This beautifully written novel, with its complicated, stubborn characters, will haunt you long after the last page.” —Margot Livesey, Author of The Boy in the Field
The death of Donald Ray in a freak car accident becomes the catalyst for the release of passions, needs, and hurts. Clayton’s discovery of dead Donald Ray upends his longtime emotional numbness. Darlene, the seventeen-year-old widow, struggles to reconnect with her late husband while proving herself still alive. Soon Clayton and Darlene’s bond of loss and death works its magic, drawing them into an affair that brings the loneliness in Clayton’s marriage to a crisis. When Aurilla Cutter, Clayton’s mother-in-law, learns about the affair, her own memories of longing and infidelity are set loose. Like Darlene’s passions—unappeased and clung to—Aurilla’s possess an intensity that denies life to the present. As Aurilla’s own forbidden and tragic story of love, death, and repeated loss alternates with Darlene’s and Clayton’s, the divide of generations narrows and collapses, building to the unlikely collision.
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"This moving emotional novel is a journey to authentic place to experience how four characters navigate love, loss, grief to arrive at redemption. Southern fiction at its finest. Highly recommend this haunting read."
— Jennifer Miller (5 out of 5 stars)
“Judith Turner-Yamamoto’s Loving the Dead and Gone is a love story that begins with a tragedy, proceeds through loss and suffering, and winds up in a place of deeply earned redemption. Though there are several characters who guide us through this unstoppable narrative, none is more breathtakingly rendered that Aurilla Cutter. Women like Aurilla, we say in the South, will live forever because they’re too mean to die. Ah, but Aurilla has a past that will touch your heart and explain her present. She’s an unforgettable character among a cast of unforgettables, from her put-upon daughter Berta May, to the heartbroken and fiery seventeen-year-old widow, Darlene, to Berta May’s haunted husband, Clayton. Actually, everything about Loving the Dead and Gone, to Judith Turner-Yamamoto’s great credit, is unforgettable.”
— Ed Falco, New York Times bestselling author“This beautifully written novel, with its complicated, stubborn characters, will haunt you long after the last page.”
— Margot Livesey, New York Times bestselling author“Loving the Dead and Gone is a rich and skillfully rendered portrait of a place that explores the generational effects of love and loss and the fragile connections within a family. Judith Turner-Yamamoto gives us a complex and memorable cast of characters and a vivid setting filled with stunning detail.”
— Jill McCorkle, New York Times bestselling authorBe the first to write a review about this audiobook!
Judith Turner-Yamamoto’s work has appeared in StorySOUTH, Mississippi Review, and American Literary Review, and in many anthologies, including Walking the Edge, Show Us Your Papers, and Gravity Dancers. Her fellowships and awards include the Virginia Arts Commission, the Ohio Arts Council, the VCCA, the Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize, and the Virginia Screenwriting Award. An art historian, her articles are published in Travel + Leisure, Elle, Art & Antiques, Interiors, and The Boston Globe, among others.
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.
Suzanne Toren, award-winning narrator, has over thirty years of experience in narration. She was named a “Golden Voice” by AudioFile magazine in 2019. She has won the American Foundation for the Blind’s Scourby Award for Narrator of the Year, AudioFile magazine named her the 2009 Best Voice in Nonfiction & Culture, and she is the recipient of multiple Earphones Awards. She performs on and off Broadway and in regional theaters and has appeared on Law & Order and in various soap operas.
Roger Clark is a professional actor and voiceover artist who lives in New York City. He is best known for his award-winning portrayal of Arthur Morgan in the 2018 video game Red Dead Redemption 2. He has performed in over forty-five countries. His first venture in audio narration was as a child, helping his father record local newspapers for the blind and visually impaired.