In the Wild Light

By: Jeff Zentner

Narrated by: Michael Crouch

Length: 10 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

A poignant coming-of-age novel about two best friends whose friendship is tested when they get the opportunity to leave their impoverished small town for an elite prep school. For fans of Looking for Alaska.

Life in a small Appalachian town is not easy. Cash lost his mother to an opioid addiction and his Papaw is dying slowly from emphysema. Dodging drug dealers and watching out for his best friend, Delaney, is second nature. He's been spending his summer mowing lawns while she works at Dairy Queen. But when Delaney manages to secure both of them full rides to an elite prep school in Connecticut, Cash will have to grapple with his need to protect and love Delaney, and his love for the grandparents who saved him and the town he has to leave behind. Jeff Zentner's new novel is a beautiful examination of grief, found family, and young love.

©2021 Jeff Zentner (P)2021 Listening Library

Critic reviews

One of BuzzFeed's 2021 YA Books to Look Forward To

An Amazon Editor’s Pick for Best Young Adult Book of 2021

A Boston Globe Best Book of 2021

One of Publishers Weekly's Best Books of 2021

One of Kirkus Reviews' Best Books of 2021

A New York Times pick for "The 25 Best Children’s Books of 2021"

An ALAN Amelia Elizabeth Walden Book Award Winner!

A Good Morning America YA Summer Beach Read Pick

“A brilliant treasure of a book that holds up a mirror to the best parts of our humanity.”—STARRED REVIEW, Kirkus Reviews

“Notable is the warmth, physical affection, and gentleness between Cash and those he loves, while well-crafted poems throughout, written by Cash as he finds his voice, are evocative and moving, highlighting Zentner’s impressive skill with both poetry and prose.”—STARRED REVIEW, Publishers Weekly

“A wise, gorgeous exploration of loss and survival that will make readers cry. . . . Lyrical and heartbreaking.”—STARRED REVIEW, School Library Journal

Another Zenter masterpiece!

This is possibly Jeff’s best work of fiction to date. It’s a contemporary YA story of the journey of the self where life can hand you times of grief & beautiful moments of love & joy in order to help you along on your way to becoming the person you were meant to be. Jeff captures this in such a way that it’s reminiscent of an artist painting a masterpiece. All the emotions are felt, and the poetry of both the story & created by the main character are music for the heart & soul. While the book is YA, I believe any adult who enjoys realistic fiction would enjoy this book. The voice actor I believe is the one who’s done most of the books by Zentner, & he seems to fit the characters in these books very well. I can almost imagine Jeff having a similar cadence & tone to his own voice. Highly recommend this book & definitely will to all of my students as well as friends who like this genre.

Another Gem by Jeff Zentner

I enjoyed this book immensely. The narration was excellent. The author, Mr. Zentner, is a master story teller. The Serpeant King is also a highly satisfying and inspirational read about young people overcoming huge challenges.

Loved it!!!

The writing is beautiful and poignant. I couldn’t put it down! I will be looking to read more by this author

feelings

brought forward to my mind the memories of my life through the words being spoken

Great listen!! Amazing book accompanied by an amazing voice!! 💛

This book overall is an amazing read and 10 hours goes by like nothing with this book. The story has an amazing start with an introduction of these simple characters soon to be revealed to have a complex background. The story is very quick paced when it needs to be to draw tension yet slow when it needs show the thoughts looming over the main character, Cash. A mass amount of tension grows as a ticking time bomb of a plot grows and builds which draws in the listener. The novel will change your outlook on life as it deals with grief, thoughts of feeling small in a grandiose life, and growth.

The narrator, Michael Crouch, does an AMAZING read of this book, fully bringing in a wide range of characters alive, from simple Tennessee Cash to miss Vi from Brazil. He really knows how to build tension and show life and the absence of it in his voice.

Overall, amazing read 10/10 and worth that one credit!!! 💛🕺

Enjoyable read

I really enjoyed listening to this book. I loved the main characters and loved the side characters. They all had their own little story to tell with so many different backgrounds yet with so much in common. I would listen to this story again.

Worth the credit

I enjoyed the story and looking forward to reading more by their author. Some parts were kinda wordy for me so I skipped over some but I enjoyed the plot characters- I cared for all of them and they were all flushed out perfectly

Such a great read even for YA

beautiful writing. heartfelt story. I loved every minute. The characters felt genuine, not forced. Spoiler: The only part I was a little disappointed in was how Cash and Delaney became romantic. I would have loved if their friendship as it was initially established remained the way it was.

Fabulous Read with Great Characters

Absolutley loved this story! Great characters and a wonderful performance! Another great from this author!

Loved this book so much!

This story is a tale of heartbreak and hope. of resilience, loss and strength. The narrstion is perfect, and the voice performance exceptional.

This would be a perfect gift for young adult readers, age 14 or so, and up.

Perfect in every way!