The Vaster Wilds Audiobook By Lauren Groff cover art

The Vaster Wilds

A Novel

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The Vaster Wilds

By: Lauren Groff
Narrated by: January LaVoy
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Buy for $20.25

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AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2023

NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY NPR, TIME, ESQUIRE, VOGUE, LA TIMES, SLATE, HARPER'S BAZAAR and others

“Part historical, part horror, part breathless thriller, part wilderness survival tale, The Vaster Wilds is a story about the lengths to which we will go to stay alive."—NPR staff pick

“Lauren Groff just reinvented the adventure novel."—Los Angeles Times

“Glorious…surroundings come alive in prose that lives and breathes upon the page." —Boston Globe

A taut and electrifying novel from celebrated bestselling author of Fates and Furies, Matrix, and Brawler, about one spirited girl alone in the wilderness, trying to survive
A servant girl escapes from a colonial settlement in the wilderness. She carries nothing with her but her wits, a few possessions, and the spark of god that burns hot within her. What she finds in this terra incognita is beyond the limits of her imagination and will bend her belief in everything that her own civilization has taught her.

Lauren Groff’s new novel is at once a thrilling adventure story and a penetrating fable about trying to find a new way of living in a world succumbing to the churn of colonialism. The Vaster Wilds is a work of raw and prophetic power that tells the story of America in miniature, through one girl at a hinge point in history, to ask how—and if—we can adapt quickly enough to save ourselves. Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Women's Fiction Survival Wilderness Suspenseful Fiction Scary Heartfelt Inspiring

Dear Listener,

What inspired me to write this story?
"In 2013, I was leafing through the Smithsonian Magazine in some long-forgotten waiting room when I saw a story that caught my eye, and then the whole of my attention. It was a graphic depiction of what the settlers at Jamestown, Virginia—the first permanent English settlement in the New World—suffered through the awful winter of 1609-1610. As a result of the torments of famine, bad water, social strife, a siege by the understandably angry Indigenous people around them, and horrendous illnesses (different poxes and fluxes and fevers), researchers had discovered proof that the settlers resorted to eating fellow humans. This was the first seed of my novel—this all-body horror—and it sat latent in me until at last I understood that I wanted to write a much larger story about survival, religion, nature, god, and ecstasy. It took a decade, but that seed became The Vaster Wild." – Lauren Groff, writer of The Vaster Wilds
Beautiful Prose • Compelling Survival Story • Masterful Narration • Vivid Historical Setting • Poetic Descriptions

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Compelling and deeply moving story, beautifully performed. A true spiritual journey through wilderness told astonishingly in the voice and heart of a small “nothing” girl. Lauren Goff is a master storyteller and gifted writer.

Wow

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Prosaic, absolutely amazing descriptions . Takes you in and keeps you there, you’re breathing and starving along with our heroine. Totally recommend

The lyricism is amazing

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Creativity of thoughts, inspiration of resiliency in facing life’s challenges, and the voice of the young narrator forming a credible, fully-developed, relatable character make this a story worth your time—perhaps worthy of a second encounter especially when coming to grips with your own mortality.

A Tale Beautifully Told

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She is a gifted writer and I thought the story had promise, but it never seemed to go anywhere. I don’t know what the point of it was. Good narration though.

Waiting for something to happen

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This novel is my favorite of 2023. Masterful storytelling through the use of the omniscient narrator, electric prose. A dance. I felt led into the soreness and earth, up into the sky with soaring tension for a view of those nearby, and swept between colonies with researched precision and devout care. I was there - I feel infected and scabbed and like a few teeth just fell out. An epic protagonist taught me to spit in the fire for good luck - Girl? Woman? Mother? Daughter? Human? Mythic folk hero I’m taking with me. THANK YOU

White heat

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