The History of Sound

Stories

By: Ben Shattuck

Narrated by: Ben Shattuck, Zachary Chastain, Paul Mescal, Dion Graham, Ellen Adair, Steven Jay Cohen, Jim Seybert, Dawn Harvey, Chris Cooper, Rebecca Lowman, Jenny Slate, Ed Helms, Nick Offerman

Length: 10 hrs

Publisher's summary

“Exquisitely crafted, deeply imagined, exhilaratingly diverse, The History of Sound places Ben Shattuck firmly among the very finest of our storytellers.”—Geraldine Brooks, New York Times bestselling author of Horse

“A sweeping but intimate feat of scope and imagination.”—The Boston Globe

“Magnificent. . . . Poignant. . . . Exquisite.”—Publishers Weekly

A stunning collection of interconnected stories set in New England, exploring how the past is often misunderstood and how history, family, heartache, and desire can echo over centuries

In twelve luminous stories set across three centuries, The History of Sound examines the unexpected ways the past returns to us and how love and loss are entwined and transformed over generations. In Ben Shattuck's ingenious collection, each story has a companion story, which contains a revelation about the previous, paired story. Mysteries and murders are revealed, history is refracted, and deep emotional connections are woven through characters and families.

The haunting title story recalls the journey of two men who meet around a piano in a smoky, dim bar, only to spend a summer walking the Maine woods collecting folk songs in the shadow of the First World War, forever marked by the odyssey. Decades later, in another story, a woman discovers the wax cylinders recorded that fateful summer while cleaning out her new house in Maine. Shattuck’s inventive, exquisite stories transport listeners from 1700s Nantucket to the contemporary woods of New Hampshire and beyond—into landscapes both enduring and unmistakably modern. Memories, artifacts, paintings, and journals resurface in surprising and poignant ways among evocative beaches, forests, and orchards, revealing the secrets, misunderstandings, and love that linger across centuries.

Written with breathtaking humanity and humor, The History of Sound is a love letter to New England, a radiant conversation between past and present, and a moving meditation on the abiding search for home.

©2024 Ben Shattuck (P)2024 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“The author of Six Walks: In the Footsteps of Henry David Thoreau delivers a collection of interconnected New England stories, spanning multiple centuries and matters of love, death, and history, both personal and national. It’s a sweeping but intimate feat of scope and imagination.”—The Boston Globe

“Intricately structured, powerfully emotional, beautifully written: This is as good as short fiction gets.”—Kirkus Reviews (STARRED review)

“A magnificent collection about love, longing, and New England history. . . . Shattuck shines especially in his depiction of nature. . . . Deeply felt and impeccably researched, these exquisite stories capture the spirit of the Northeast.”—Publishers Weekly