Slow Work

By: Tim Farrington

Narrated by: Edison McDaniels

Eli Tremaine has had one great regret in his life. When she walks into his shop one day looking for a grave stone for her daughter, their long buried but unresolved past asserts itself amidst her grief and failing marriage.

Eli, a stone mason, is sure of only one thing, a fundamental truth he has learned working stone: You can spend days or weeks whittling a block down toward the essence of what you want from it and lose it all at the crucial moment by giving in to the temptation of the quick and easy stroke. The way to work with stone is the counterintuitive path of most resistance, the patient grinding at the stone's most unyielding core. It is the slowest way to work, but it is the only way to keep the truth in the stone and not leave it on the floor of the shop.

In this wonderfully contemplative novel, the author of The Monk Downstairs, Tim Farrington, once again uses his formidable powers of prose and his keen knowledge of the human condition to fashion this story of how we fall and get up again. Using the slow work of carving tombstones as a metaphor, he tells the story of two people who have loved each other for most of their lives, but the weight of grief and regret may be too much to overcome the weight of their shared past - and their heartfelt, electric present.

Edison McDaniels’s wonderfully evocative narration brings a further authenticity to the words and is a delight for the listener.

©2018 Tim Farrington (P)2020 Tim Farrington

Working with grief and granite

Beautiful story. Plaintive. Evocative. Softly addresses the near impossibility of working through both grief and granite. The highest compliment I can pay an author is to say the characters stayed with me. I thought of them, and I looked forward to more time with them as the story unfolded. Friendships and family are not easily navigated, and Tim Farrington reaches the heart of it.

Touching and Beautiful

Beautifully written and Narrated! A touching story of loss, hard choices and the complex interpersonal relationships that we sometimes call love.

Slow Work

Excellent book.Moody,lovely,well told. Edison McDaniels was a fine narrator.I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this revie

Emotional. Written by pure talent.

Loved every word of it. The author's words tapped into every profound emotion possible. At times, while listening, I thought of parts of my own life. Especially my later teenage years. The audio narrator is pure talent. One of the best audio books or books I've ever listened to or read. My thanks to both of you for this perfect piece of art!

Slowly Beautiful

This book was a gem. It was real, occasionally heart-wrenching, and beautifully written and narrated. It is not a romance, but it is a love story--a love story between a man and a woman, between parents and children, and an account of a man accepting, with love, his path in life. And the story aside, the book involved exquisite descriptions of the Virginia Beach area that made me want to get in my car and head there immediately. I requested and was given a gift copy of the audiobook in exchange for an objective review, and I'm ever so glad I've become acquainted with this author. I look forward to reading/listening to more of his work.