The Sound of Gravel, Ruth Wariner
The Sound of Gravel, Ruth Wariner
31 Rating(s)
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The Sound of Gravel
A Memoir

Author: Ruth Wariner

Narrator: Ruth Wariner

Unabridged: 9 hr 4 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 01/05/2016


Synopsis

"The narration by Wariner compliments the candid nature of her story...A captivating and emotional story delivered in a straightforward way without an ounce of self-pity." — Library Journal

A riveting, deeply-affecting audiobook memoir of one girl's coming-of-age experiences in a polygamist cult.

Ruth Wariner was the thirty-ninth of her father’s forty-two children. Growing up on a farm in rural Mexico, where authorities turned a blind eye to the practices of her community, Ruth lives in a ramshackle house without indoor plumbing or electricity. At church, preachers teach that God will punish the wicked by destroying the world and that women can only ascend to Heaven by entering into polygamous marriages and giving birth to as many children as possible. After Ruth's father--the man who had been the founding prophet of the colony--is brutally murdered by his brother in a bid for church power, her mother remarries, becoming the second wife of another faithful congregant.

In need of government assistance and supplemental income, Ruth and her siblings are carted back and forth between Mexico and the United States, where her mother collects welfare and her step-father works a variety of odd jobs. Ruth comes to love the time she spends in the States, realizing that perhaps the community into which she was born is not the right one for her. As Ruth begins to doubt her family’s beliefs and question her mother’s choices, she struggles to balance her fierce love for her siblings with her determination to forge a better life for herself.

Recounted from the innocent and hopeful perspective of a child, The Sound of Gravel is the remarkable true story of a girl fighting for peace and love. This is an intimate, gripping audiobook resonant with triumph, courage, and resilience.

About Ruth Wariner

RUTH WARINER lives in Portland, Oregon. After Wariner left Colonia LeBaron, the polygamist Mormon colony where she grew up, she moved to California, where she raised her three youngest sisters. After earning her GED, she put herself through college and graduate school, eventually becoming a high school Spanish teacher. She remains close to her siblings and is happily married. The Sound of Gravel is her first book.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Anna on November 25, 2016

The Sound of Gravel is RIVETING. I read it in two sittings and could hardly put it down until I had read the last page. It was like she was telling my own story, because in many ways she was. We both lived the same deprived childhoods in a polygamist cult that eventually turned violent and deadly. T......more

Goodreads review by Esil on February 27, 2017

Geez Louise! This is a heartbreaking memoir that made me sad and mad over and over again. Ruth Wariner's mother was a member of the LeBaron Mormon fundamentalist church based in Mexico. Ruth was the fourth of 10 children. Her father died when she was a baby, and her mother then became the second wif......more

Goodreads review by Suzanne on February 21, 2017

[URL not allowed] [URL not allowed]-Approve... id you ever wonder about those who were raised in a polygamist community? The Sound of Gravel by Ruth Wariner is a firsthand account of a child growing up in a colony in rural Mexico. Ruth’s father was the founding proph......more

Goodreads review by Heidi on October 22, 2016

The Sound of Gravel is in the running for my favorite book club read this year! (Bull Mountain is the other pick I really enjoyed.) It is Ruth Warnier's memoir about her poverty stricken childhood in a polygamist cult in Mexico, her dysfunctional mother, abusive step-father, and struggle for surviva......more

Goodreads review by Diane on February 17, 2016

Oh good heavens above. I read this book voraciously, ignoring the rest of my life completely. Ruth Wariner's courage is inconceivable. She grew up in a fanatical Mormon polygamist Doomsday cult in Mexico. The hardships (such a lame word for what she endured) were recounted without a single shred of......more


Quotes

"The narration by Wariner compliments the candid nature of her story...A captivation and emotional story delivered in a straightforward way."-Library Journal (Starred Review)

“This audiobook provides a glimpse of Wariner's childhood of food stamps, abuse, and polygamy as well as courage and family. It's a story that will stick with listeners long after the last word.”--AudioFile.com