Harmony

By: Carolyn Parkhurst

Narrated by: Abigail Revasch, Jorjeana Marie, Cassandra Campbell

From the New York Times best-selling author of The Dogs of Babel, a taut, emotionally wrenching story of how a seemingly "normal" family could become desperate enough to leave everything behind and move to a "family camp" in New Hampshire - a life-changing experience that alters them forever.

How far will a mother go to save her family? The Hammond family is living in DC, where everything seems to be going just fine until it becomes clear that the oldest daughter, Tilly, is developing abnormally - a mix of off-the-charts genius and social incompetence. Once Tilly - whose condition is deemed undiagnosable - is kicked out of the last school in the area, her mother, Alexandra, is out of ideas.

The family turns to Camp Harmony and the wisdom of child-behavior guru Scott Bean for a solution. But what they discover in the woods of New Hampshire will push them to the very limit.

Told from the alternating perspectives of both Alexandra and her younger daughter, Iris (the book's Nick Carraway), this is a pause-resisting story about the strength of love, the bonds of family, and how you survive the unthinkable.

©2016 Carolyn Parkhurst (P)2016 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"The principal storyteller is younger daughter Iris, performed by Abigail Revasch, whose rhythms and pitch sound authentically preteen.... Cassandra Campbell's silky voice matches Alex's internal musings as she tries to understand how her family has fallen under Scott's control. Both performances are tinged with unease and a slowly developing tension. Jorjeana Marie narrates from Tilly's viewpoint, using exaggerated energy to dramatize the teen's loosened hold on reality." (AudioFile)

"Parkhurst is a sincere and crafty writer... Harmony [is] a moving and compassionate literary dive straight into the heart of a frantic parent... shatteringly immediate... touchingly real.” (The New York Times Book Review)

"Every child has the potential to break a parent's heart. In this gripping, timely novel, Carolyn Parkhurst follows the Hammond family as they give up everything to build a community that will allow both their daughters to thrive, an experiment that tests their resilience - and ultimately reveals the healing power of love.” (Kim Edwards, the number-one New York Times best-selling author of The Memory Keeper’s Daughter)