found some places a little hard to follow. The life of immigrants moving to the Oregon Territory is a humbling reminder of how little people can live on and their resilience in the face of loss and trauma. "
— Sue, 1/10/2011 -
" Really beautiful prose. Certain parts of the book can be a little difficult to follow but it's worth it. Reminds me of Cold Mountain in many ways. "
— Susan, 12/3/2010 -
" This book was moving too slowly for my mood, so I am going to try to read it another time when I am in a different mood. "
— Heidi, 11/18/2010 -
" What could have been a fascinating journal of life on the Oregon Trail turned out to be a uninteresting story of star-crossed lovers. "
— Mom, 9/25/2010 -
" A novel about traveling the 1847 Oregon trail. "
— Cindy, 8/7/2010 -
" could not finish this one. <br/> <br/>writing was getting lost in the story. the story seemed interesting but i just couldn't get into. moving on to something else. "
— Kristen, 7/19/2010 -
" A poetically written story of the Oregon Trail which is both gritty and lovely. The interwoven love story enhances the slog across the great plains; the hardships are so real, the food so disgusting, the people well rendered. Not an easy read but worth it. "
— Barbara, 6/10/2010 -
" What a wonderfully written book. Almost like reading poetry. Was also interesting that even though it was a novel the story came from her ancestors. "
— Kim, 3/19/2010 -
" Really, really liked this book. "
— Karen, 3/19/2010 -
" An amazing book about the migration of a family west to Oregon in the early 1800's and the relationships between several people. Very beautiful language/writing and very vivid storytelling. Based on a true story of the author's ancestors! "
— Elizabeth, 2/3/2010 -
" Couldn't even finish this. Confusing, boring and incest. "
— Lauren, 1/10/2010 -
" Pioneer tale, well-written emotionally involving, semi-historical fiction "
— Kimberly, 12/1/2009
About Karen Fisher
Karen Fisher has lived in the West as a teacher, wrangler, farmer, and carpenter. She now lives with her husband and their three children on an island in the Puget Sound.
About Cassandra Campbell
Cassandra Campbell has won multiple Audie Awards, Earphones Awards, and the prestigious Odyssey Award for narration. She was been named a “Best Voice” by AudioFile magazine and in 2018 was inducted in Audible’s inaugural Narrator Hall of Fame.