Kingdomtide, Rye Curtis
Kingdomtide, Rye Curtis
List: $27.99 | Sale: $19.59
Club: $13.99

Kingdomtide

Author: Rye Curtis

Narrator: Maggi-Meg Reed

Unabridged: 9 hr 18 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 01/14/2020


Synopsis

The lives of two women—the sole survivor of an airplane crash and the troubled park ranger leading the rescue mission—collide in this "gripping," (Vogue) "heart-pounding," (NPR) and "highly original" (LA Times) novel of tough-minded resilience.

Longlisted for the Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize
A New York Times New and Noteworthy Book
An O, The Oprah Magazine Best Book of January

The sole survivor of a plane crash, seventy-two-year-old Cloris Waldrip is lost and alone in the unforgiving wilderness of Montana's rugged Bitterroot Range, exposed to the elements with no tools beyond her wits and ingenuity. Intertwined with her story is Debra Lewis, a park ranger struggling with addiction and a recent divorce who is galvanized by her new mission to find and rescue Cloris.

As Cloris wanders mountain forests and valleys, subsisting on whatever she can scavenge, her hold on life ever more precarious, Ranger Lewis and her motley group of oddball rescuers follow the trail of clues she's left behind. Days stretch into weeks, and hope begins to fade. But with nearly everyone else giving up, Ranger Lewis stays true until the end.

Dramatic and morally complex, Kingdomtide is a story of the decency and surprising resilience of ordinary people faced with extraordinary circumstances. In powerful, exquisite prose, debut novelist Rye Curtis delivers an inspiring account of two unforgettable characters whose heroism reminds us that survival is only the beginning.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Roxane on July 13, 2020

This is two novels in one. One is excellent and one is not. One of those novels, is about an older woman, Cloris who survives a plane crash and spends several months in the woods surviving with the help of a mysterious man who hides his identity for much of the novel. What works about this is that C......more

Goodreads review by Melanie on September 18, 2019

From the description, this sounds very intriguing. An elderly couple take a small airplane ride into the Montana wilderness, but the plane crashes. The woman, Cloris, survives and begins to wander around the mountains. A forest ranger, Deb Lewis, hears about the crash and begins to look for Cloris.......more

Goodreads review by Nursebookie on June 29, 2020

Kingdomtide Rye Curtis’ debut novel, “Kingdomtide,” is such a special story that I loved because of the two protagonists in the story; Clovis Waldrip, the seventy-two-year-old sole survivor of a plane crash that killed her husband of 52 years, and Debra Lewis, a ranger set to find survivor Clovis in......more

Goodreads review by 8stitches 9lives on January 17, 2020

Kingdomtide is an exquisite yet quirky and highly original debut novel which charts the lives of two very different women amongst the wild, remote Bitterroot mountains in Montana in 1986. Seventy-two year old Cloris Waldrip is the sole survivor of a plane crash and is forced to survive on the slimme......more

Goodreads review by Bam cooks the books on February 28, 2020

*3.5 stars rounded up. August 31, 1986: Seventy-two year old Cloris Waldrip and her husband are headed to Missoula, Montana on vacation when the small plane they are flying in crashes in the mountains in the Bitterroot National Forest. Cloris is the sole survivor. 'If you are not a Methodist of a ce......more


Quotes

"Gritty and intense."—O, The Oprah Magazine

"A heart-pounding tale... Riveting and surprising... Kindness helps steer this heartbreaking tale in a heartwarming direction... Rye Curtis keeps us turning pages as Cloris confronts bobcats, hypothermia, starvation, icy inundation, and a strange mountain lion who walks backwards... Predicated on a cataclysmic, life-changing accident, Kingdomtide offers a transportive read... A stirring debut."—Heller McAlpin, NPR

"A startling reversal to the typical survival story... Abounds in homespun sensory detail... Rye Curtis complicates the expected adventure-novel payoff... Cloris's narration grows increasingly vulnerable, surprising, and profound. The wonder of her ordeal has detached her from ordinary cares yet made her ravenously curious about the big, unanswerable questions."—Sam Sacks, Wall Street Journal

"Rye Curtis's debut novel, Kingdomtide, is that rare genre-fluid story that is lovable both because of and despite its surfeit of eccentric, over-the-top characters and moments. Some are gritty and dark, others light and wise; together they create an impressive first book and a highly original tale of adventure and perseverance... Cloris Waldrip is immediately irresistible. Her first-person voice bubbles with a sage vibrancy as well as sometimes laugh-out-loud wit... It's Waldrip who suggests that life stories are shaped by those who live to retell them---something she has done in this narrative with formidable grace... Kingdomtide is a distinctive and inventive story about nonconformity, resilience, and the ways we draw strength from unlikely places."—Janet Kinosian, Los Angeles Times

"Harrowing... In beautiful prose this horrifying and brutal work of art bounces between Cloris's and Debra's narratives. Together, these unforgettable women create a unique literary novel full of suspense and twists... The entire cast of characters is layered and raw... Underneath this gritty and dark tale is the message that sometimes heroism and kindness emerge from those we despise and fear the most."—Tiah Beautement, Sunday Times

"Vivid... an enthralling debut."—The Guardian

"Kingdomtide is a truly spectacular first novel: weird, tender, funny, grotesque--above all, deeply, achingly human. It tugged at my thoughts during the days I spent reading it, and has made for itself a permanent place in my memory."—Jennifer Egan, Pulitzer prize-winning author of Manhattan Beach and A Visit from the Goon Squad

"Rye Curtis's debut novel is an astonishing work. His powerful and convincing characters are at risk in a harsh and beautiful landscape in which the best and worst are revealed, and nothing is as it initially seems. Kingdomtide is at once a page-turner and a meditation on the complexity of the human experience and spirit."—Daniel Woodrell, author of Winter's Bone and The Maid's Version

"An entertaining debut...The characters are appealing (you'll love Cloris) and the story is suspenseful, with a nice touch of humor."—Christina Ianzito, AARP

"An unforgettable experience... The author is an extraordinary writer whose books will surely be eagerly anticipated and welcomed with glee."—C.C. Harrison, New York Journal of Books