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A Parchment of Leaves
- Narrated by: Kate Forbes
- Length: 9 hrs and 38 mins
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Genre Fiction
Non-member price: $31.22
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Publisher's Summary
Critically acclaimed author Silas House’s A Parchment of Leaves was named Kentucky Novel of the Year and won a special achievement award from the Fellowship of Southern Writers. In 1917 rural Kentucky, Saul Sullivan marries a beautiful Cherokee woman named Vine. They weather the storm of prejudice, but when Saul temporarily moves away to work a better job, his younger brother makes advances on Vine that are not welcome and ultimately lead to tragedy.
Critic Reviews
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What listeners say about A Parchment of Leaves
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Barbara S
- 14-09-2020
beautiful!
I listened to the Southern Voices production of “A Parchment of Leaves” by Silas House. I was directed to this beauty by GR friend Sarah who knows her southern fiction. Southern Voices is a celebration of southern heritage and distinct southern voices. House is known for his southern and lyrical prose. Narrator Kate Forbes brings life to the novel with her authentic lilt. It was truly a joy to listen. Author Silas House pays homage to his great-grandmother, a Cherokee woman who married a white man, much like his protagonist and narrator Vine. Vine is a known beauty who captures the heart of Saul, a white man who marries her and moves her from her Cherokee Redbud camp to live in the all-white Gods Creek. The time period is early 1900’s, before WWI. Vine provides the reader with her struggles as a young bride, wife, and Cherokee living with her mother-in-law in an unfamiliar area. Vine’s significant struggle is with Saul’s baby brother, Aaron. Aaron has an aberrant attraction to Vine, making Vine uncomfortable. Aaron is her mother-in-law’s favorite, and Saul is blind to Aaron’s unwanted attention. This attraction proves to be Vine’s cross to bear and later her life-altering event. The story is beautiful, but the reason to read or listen to this is the pure joy of House taking you into another world. He captures historical life in the Kentucky Appalachian mountains in amazing detail.
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- Melissa
- 29-04-2020
Loved!
This has been on my reading list for years and I am sorry it has taken me so long to move it to my "read" list!! A story about love and family and loyalty! It you liked Where the Crawdad's Sing I think you will really like this one as well. Highly Recommended!!
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- Avid Reader
- 24-11-2019
Hats off to this one
This story is well written and leads beautifully into the next book in the series.
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- Mkait
- 17-08-2019
So beautiful
This was such a touching and beautiful story about family, love, and forgiveness. Loved the Arthur and the setting! Enjoyed hearing about familiar places while reading this!
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- Katrina
- 31-01-2017
Great book and performance, but the audio skips.
What would have made A Parchment of Leaves better?
Audible needs to investigate the skipping. Beginning about ten minutes into chapter 27, there are several instances where the audio skips 5-10 seconds and resumes like nothing happened, leaving the listener wondering what they missed. Happens six times or so until the end of the book. Very annoying, distracting and disappointing!
You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?
No issues with the novel itself--it's a wonderful story and very well-written. Kate Forbes does a great job with the accents and pacing.
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- Cristy Gray
- 24-10-2016
loved this story
there were some glitches in the recording where some parts skipped but the story was great and the dialect was spot on.
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- C. Murphy
- 16-08-2016
Loved it!
Kate Forbes is always excellent. The story was not a complex one, but satisfying on more than one level.
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