Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

October in the Earth

By: Olivia Hawker
Narrated by: Jackie Zebrowski
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £22.99

Buy Now for £22.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Summary

In Depression-era Kentucky, a defiant wife embarks on an impulsive and liberating journey in a powerful novel by the bestselling author of One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow and The Ragged Edge of Night.

Del Wensley, wife of the most celebrated preacher in Harlan County, tries to mind her place. Until her husband’s infidelity pushes an already strained marriage to a breaking point. Clinging to her last hope for self-respect, Del turns her back on the rigid life she’s known. A coal train is rolling through the valley. With her eyes wide open to the unfamiliar, and to the freedom she craves, Del takes to the rails.

Rumbling across America, Del is soon drawn into a transient community among outcasts—and finds a special friend in Louisa Trout. A nomadic single mother, Louisa teaches Del the ways of the boxcars and promises to help her reach a migrant enclave where Del can learn the skills she’ll need to survive. But as they move forward together under desperate circumstances, even the closest of bonds threatens to break.

With the Depression taking its toll, Del must gather her strength and faith. As she carries on toward one unknown after another, her life becomes a fulfilling, sometimes dangerous, and exhilarating adventure. But no matter the risks, it’s a life that she alone controls.

©2023 Libbie M. Grant writing as Olivia Hawker. (P)2023 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

The Prophet's Wife cover art
Banished cover art
One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow cover art
The Rise of Light cover art
Moonrise over New Jessup cover art
Westward Wanderers: The Complete Trilogy cover art
Buy Destiny a Rose cover art
The Saints of Swallow Hill cover art
The Fire and the Ore cover art
Exit Unicorns cover art
The Ragged Edge of Night cover art
Calamity cover art
The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek cover art
The Village Healer's Book of Cures cover art
A Storm of Infinite Beauty cover art
The Taken Ones cover art

Critic reviews

“Time and place are exceptionally well depicted, and the strong female characters make this a worthy read.”Booklist

“This is a fully realized portrait of an era, as well as of a relationship between two women where no male heroes appear to save anyone.”Historical Novels Review

“Fans of Olivia Hawker will delight in her masterful new novel. October in the Earth is a singular work of art—a testament to unexpected love and resilience during one of America's most challenging eras. Hawker's Dust Bowl heroines rise from their respective ashes, and will captivate readers with their spirited, sweeping journey through a starkly beautiful landscape ravaged by poverty and drought. Moving, lyrical, and completely unforgettable.”—Paulette Kennedy, bestselling author of The Witch of Tin Mountain

What listeners say about October in the Earth

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    3
  • 4 Stars
    2
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    5
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    3
  • 4 Stars
    2
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Strong women inspire me

Book has me reminding myself of good old principles in life. .these women gave up all they had to continue sticking by their principles and not getting controlled luxury.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

The setting of the dust bowl

This story follows a downtrodden wife who finds out her preacher husband is having an affair so she leaves him and becomes a hobo during the dust bowl/depression. While that is the start of the story really this is about 2 women who find themselves together on the railroad, alone and destitute. They travel from place to place looking for work. They struggle for food but eventually they find that they need each other, a human connection, more. In spite of all they endure it’s their friendship that gets them through .
The descriptions of the dust bowl, the loss of crops and the prejudice against hobos is very well done. I recommend.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!