AN OWL ON EVERY POST

Alyssa Bresnahan brings an evocative sepia tone to this beautiful memoir about the lives of a real pioneer family. Sanora Babb was 7 in the early 1900s when her family left its comfortable life in Oklahoma for an insect-infested dugout on the dry plains of eastern Colorado. The following years brought drought, crop failure, sickness, anxiety, and surprising joy, for Sanora found much to love in the wildness of the West. Bresnahan’s thoughtful pacing and the slightly roughened edge she gives her clear, warm voice perfectly conjure wide skies and strong winds, and echo the considered speech of people who don’t talk much. And when they do talk, she offers telling portraits of everyone from child to grandfather. A.C.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine [Published: MAY 2015]