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Title: The Secret Wisdom of the Earth

Author: Christopher Scotton

Narrator: Robert Petkoff

Format: Unabridged

Length: 13 hrs and 32 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-06-15

Publisher: Hachette Audio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 300 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

After witnessing the death of his younger brother in a terrible home accident, 14-year-old Kevin and his grieving mother are sent for the summer to live with Kevin's grandfather. In this peeled-paint coal town deep in Appalachia, Kevin quickly falls in with a half-wild hollow kid named Buzzy Fink who schools him in the mysteries and magnificence of the woods. The events of this fateful summer will affect the entire town of Medgar, Kentucky.

Medgar is beset by a massive Mountaintop Removal operation that is blowing up the hills and back filling the hollows. Kevin's grandfather and others in town attempt to rally the citizens against the "company" and its powerful owner to stop the plunder of their mountain heritage. When Buzzy witnesses the brutal murder of the opposition leader, a sequence is set in play which tests Buzzy and Kevin to their absolute limits in an epic struggle for survival in the Kentucky mountains.

Redemptive and emotionally resonant, The Secret Wisdom of the Earth is narrated by an adult Kevin looking back on the summer when he sloughed the coverings of a boy and took his first faltering steps as a man among a rich cast of characters and an ambitious effort to reclaim a once great community.

Members Reviews:

Wow what a great story

This was well worth the read. I openly laughed, silently wept and felt great joy and pride through Kevin's summer vacation and healing. This will become a must read for my students.

Fantastic coming of age tale.

Great read. I couldn't stop listening. The loss and discovery in this book are tangible.

Beautiful Poingnant thought provoking

I didn't know what to expect with this book and am so glad I decided to give it a listen. This will be one of those books that I will think back on. The characters were so beautifully described both in what they said and did. And the author didn't lay it all out in order. The book switched back and forth which added sweet mystery to the lives of the characters. This is a really good book and I do hope the author keeps up his good work. The narrator also did an excellent job.

Loved it in Spite of...

Some of my favorite novels are those told from the *looking back* POV -- those coming of age stories, retelling of events enlightened by hindsight. From King's The Body, to Twain's The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn, and Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird, when told with skill and sincerity the shared humanity, no matter how diverse, *strikes those familiar chords* in each of us [*paraphrased from author Daniel Woodrell's NY Times review for this book]. In his debut novel, Christopher Scotton shares the tragedy of a family and strikes those chords with a skill that defies the term 'debut novel.'

The plot of this Bildungsroman is complex in that it is set in 1985 and tackles not only the usual companion issues of growing up after tragedy, but also is intertwined with the complexities of social and environmental attitudes. Kevin recalls the summer when after witnessing the horrific death of his 3 yr. old little brother (truly grizzly), the mother is grief stricken and withdraws into a catatonic state. At the urging of the grandfather (Pops) the two retreat to the mother's childhood home, tucked into the Appalachian Mountains, to heal.

Pops is that stalwart of integrity and honor; a hard working veterinarian with a love for the land and its people.