Back Roads, Tawni ODell
Back Roads, Tawni ODell
List: $22.95 | Sale: $16.07
Club: $11.47

Back Roads

Author: Tawni O’Dell

Narrator: Andrew Eiden

Unabridged: 9 hr 45 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 08/04/2015


Synopsis

Harley Altmyer should be in college drinking Rolling Rock and chasing girls. He should be freed from his closed-minded, stricken coal town, with its lack of jobs and no sense of humor. Instead, he’s constantly reminded of just how messed up his life is.With his mother in jail for killing his abusive father, Harley is an orphan with the responsibilities of an adult and the fiery, aggressive libido of a teenager. Just nineteen years old, he’s marooned in the Pennsylvania backwoods caring for his three younger sisters, whose feelings about him range from stifling dependence to loathing. And once he develops an obsession with the sexy, melancholic mother of two living down the road, those Victoria’s Secret catalogs just won’t do the trick anymore. He wants Callie Mercer so badly he fears he will explode. But it’s the family secrets, the lies, and the unspoken truths that light the fuse and erupt into a series of staggering surprises, leaving what’s left of his family in tatters. Through every ordeal, the unforgettable Harley could never know that his endearing humor, his love for his sisters, and his bumbling heroics would redeem them all.Funny and heartbreaking, Tawni O’Dell’s pitch-perfect characters capture the maddening confusion of adolescence and the prickly nature of family with irony and unerring honesty. Back Roads is a riveting novel by a formidable talent.

About Tawni O’Dell

Tawni O’Dell is the New York Times bestselling author of Sister Mine, Coal Run, and Back Roads, which was an Oprah’s Book Club selection and a Book-of-the-Month Club Main Selection.

About Andrew Eiden

Andrew Eiden is an actor and winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award for narration. He has been acting since the age of four, working at regional theaters, in national commercials, and on numerous television shows.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Jane on September 25, 2010

It’s more about solving a mystery than romance. It didn’t draw me in emotionally as much as I would have liked. It was ok. STORY BRIEF: Leigh was raised by relatives who didn’t want her. They fed and clothed her but gave nothing emotional. She had to work to pay for her own education. She is now sheri......more

Goodreads review by Cheri on June 28, 2018

My 1st book by this author. I liked it. I may go on and read the rest but probably not for awhile. The H was a good guy with many issues caught inside him. The h was the town sheriff who was fighting her own battles as a woman sheriff. Together I though they made a good strong couple. To me the myst......more

Goodreads review by Terri on June 17, 2020

Leigh is 30 and sheriff of a small back roads town. She's feeling invisible and lonely when she meets a stranger in town, Will Scott, and uncharacteristically spends the evening at the fair with him: riding the ferris wheel, playing games, even going in the tunnel of love. When a young woman of the......more

Goodreads review by Mary on April 05, 2024

Good life time story......more

Goodreads review by Michelle on January 02, 2025

Amazing book highly recommend the series......more


Quotes

Back Roads transports us to the hills of western Pennsylvania and introduces a wonderfully touching narrator, Harley Altmyer…This is a fast, furious, funny novel.” Margot Livesey, New York Times bestselling author

“Tense…deftly captures the voice of a teenage boy who’s in trouble.” New York Times Book Review

“O’Dell’s storytelling has natural flair.” Los Angeles Times Book Review

“An intense story of family, frailty, and dysfunction…captivatingly told.” Chicago Tribune

“A page-turner…gritty, funny, sexy.” Chicago Sun-Times

“O’Dell does a wonderful job of making the world of the Altmyers real…a unique voice…a fine effort by a writer of promise.” Newsday

“Poignant…achingly beautiful prose…Remarkable.” San Diego Union

“Do not miss this one.” Mademoiselle

“O’Dell’s scorching tale touches on all the tropes of dysfunctional families, but her characters fight free of stereotypes, taking on an angry, authentic glow.” Publishers Weekly

“The characterizations are vivid, and each family member generates sympathy…An absorbing novel.” Library Journal


Awards

  • Oprah’s Book Club Selection
  • Book-of-the-Month Club Selection