Legends of the North Cascades

By: Jonathan Evison

Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini

Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award

"Narrator Edoardo Ballerini's clear and evocative delivery of Evison's novel works splendidly." "Ballerini's performance is masterful." -AudioFile Magazine

Dave Cartwright used to be good at a lot of things: good with his hands, good at solving problems, good at staying calm in a crisis. But on the heels of his third tour in Iraq, the fabric of Dave’s life has begun to unravel. Gripped by PTSD, he finds himself losing his home, his wife, his direction. Most days, his love for his seven-year-old daughter, Bella, is the only thing keeping him going. When tragedy strikes, Dave makes a dramatic decision: the two of them will flee their damaged lives, heading off the grid to live in the wilderness of the Pacific Northwest.

As they carve out a home in a cave in that harsh, breathtaking landscape, echoes of its past begin to reach them. Bella retreats into herself, absorbed by visions of a mother and son who lived in the cave thousands of years earlier, at the end of the last ice age. Back in town, Dave and Bella themselves are rapidly becoming the stuff of legend—to all but those who would force them to return home.

As winter sweeps toward the North Cascades, past and present intertwine into a timeless odyssey. Poignant and profound, Legends of the North Cascades brings Jonathan Evison’s trademark vibrant, honest voice to bear on an expansive story that is at once a meditation on the perils of isolation and an exploration of the ways that connection can save us.

©2021 Jonathan Evison (P)2022 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

“Evison’s majestic and panoramic latest conjures the beauty, power, and unforgiving nature of the Cascade Mountains in alternating narratives separated by thousands of years. Evison masterfully delivers a subtle yet pointed commentary on how society marginalizes veterans and how we profess to admire yet distrust the individualist ethos while also offering a profound meditation on the human spirit.” —Booklist, starred review

“Engaging . . . This modern back-to-the-land story feels like John Krakauer’s Into the Wild meets Jean M. Auel’s Clan of the Cave Bear, a combination that makes for a compelling read in its appreciation of the monumental properties of nature and recognition of the history of humans in the North Cascades.” —Library Journal

“Evison (Lawn Boy) delivers an intimate . . . story of grief and parenthood with characters from two distant millennia . . . Evison's empathetic vision offers much to consider about the limits of parental authority and the capacity for both physical and emotional survival.” —Publishers Weekly

Ambitious and hauntingly beautiful.

In the town of Vigilante Falls, WA, Dave Cartwright, also known among the locals as "Cave Dave", and his daughter Bella, are legends. Three tours of Iraq has left Dave traumatized and desillutioned. While struggling to cope and readjust to everyday life in Vigilante Falls Dave's wife dies in a car crash. Stricken by grief and an already waning belief in both his country and society at large, Dave retreats into the Cascades. Against protests from his remaining family Dave even brings Bella and together they set up camp in a cave. The mountains shelter and isolates them. Weeks streatches into months and while Dave slips further away into despair and depression Bella starts having visions of a mother and her child living in the icy mountains during Paleolithic times. These parallel storylines gives the novel a heartbreaking and epic dimention. As Bella and Dave's abandonment of society keeps taking several dramatic turns so does the lives of their prehistoric counterparts.

But underneath the chatter of the townsfolk and Bella's prehistoric visions "Legends of The North Cascades" is a story about love; about the love between parent and child but also the love that has sustained us through history and made it possible for us to withstand, to thrive and to move forward. A beautiful and ambitious novel. Arguebly one of Evison's best - and that's saying a lot!

Beautiful

Ballerini’s performance is wondrous, and the story is achingly beautiful. “The hard truth was that no one was quite as resilient as a child, and no one paid a higher price”

I’m sure I got the quote slightly wrong, but I believe that’s the gist. Just one of many from this book that will stay with me.

Outdoor experience

Loved the sense of the outdoors, the characters juxtaposed through time. I felt the cold, the smell of the cave, the sharp rough rocks, the hopes and dreams.

strange story

“Legends of the North Cascades” is a tragic story of a man who is disillusioned by society. Dave Cartwright served three tours in Iraq right after high school. He was an earnest and dutiful son and student. He excelled in football, feeling that football taught him necessary life skills. He was disappointed when he couldn’t get a football scholarship, so he signed up for the military.

Life hasn’t gone well with Dave. He has a beautiful eight-year-old daughter, Bella from a volatile marriage. As the novel opens, Dave’s wife, Bella’s Mom, just died. Both Dave and Bella are devastated. Dave becomes increasingly frustrated and angry at society. So, he decides to take his daughter and live in the North Cascade mountains, like survivalists.

The story is mostly Dave and Bella’s existence in the mountains. Author Johnathan Evison chose to add an almost time-warp addition by including a story of an ice age native woman who lived in the same area Dave and Bella are in the mountains. It’s odd, and for me distractive.

This is beautifully written. I felt Dave’s depression and Bella’s distance. A reader who loves to read about nature would enjoy this. I found it interesting, but not enough to recommend it.

I listened to the audio which is narrated by Edoardo Ballerini.