The Center of Everything, Jamie Harrison
The Center of Everything, Jamie Harrison
List: $19.95 | Sale: $13.97
Club: $9.97

The Center of Everything
A Novel

Author: Jamie Harrison

Narrator: Jane Oppenheimer

Unabridged: 9 hr 56 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 01/12/2021

Synopsis

In this compelling family drama set against the dangerous beauty of the Yellowstone, Polly is still trying to get her life back on track after a recent accident, not always trusting reality.For Polly, the town of Livingston, Montana, is a land charmed by natural beauty and a close network of family extending back generations. But a recent head injury has scattered her perception of the present, surfacing events from thirty years ago and half a country away. As Polly’s relatives arrive for a family reunion during the Fourth of July holiday, a beloved friend goes missing on the Yellowstone River, dredging up difficult memories for a family well acquainted with tragedy.A generational saga from the award-winning author of The Widow Nash, The Center of Everything offers a stunning and heartfelt examination of the deep bonds of family and how the ones we love—and the secrets we keep—echo throughout our lives.

About Jamie Harrison

Jamie Harrison, who has lived in Montana with her family for more than thirty years, has worked as a caterer, a gardener, and an editor. She is the author of five previous novels—the Jules Clement series of mysteries and The Widow Nash, a finalist for the High Plains Book Award and the winner of the Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association Reading the West Book Award. Find out more at JamieHarrisonbooks.com.

About Jane Oppenheimer

Jane Oppenheimer is an experienced narrator, voiceover artist, and actress with a bachelor's degree in theater from Carnegie Mellon University. She has narrated numerous audiobooks and has performed on stage in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Her voiceover work can be heard on commercials as well as corporate campaigns and short documentaries.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Will

Good mothers were rarities, the center of everything.Sometimes the beauty of the written word can make you stop, pause, sigh deeply, and appreciate the moment. I am fortunate to have been able to read and report on many top tier works of fiction. It remains a singular joy to come across written......more

Goodreads review by Barbara (sad about notification changes)

I find the concept of memory fascinating: what one person remembers from an incident versus what another person remembers, especially regarding childhood. Hence I was drawn to Jamie Harrison’s “The Center of Everything” which explores the fragmented mind of the main character, Polly. Polly is recover......more

Goodreads review by Julie

Jamie Harrison's novel The Center of Everything is a sharp and shattering mystery wrapped in the familiar, worn blanket of family and shared history. At the start of summer in 2002, Polly, 42-year-old mother of young Sam and toddler Helen, is recovering from a minor head injury after being hit while......more

Goodreads review by Kasa

The Center of Everything is the kind of multi-generational saga that I no longer read, but I am glad I gave this one a chance. Polly's family history is filled with the usual mix of secrets and love and love and secrets and imbroglios and connections, and references so fleeting you might just miss t......more

Quotes

“This gorgeous novel is well worth your time.” People

“A meticulously crafted, graceful novel.” O, The Oprah Magazine

“[A] wonderful cast of interesting characters…Harrison’s novel takes the unreliable narrator to a whole new place: in short, to the center of everything.” Washington Post

“Gorgeous…Harrison’s writing is as lush as the landscapes themselves.” San Francisco Chronicle

“Harrison has created a world so total, so real, so personal, that the reader, on finishing it, is missing it already.” Washington Independent Review of Books

“A sharply intelligent, warmhearted embrace of human imperfection—the kind of book that invites a second reading.” Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Jane Oppenheimer’s narration is thoughtful and appropriate in this story about memories and family…Oppenheimer adds just enough nuance to give all the characters clear voices.” AudioFile

“A redemptive and hopeful novel guided by earthy, reliable men, women and children who inspire and encourage.” BookPage

“This doesn’t feel like a work of fiction. It feels real, like reading someone’s diary…A brilliant book.” Jamie Ford, New York Times bestselling author

“The Center of Everything is a bighearted, feet-on-the-ground, bracing, intelligent book. Its people will endure in readers’ memories, page after compelling page.” Thomas McGuane, author of Ninety-Two in the Shade

Awards

  • People Magazine Pick
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