Whisper to the Wind

By: Marianne K. Martin

Narrated by: Abby Craden

Trailblazing author, Marianne K. Martin asks, "How much are you willing to sacrifice to protect your students and the woman you love?" in this powerful and timely novel.

Johanna Beals decided sixteen years ago to sacrifice everything to raise her daughter Kayla as a single mother. She knew it was the right decision even when it led to lonely nights and broken relationships, and even when adolescent secrets challenged their mother/daughter bond. But the decision to go it alone seems easy compared to the one she is about to face.

Secrets and bouts of teenage angst don't only challenge parents. English teacher, Miya James, has dealt with her fair share of them over the years. But Kayla Beals seems to be whispering to the wind, an act that stirs uncomfortable memories of Miya's fractured childhood. As the school year progresses, she finds she wasn't prepared for this student, for her mother, or for the sparks that add fuel to the teeming atmosphere of unrest, bullying, and homophobia that leaves her school district grappling with life-changing decisions for everyone involved.

©2024 Marianne K. Martin (P)2025 Tantor Media

A Timely, Poignant Story That Affects & Resonates

THIS story couldn't come at a better time as we seem to be "regressing" after a few wonderful years of LGBTQ+ support, acceptance (majority of the US supports it), same-sex marriage legality nationwide, removal of DADT and apology/compensation, more LGBTQ+ rights incl trans rights, etc. Now, we seem to be back to this feeling of dread, wariness, and god forbid, fear! *sigh* Can't say I'm surprised, though. We live in a matrix where it is programmed to function in duality, in pendular cycles, in a revolving door system. Taking turns. Reckon it's time the other side takes over now after some years of being on the side of positivity, love, hope, joy for LGBTQ+ rights.... and other civil/social rights, for that matter.

So, when I found out that legendary Marianne K. Martin, who hadn't released any book (as far as I knew) for a good many years, recently came out from "sabbatical" (?) with her latest lesfic piece that showcased this particularly realistic, timely, resonating subject matter, I knew it was going to be visceral, gut-wrenching, heartfelt and affecting. If you've read her classic (timeless) stories, "Legacy of Love," and "Love in the Balance," you'll know that Martin excels in telling the very story that affects us in the community with writing that stays with you long after you've read it....and even LONGER after you've listened to the incomparable Abby Craden performing and bringing the characters to ever-realistic, heartbreaking life. Craden just elevates Martin's intellectual, literary presentation in human story form to new heights of emotional effect. Her incredible instinct in interpreting Martin's storytelling intent and state of mind effectively captures the human condition in whatever situation and environment the story throw at her with only her voice. A voice that produces extraordinary vocal artistry, to say the least. Bravo and well done again, Ms. Craden. And Ms. Martin, thank you for telling this seemingly timeless story that unfortunately still haunts us TODAY, in THIS day and age, in the 21st century (FFS!). Honestly.

This story is so effectively raw and grounded in realism for me mainly because, I believe, it's told by a teacher of the public school system, someone who knows about the academic, social, environmental, political, personal aspects and implications of what it means to be an educator in a system that doesn't always support those who need it, be it the student or the teacher. Many an instance, we hear about the political and, dare I say, religious influence of decision-making within the school council or admin. Bullying, homophobia, racism, bigotry, and, omg, BOOK BANNING!! “Fahrenheit 451,” much?! Don’t laugh. The possibility of the movie’s theme becoming a terrifying reality is only a mere verbal claim away, i.e. “indecency” or ever-damaging, “these books are harmful to our children!” from a parent, which will definitely bring the entire panicked school board to its knees. Such social injustice doesn't seem to go away decade after decade, century after century. It's as though they exist as a necessity when exploring the whole spectrum of what we call, the human experience, I suppose. I could go on and on and churn out a well-researched, well-analysed thesis about this but this is not the place, obvs. Anyway, I digress…

If you read Martin’s classics (it’s like a rite of passage to read these - Legacy of Love, Love in the Balance), you’d know that she paces her stories like they’re in real-time, making them grounded in realism. At least that’s how I see it. Martin writes with purpose, conviction and always with a message, a social commentary, about issues that are clearly near and dear to her heart, incidentally to a lot of us too. The most affectingly memorable moment for me was in the third act, when everything came to a head with Miya, the model teacher with a passion for her profession and love/care for her students, with every single repugnantly predictable occurrence, consequence, thrown at her, physically, emotionally, mentally, which Martin deftly crafted (personified to eerie effect by Craden). Reading (and listening to) every escalating moment was like a gut-punch to my soul. Karmic trauma trigger (don't ask!).

“Whisper to the Wind” - oh, what a poetic title it is! How appropriate. How symbolic. How haunting. So relevant are these issues that we’re having to once again endure today due to the recent political event that had sent ripples to the fabric of society where the consequences may affect our very identity, our way of life, our lives. Despite these bleak issues that make up Martin’s story, the genius of her story-weaving is that by the end of it, we're reminded that there's always this sense of hope and love that's always there hiding in plain sight, waiting for the appropriate time to show its glory when called for! Where there’s darkness, there’s light. Where there’s hate, there’s also unconditional love. In the midst of ugliness and decay in humanity, there emerges the powerful resilience of the human spirit. And the best thing about “Whisper..” is that Martin’s conviction in highlighting these issues that have been plaguing us forever through a heartfelt love story between a teacher and a parent is further reverberated by Craden's captivating performance!

Read Martin’s words. Listen to Craden’s vocal performance.

Passion Personified

I’ve had to sit with my feelings for this story for a while. I was sometimes hard to listen to because of the bullying and homophobia. The passion of the young people and some of the adults to stand up made it more powerful. Abby Craden was excellent as always. Too bad they don’t have academy awards for audiobooks. This would deserve one for story and narration.

Excellent book

As a teacher, I am glad to read a book about dedicated teacher, you don’t find many of those. Abby Craden is an excellent narrator, but she gave a 16 YO young woman a very childish voice, I didn’t like it…

Heart felt and a well written true to life story

This story was extremely moving given the subject matter. In my 65 years this story unfortunately is still relative today. History has not been able to break this devastating cycle of behavior. I hope for the future, but the current political cycle of hate and ignorance may still prevail in the future, but this story needed to be told. The author did an extremely brilliant job, as in all her writings.