The Removes

A Novel

By: Tatjana Soli

Narrated by: Xe Sands

As the first wave of pioneers travel westward to settle the American frontier, two women discover their inner strength when their lives are irrevocably changed by the hardship of the wild west in The Removes, a historical audiobook from New York Times best-selling and award-winning author Tatjana Soli.

Spanning the years of the first great settlement of the west, The Removes tells the intertwining stories of 15-year-old Anne Cummins, frontierswoman Libbie Custer, and Libbie’s husband, the Civil War hero George Armstrong Custer. When Anne survives a surprise attack on her family’s homestead, she is thrust into a difficult life she never anticipated - living among the Cheyenne as both a captive and, eventually, a member of the tribe. Libbie, too, is thrown into a brutal, unexpected life when she marries Custer. They move out to the territories with the US Army, where Libbie is challenged daily and her worldview expanded: the pampered daughter of a small-town judge, she transforms into a daring camp follower. But when what Anne and Libbie have come to know - self-reliance, freedom, danger - is suddenly altered through tragedy and loss, they realize how indelibly shaped they are by life on the treacherous, extraordinary American plains.

With taut, suspenseful writing, Tatjana Soli tells the exhilarating stories of Libbie and Anne, who have grown like weeds into women unwilling to be restrained by the strictures governing 19th-century society. The Removes is a powerful, transporting audiobook about the addictive intensity and freedom of the American frontier.

©2018 Tatjana Soli (P)2018 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

2019 WILLA Literary Award - Finalist

A moving, lyrical portrayal of a fleeting moment in town

To enjoy this book, you need to be someone who enjoys lyrical storytelling that borders on the edge of poetry. I loved it. I never expected to enjoy the character study of a wholly unlikeable historical figure such as General Custer, but I found myself sympathizing with his stifled ambitions and came to see him as a complex, tortured soul whose choices are largely shaped by the context of his time. Libby’s devotion to him is romantic and maddening. Most interesting are the stories of the captive women struggling to survive life among the Indians, and then readjust to life with the equally hostile whites. This was a beautiful study of a peculiar, seldom explored period of American history.

Custer Massacre

I enjoy learning about G.A. Custer, his hometown is just up the road from mine, so I was excited to hear a new telling about his life.
This book offered nothing new to his legacy, indeed, it tarnished him a bit by viewing him through the eyes of present day morals rather than as a man of his times. I could have forgiven that. What was abhorrent was the narration. The narrator mumbled though this book as if her mouth were filled with rocks. My husband gave up listening it was so amateurish. I soldiered on in the spirit of the general hoping it would improve. It did not. I would not recommend this book to anyone.