River, Sing Out: A Novel Audiobook

Quotes

• “Texas writer James Wade delivers a gripping and honest tale of a young boy confronting the evils of the world around him…If you enjoyed Jesmyn Ward’s Salvage the Bones or Daniel Woodrell’s Winter’s Bone, this is likely the book for you.”

  — San Francisco Book Review

• “With echoes of Jim Harrison, Cormac McCarthy (and perhaps a smidge of Flannery O’Connor), River, Sing Out is a beautiful, brutal meditation on survival and love in the face of nearly unspeakable violence and depravity in an East Texas community ravaged by the meth trade. Taut, lyrical, and precise, the prose soars in this important new novel by James Wade.”

  — Elizabeth Wetmore, New York Times bestselling author

• “If you read one novel this year, make it this one. James Wade’s River, Sing Out is an instant classic filled with characters that will break your heart, lyrical prose as haunted as the river it evokes, and a Southern Noir undertow that wholly sucks you in and keeps you turning the pages until its searing, masterful conclusion.”

  — May Cobb, author of The Hunting Wives

• “A literary work of art, with exceptional characterization and philosophical prose guiding the story along the banks of the Neches…James Wade’s writing is rhapsodic…This novel will not disappoint readers looking for thought-provoking fiction about love and affection conquering the mud and debauchery of life, even if for a little while.”

  — Lone Star Literary Life

• “Powerful and well-written modern tragedy.”

  — Midwest Book Review

• “Wade, whose striking debut, All Things Left Wild (2020), traveled back a century in Texas history, uses an unlikely friendship to explore an equally wild present-day landscape…A haunting fable of an impossible relationship fueled by elemental need and despair.”

  — Kirkus Reviews

• “James Wade got our attention with his debut, All Things Left Wild, that existed in a world between western, crime fiction, and the end of days. He proves his talent wasn’t a first-time fluke with his follow-up River, Sing Out. By setting up a simple crime fiction premise, he is able to delve deep into emotion and theme like a master bluesman with three chords.”

  — BookPeople

• “This story is not just a story to be read. It is a story to be experienced…Although this is the first book by James Wade that I’ve read, he has immediately become one of my favorite and most respected authors. If you believe in the magic of the written word and what can become of it, you need to read this story. You need to read this author. You will enjoy both very much!”

  — The Clueless Gent

• “This is a compelling and affecting story, spectacularly written and richly detailed with a descriptive atmosphere and realistic characters that will not easily be forgotten. A brooding and brutal coming-of-age story as enlightening in its harshness as it is in its wonder and beauty. Five stars.”

  — That’s What She’s Reading

• “River, Sing Out is a poetic, exceedingly descriptive gothic fiction of place and time, and even more pictorial of living a poor life in the deep East Texas woods…Roger Clark, the narrator, has a voice that is rich and expressive. A richness that makes a girl like me swoon. Clark’s changing from the various characters even to a girl to a boy never broke its cadence. Without a doubt, Clark’s voice conveys River, Sing Out into a phenomenally memorable story…It is a story that can take miles off your long drives or commutes.”

  — Forgotten Winds