The Caretaker

A Novel

By: Ron Rash

Narrated by: James Patrick Cronin

Length: 6 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

ONE OF THE NEW YORKER'S BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR • Told against the backdrop of the Korean War as a small Appalachian town sends its sons to battle, The Caretaker by award-winning author Ron Rash ("One of the great American authors at work today"—The New York Times) is a breathtaking love story and a searing examination of the acts we seek to justify in the name of duty, family, honor, and love.

It’s 1951 in Blowing Rock, North Carolina. Blackburn Gant, his life irrevocably altered by a childhood case of polio, seems condemned to spend his life among the dead as the sole caretaker of a hilltop cemetery. It suits his withdrawn personality, and the inexplicable occurrences that happen from time to time rattle him less than interaction with the living. But when his best and only friend, the kind but impulsive Jacob Hampton, is conscripted to serve overseas, Blackburn is charged with caring for Jacob’s wife, Naomi, as well.

Sixteen-year-old Naomi Clarke is an outcast in Blowing Rock, an outsider, poor and uneducated, who works as a seasonal maid in the town’s most elegant hotel. When Naomi eloped with Jacob a few months after her arrival, the marriage scandalized the community, most of all his wealthy parents who disinherited him. Shunned by the townsfolk for their differences and equally fearful that Jacob may never come home, Blackburn and Naomi grow closer and closer until a shattering development derails numerous lives.

A tender examination of male friendship and rivalry as well as a riveting, compelling novel of familial devotion, The Caretaker brilliantly depicts the human capacity for delusion and destruction all too often justified as acts of love.

©2023 Ron Rash (P)2023 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“With each Ron Rash story, you expect flawed people trying desperately to survive against the odds, and a rich sense of place, and images that linger, and beautiful language that you catch yourself reading over and over. What you don’t always expect is a wicked plot. The Caretaker delivers all of the above in a story that becomes a race to the finish.” —John Grisham

“With pulsing drama from the outset, The Caretaker can be hard to put down from one chapter to the next. Rash’s touch depicting the early 1950s in Appalachia also makes turning pages a pleasure. [The Caretaker] is crafted with the closely observed descriptions of Appalachian life that have marked [Rash’s] career. . . Rash has conjured a kind of rough-hewn Americana with his prose. He may be regionally focused in his fiction, but his works tap deep veins of human nature and national strife.” —The Associated Press

“Potent and rewarding. . . Rash expertly and seamlessly ratchets up the suspense and melodrama. . . The lyrically nuanced prose faithfully evokes the Appalachian landscape, and Rash again showcases an ability to dig beneath the surface of his characters to expose their base desires and intentions. This is exactly the kind of humanitarian storytelling that fans have come to expect and savor from him.” —Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

The main reason to listen to audible

Some books take a while to settle into. But The Caretaker grabs you and you are completely immersed in the story. Ron Rash is such a talented writer. I’m am so sad to finish this book. I’ll be dwelling on it for days. Then I’ll listen again, make sure I didn’t miss a single word.

The depth of the characters

I thought of so many possible endings and kept changing my mind about what would happen. Couldn’t put it down. Great read!

Great Knowledge of Area

Well written and performed. Believable. Well developed characters.Nice writing style. Engaging. Simple yet well rounded.

Deception at its best

Good story. Kept moving characters well written. You develop a love hate relationship with family members.

Beautiful story

A delightful way to spend an afternoon. So well written with characters you want to know.

Excellent listening

Ron Rash knows how to create a time and a place and write about betrayal. The narrator does a fabulous job with the material. Loved this audio book.

I hope I live long enough to listen to another Ron Rash novel.

I love the craftsmanship of weaving the historical context into the plot. Ron Rash is an American treasure but I can’t help but think that Pat Conroy died with an unfinished book that his fans were longingly anticipating. That said I’ll patiently wait for the next one, reading and rereading the best book of poetry ever written. Waking by Ron Rash. I’d pay to hear him read this book of poetry.

Excellent story..!

I had to listen to it in 2 nights, only bc I started too late the first night to sit n hear the whole thing in one sitting.
Unreal the things people will do to get what they want, but such bad decision making never works out, always backfires...

shared love

loved the location ,story and plot. characters seemed believable and real. with good nature descriptions

Ron Rash delivers again

Ron Rash is a masterful storyteller and this book continues his tradition. The book is vexing in some of the characters actions but always believable