Our Souls at Night

Listeners will rejoice that narrator Mark Bramhall returns to narrate Kent Haruf's bittersweet swan song to his beloved town of Holt, Colorado. This short audiobook focuses on the characters Addie Moore and Louis Waters, now in their 70s and living alone, years after their spouses' deaths. Bramhall's soothing cadences and tender tones bring out the full range of emotions experienced by the neighbors as they find a way to mitigate their loneliness while maintaining their dignity and independence. Despite small-town gossip and the reactions of grown children, Addie and Louis want nothing more than to enjoy comfortable companionship through the uncertainties of aging. Bramhall's unhurried performance allows listeners time to absorb the richness of the couple's newfound friendship and the sadness of the roadblocks they're forced to navigate. C.B.L. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine

Starred review from March 2, 2015
Within the first three pages of this gripping and tender novel, Addie Moore, a 70-year-old widow, invites her neighbor, Louis Waters, to sleep over. “No, not sex,” she clarifies. “I’m talking about getting through the night. And lying warm in bed, companionably.” Although Louis is taken off guard, the urgency of Addie’s loneliness does not come across as desperate, and her logic will soon persuade him. She reasons that they’re both alone (Louis’s wife has also been dead for a number of years) and that, simply, “nights are the worst.” What follows is a sweet love story, a deep friendship, and a delightful revival of a life neither of them was expecting, all against the backdrop of a gossiping (and at times disapproving) small town. When Addie’s six-year-old grandson arrives for the summer, Addie and Louis’s relationship is tested but ultimately strengthened. Addie’s adult son’s judgment, however, is not so easily overcome. In this book, Haruf, who died in 2014, returns to the landscape and daily life of Holt County, Colo., where his previous novels (Plainsong, Eventide, The Tie That Binds) have also been set, this time with a stunning sense of all that’s passed and the precious importance of the days that remain.