Deep Creek

Finding Hope in the High Country

By: Pam Houston

Narrated by: Pam Houston

"How do we become who we are in the world? We ask the world to teach us."

On her 120-acre homestead high in the Colorado Rockies, beloved writer Pam Houston learns what it means to care for a piece of land and the creatures on it. Elk calves and bluebirds mark the changing seasons, winter temperatures drop to 35 below, and lightning sparks a 110,000-acre wildfire, threatening her century-old barn and all its inhabitants. Through her travels from the Gulf of Mexico to Alaska, she explores what ties her to the Earth, the ranch most of all. Alongside her devoted Irish wolfhounds and a spirited troupe of horses, donkeys, and Icelandic sheep, the ranch becomes Houston’s sanctuary, a place where she discovers how the natural world has mothered and healed her after a childhood of horrific parental abuse and neglect.

In essays as lucid and invigorating as mountain air, Deep Creek delivers Houston’s most profound meditations yet on how "to live simultaneously inside the wonder and the grief...to love the damaged world and do what I can to help it thrive."

©2019 Pam Houston (P)2019 Audible, Inc.

The most beautiful book I’ve ever read

Deep Creek is the most beautiful book I’ve ever had the joy of listening to. It’s early to make this call, but it might be my favorite book of 2019. I can’t imagine topping it.

It’s a beautiful memoir of Colorado, whales, dogs, wildfire, love, and loss. It’s brought me to my tears and stopped me in my tracks time and time again. Please read it.

An exceptional read.

I laughed, cried, felt grief and gratitude. A profoundly personal testimony re life & creation.

Deeply personal

I love this book. I have been wanting to read Pam’s books ever since my dear friends brought me to Creede, Co with my husband for the first time, more than 10 years ago and my friend lent us her books. Everything is as she says it is in Creede, the people are wonderful (including the soreheads), the life difficult and the land breathtaking. The mayor has changed, the mountain belle is owned by a foreign entity and someone has tried to change this wonderful place. I’m grateful Pam did what she did and feel a kindred spirit and although we have never met our national forests are only demarcated by the Continental divide.

What an amazing writer! This book really touched me!

I love Pam’s writing style and the way she intertwines her stories. Looking forward to reading the rest of her books!

One of the best Audible books!

This book is excellent. I finished it in a few days & look forward to reading more of her work. If you love animals, especially dogs, and nature and persistent women,this book if for you. Cheryl Strayed is one of my favorite authors & it turns out she & Pam Houston are good friends. You can feel the honesty in this book the way you feel it in Wild. Her chapter about Fenton was one of the best I have ever read about loving & losing a dog. Highly recommend this book!

a beautiful love letter

beautiful, heart breaking story of Pam's life, including an abusive childhood, wild 20s and settling onto ranch life - balanced with a lot of world travel - in her 30s and beyond. love her respect for mother nature and the way she beautifully weaves stories together to create a greater narrative about the alarming condition of our planet and the love that is still abundant, from it and for it.

I Loved This Book! Wholly Inspiring!

I love this book and this newly discovered Author!! Every sentence is akin to poetry for my soul! Her descriptions of the wilds of nature in and through her many purposeful journeys are masterful! So immersive is her imagery that it soothes the longing in me for places and experiences I've always wanted but never attained to firsthand. She aptly, beautifully and amazingly conveys the pure, honest, love, therapy and healing one can have with their canine companions. Her appreciation for the land and the workings of nature, the restorative powers and tenacity of the natural world to adapt and thrive in the face of utter abuse are the perfect metaphor for her own life. I'm deeply moved by this book, the Author's narration is also superb. This memoir steals the Top Position among my favorites now.

What a Life

Thank you, Pam, for sharing your ranch with all of us through this book. I loved every word. I cried, I laughed, I dreamed with you.
I hope one day I can find such a special place to let me horses grow old, my dogs run free and my goats hang out with me.

An Absolutely beautiful book

I loved this book. Thanks for sharing Pam. It was sad, tragic, happy and a reminder to live live and protect the world all in one. You’re an amazing author!!!

An Ode to the Land and to Life

I absolutely hated for this to come to an end and was ready to start it all over from the beginning. I loved that it was Pam reading it: it was if we were sitting across from one another over weeks of coffee dates. I felt such a kinship.

I gave read her other books and gave followed her as she has had her explorations, relationships, and adventures. He descriptions of landscapes, animals, weather, geography and people is so crisp. She is equally adept at describing the intensity of feelings we all have had at some pointing our lives.

I have to return now to another session with Pam and Deep Creek.