Small Animals Caught in Traps

A Novel

De: C. B. Bernard

Narrado por: Chris Henry Coffey

For listeners of Kristin Hannah’s The Great Alone and David Vann’s Legend of a Suicide, C. B. Bernard’s debut novel shows a father and a daughter fighting toward hope through a traumatic past.

In the town of Disappointment, Oregon, washed-up boxer Lewis Yaw makes ends meet as a fishing guide. He’s lived a life of violence, but doesn’t understand real strength until he meets Janey, who can see good in even the most damaged things—including him. When she gives birth to their daughter, Grayling, Lewis worries that he’ll mess her up as badly as his father did him. But he also sees a chance to right the wrongs of the past.

By high school, Gray has become his apprentice guide, his sparring partner, and his pride and joy. Life in their small town is nothing short of challenging—there’s a marauding bear roaming the streets, a rival guide trying to kill Lewis, and a poacher littering deer carcasses along the river—but he is closer to happiness than he ever thought possible. When tragedy strikes, Lewis can’t break free of his past, leaving Gray to fight to save the only thing she has left: her family.

©2023 Chris Bernard (P)2023 Blackstone Publishing

Gritty and authentic

As a trauma therapist and nature lover I fell in love with this book. The raw prose and vulnerable emotionality was beautiful and at times cringy in the best possible way. I’d read anything by this author and I’ve already recommended it to my bibliophile friends. I plan to listen to it all over again and I’ve already purchased the hard cover so I can read the words over and over again. So many lines that hit hard for me in my line of work and personally. Looking forward to losing myself in it again. Ps: also loved the narration. It was flawless.