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Title: Crowd of Sorrows

Author: Nahid Rachlin

Narrator: Fiona Duval

Format: Unabridged

Length: 2 hrs and 44 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-19-16

Publisher: Audible Studios

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Zora, just separated from her American husband, with a six-year old daughter, Anar, has had a highly unsettled life so far. After her marriage falls apart, she moves with Anar to a row house in Cambridge, MA, that shares a backyard with several young families. She hopes to develop friendships with the other mothers but soon finds that this is not a big, happy family she has moved into. Anxiety over the children and threats to their well-being hang in the air; marital problems surface among the couples. In spite of the transparency of the tenants' activities, as seen through the sliding glass doors opening on the common backyard, hidden and ambiguous aspects permeate the air.

One day Anar disappears; with this shock and its resolution, Zora comes to realize that her search for a place in the world might not yet be over.

Critic Reviews:

"The writing captures the gasping panic...beautifully...a story about the flipside of love: the consuming fear of loss." (Chicago Tribune)

Members Reviews:

Crowd of Sorrows is a quietâbut powerfulâread that pulls readers in and stays with them long after the story's end.

I have been a huge fan of Nahid Rachlin's lovely writing for many years so I was thrilled to purchase Crowd of Sorrows recently and delve in. I instantly bonded with Zora and her plight, and I was so invested in finding out how she and her young daughter weathered the breakup of their family and their shifting reality that I had to finish the story that night. The writing is very direct and honest and even the simplest sentences have much depth and meaning for all they represent. There were so many frustrations, fears, and disappointments that were so well told that they really heightened my personal investment in how things progressed. It is so hard to capture the disintegration of a relationship, yet in all of her books, Rachlin has a real gift for finding those simple details that say so much and this novella was no exception. The rhythm of the book is also gentle and yet pulls readers through from one scene to the next.

The apartment complex where Zora meets so many other families grappling with their own situations seems like it should be a character in its own right. This backdrop helped set the mood and even drove the action as the plot progressed. In the midst of the drama that unfolds around her, I could feel Zora's subtle changes as she comes to terms with her losses and utlimately begins to look forward again. There were so many moments when the story could have felt heavy or hopeless, and yet Zora inner character never falters; it only grows stronger and feels more and more hopeful.

I really loved where the story ended. In fact, I have found myself still thinking about Zora and hoping that there is a sequel in the works... My fingers are crossed... I am sure other readers are also hoping that there will be more! This,is definitely worth the read, as are all of Rachlin's books! I highly recommend â

Poignant and compelling novella

This is a change of venue for Rachlin who has written so beautifully about women in Iran in short stories and novels. Set in contemporary Cambridge, it tells the story of a woman who leaves her marriage to begin a new life as a single parent. She does a wonderful job of expressing the ambivalence and uncertainty that Zora experiences as well as the loneliness that often overtakes her as she tries to react calmly to her daughter's questions about why their life is changing.