Shadows on the Rock

By: Willa Cather

Narrated by: Ann Marie Lee

Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

"Superbly written, with that sensitivity to sunset and afterglow that has always been Miss Cather's." (The New York Times)

Willa Cather wrote Shadows on the Rock immediately after her historical masterpiece, Death Comes for the Archbishop. Like its predecessor, this novel of 17th-century Quebec is a luminous evocation of North American origins and of the men and women who struggled to adapt to that new world even as they clung to the artifacts and manners of one they left behind.

In 1697 Quebec is an island of French civilization perched on a bare gray rock amid a wilderness of trackless forests. For many of its settlers, Quebec is a place of exile, so remote that an entire winter passes without a word from home. But to 12-year-old Cécile Auclair, the rock is home, where even the formidable Governor Frontenac entertains children in his palace and beavers lie beside the lambs in a Christmas créche. As Cather follows this devout and resourceful child over the course of a year, she re-creates the continent as it must have appeared to its first European inhabitants. And she gives us a spellbinding work of historical fiction in which great events occur first as rumors and then as legends - and in which even the most intimate domestic scenes are suffused with a sense of wonder.

©2016 Willa Cather (P)2016 Random House Audio

Beautiful Quebec

Another magnificent novel by Willa Cather about the settlement of a new frontier told in the stories of it's complex characters.

History lesson!

This was such a good glimpse into the past. I loved the way the author saw it thru the eyes of the characters. I truly believe the trials they went thru moulded our country!

Mesmerizing

An extraordinarily beautiful depiction of life in Quebec during the 17th century. The infusion of Catholic practice and traditions into the story warmed my heart like the blazing fires that warmed the humble homes of those hardy Canadian colonists. Outstanding narration.

wonderful

The narration of this beautiful historical novel was one of the best I have ever heard.

The reader failed...

I love Willa Cather and this book was very interesting but the reader was dreadful. Her presentation was juvenile and her pronunciation of both English and French words was awful.

Great Read!

Having absolutely adored Cather's "Death Comes for the Archbishop," I was beyond excited to start "Shadows on the Rock." For those readers and listeners that might be in the same shoes as me, be prepared for a much different story, but told with the same artistic prose and raw human emotion as the first.

If you don't speak French, you might find this story a 4/5, as I did. For the fluent, I am sure this story is charming, heart-warming, and brings your soul to admire the sinners and saints of yore, and how much we had in common with them, even if fictional characters.

Quintessential Willa Cather

This quintessential Willa Cather story weaves and wonderful narrative history, fictionalized, of the early years of Quebec. A very fine piece of literature and thoroughly enjoyable read.

her descriptions of another time and place

her descriptions of another time and place and pace of life. her soothing, enjoyable writing was done well by the narrator.

Wonderfully descriptive

The descriptions were so clear I could imagine I was there. I enjoyed the narrator’s inflection and easy to follow tone.

Fabulous reading on trip to Quebec City

Engaging story with interesting historical base. Liked the narrator. Holds up well overall. Appreciation of herbal and other skills and traditions of native peoples, but some problematic dated derogatory references.