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The Shepherd's Life
- Modern Dispatches from an Ancient Landscape
- Narrated by: Bryan Dick
- Length: 7 hrs and 34 mins
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Publisher's summary
The instant number-one international best seller.
Some people's lives are entirely their own creations. James Rebanks' isn't. He's the first son of a shepherd who was the first son of a shepherd himself; his family have lived and worked in the Lake District of Northern England for generations, further back than recorded history. It's a part of the world known mainly for its romantic descriptions by Wordsworth and the much-loved illustrated children's books of Beatrix Potter.
But James' world is quite different. His way of life is ordered by the seasons and the work they demand. It hasn't changed for hundreds of years: sending the sheep to the fells in the summer and making the hay; the autumn fairs where the flocks are replenished; the grueling toil of winter when the sheep must be kept alive, and the lightheadedness that comes with spring, as the lambs are born and the sheep get ready to return to the hills and valleys.
The Shepherd's Life is the story of a deep-rooted attachment to place, modern dispatches from an ancient landscape that describe a way of life that is little noticed and yet has profoundly shaped the landscape over time. In evocative and lucid prose, James Rebanks takes us through a shepherd's year, offering a unique account of rural life and a fundamental connection with the land that most of us have lost. It is a story of working lives, the people around him, his childhood, his parents and grandparents, a people who exist and endure even as the culture - of the Lake District and of farming - changes around them. Many memoirs are of people working desperately hard to leave a place. This is the story of someone trying desperately hard to stay.
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We Must Be Brave
- By: Frances Liardet
- Narrated by: Jayne Entwistle, Juliet Mills
- Length: 16 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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December 1940. As German bombs fall on Southampton, England, the city's residents flee to the surrounding villages. In Upton village, amid the chaos, newly married Ellen Parr finds a girl asleep, unclaimed at the back of an empty bus. Little Pamela, it seems, is entirely alone. Ellen has always believed she does not want children, but when she takes Pamela into her home, the child cracks open the past Ellen thought she had escaped and the future she and her husband, Selwyn, had dreamed for themselves. As the war rages on, love grows where it was least expected, surprising them all.
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Nasty reviews, why? Beautiful book.
- By Kelly on 11-27-19
By: Frances Liardet
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Out of Many, One
- Portraits of America's Immigrants
- By: George W. Bush
- Narrated by: George W. Bush
- Length: 6 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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The issue of immigration stirs intense emotions today, as it has throughout much of American history. But what gets lost in the debates about policy are the stories of immigrants themselves, the people who are drawn to America by its promise of economic opportunity and political and religious freedom - and who strengthen our nation in countless ways. Out of Many, One brings together 43 full-color portraits of men and women who have immigrated to the United States, alongside stirring stories of the unique ways all of them are pursuing the American dream.
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Beautiful book filled with emotion
- By Jacob E. Cowe on 04-24-21
By: George W. Bush
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The Songs of Trees
- Stories from Nature's Great Connectors
- By: David George Haskell
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell, David George Haskell
- Length: 10 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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David Haskell's award-winning The Forest Unseen won acclaim for eloquent writing and deep engagement with the natural world. Now, Haskell brings his powers of observation to the biological networks that surround all species, including humans. Haskell repeatedly visits a dozen trees around the world, exploring the trees' connections with webs of fungi, bacterial communities, cooperative and destructive animals, and other plants.
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An Interwoven Story
- By Lauren on 08-10-18
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Where the Water Goes
- Life and Death Along the Colorado River
- By: David Owen
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 9 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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The Colorado River is an essential resource for a surprisingly large part of the United States, and every gallon that flows down it is owned or claimed by someone. David Owen traces all that water from the Colorado’s headwaters to its parched terminus, once a verdant wetland but now a million-acre desert. He takes listeners on an adventure downriver, along a labyrinth of waterways, reservoirs, power plants, farms, fracking sites, ghost towns, and RV parks, to the spot near the US-Mexico border where the river runs dry.
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Water issues are never about only water.
- By Bonny on 08-20-17
By: David Owen
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Where I Come From
- Stories from the Deep South
- By: Rick Bragg
- Narrated by: Rick Bragg
- Length: 7 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Celebrated author and newspaper columnist Rick Bragg brings us an ode to the stories and history of the Deep South, filled with “eclectic nuggets about places and people he knows well” (USA Today) and written with honesty, wit, and deep affection. A collection of wide-ranging and endearingly personal columns — from Bragg’s love of Tupperware (his mother preferred margarine tubs and thought Tupperware was “just showing off”) to the decline of country music, from the legacy of Harper Lee to the metamorphosis of the pickup truck.
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Great writing as usual
- By Tina on 10-30-20
By: Rick Bragg
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And Then You're Dead
- What Really Happens If You Get Swallowed by a Whale, Are Shot from a Cannon, or Go Barreling over Niagara
- By: Cody Cassidy, Paul Doherty
- Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris
- Length: 4 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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A gleefully gruesome look at the actual science behind the most outlandish, cartoonish, and impossible deaths you can imagine. What would happen if you took a swim outside a deep-sea submarine wearing only a swimsuit? How long could you last if you stood on the surface of the sun? How far could you actually get in digging a hole to China? Paul Doherty, senior staff scientist at San Francisco's famed Exploratorium Museum, and writer Cody Cassidy explore the real science behind these and other fantastical scenarios.
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perfect for a precocious 9 year old boy
- By Kerith Strano Taylor on 05-15-17
By: Cody Cassidy, and others
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The Hardest Place
- The American Military Adrift in Afghanistan's Pech Valley
- By: Wesley Morgan
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 21 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Of the many battlefields on which U.S. troops and intelligence operatives fought in Afghanistan, one remote corner of the country stands as a microcosm of the American campaign: the Pech and its tributary valleys in Kunar and Nuristan. The area’s rugged, steep terrain and thick forests made it a natural hiding spot for local insurgents and international terrorists alike, and it came to represent both the valor and futility of America’s two-decade-long Afghan war.
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A walk through time
- By Brandon Kennedy on 04-12-21
By: Wesley Morgan
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The Mystery of the Exploding Teeth
- And Other Curiosities from the History of Medicine
- By: Thomas Morris
- Narrated by: Thomas Morris, Ruper Farley
- Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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A puzzling series of dental explosions beginning in the 19th century is just one of many strange tales that have long lain undiscovered in the pages of old medical journals. Award-winning medical historian Thomas Morris delivers one of the most remarkable, cringe-inducing collections of stories ever assembled.
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Boring Toilet Humor
- By Nemo on 01-30-20
By: Thomas Morris
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I Have Something to Tell You
- A Memoir
- By: Chasten Buttigieg
- Narrated by: Chasten Buttigieg
- Length: 7 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Throughout the past year, teacher Chasten Glezman Buttigieg has emerged on the national stage, having left his classroom in South Bend, Indiana, to travel cross-country in support of his husband, former mayor Pete Buttigieg, and Pete's groundbreaking presidential campaign. Through Chasten's joyful, witty social media posts, the public gained a behind-the-scenes look at his life with Pete on the trail - moments that might have ranged from the mundane to the surprising, but that were always heartfelt.
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A common yet inspiring and hopeful story
- By Steph on 09-03-20
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The Farmer's Wife
- My Life in Days
- By: Helen Rebanks
- Narrated by: Esmée Cook, Helen Rebanks
- Length: 8 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Helen Rebanks’s beautifully written memoir takes place across a single day on her working farm in the Lake District of England. Weaving past and present, through a journey of self-discovery, the book takes us from the farmhouse table of her grandmother and into the home she now shares with her husband, four kids, and an abundance of animals. Helen shares, with rare truthfulness, her life in days, sometimes a wonder and a joy but others a grind to be survived. It’s a story about food and love; the need we all have for simple, honest, nourishing dishes and relationships.
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Vivid Explanation
- By Frank Vassell on 11-27-23
By: Helen Rebanks
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The Buried
- An Archaeology of the Egyptian Revolution
- By: Peter Hessler
- Narrated by: Peter Hessler
- Length: 16 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Drawn by a fascination with Egypt's rich history and culture, Peter Hessler moved with his wife and twin daughters to Cairo in 2011. He wanted to learn Arabic, explore Cairo's neighborhoods, and visit the legendary archaeological digs of Upper Egypt. After his years of covering China for The New Yorker, friends warned him Egypt would be a much quieter place. But not long before he arrived, the Egyptian Arab Spring had begun, and now the country was in chaos.
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A Fascinating, Funny, and Moving Account of Egypt
- By Jefferson on 07-23-19
By: Peter Hessler
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Stampede
- Gold Fever and Disaster in the Klondike
- By: Brian Castner
- Narrated by: Brian Castner
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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A gripping and wholly original account of the epic human tragedy that was the great Klondike Gold Rush of 1897-98. One hundred thousand men and women rushed heedlessly north to make their fortunes; very few did, but many thousands of them died in the attempt. The unvarnished tale of this mass migration is always striking, revealing the amazing truth of what people will do for a chance to be rich.
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Get-Rich-Quick Schemes Still Don't Work
- By Renee Quistorf on 10-29-21
By: Brian Castner
What listeners say about The Shepherd's Life
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Classical Mom
- 02-15-22
Beautiful story
Very moving, beautiful story. It was a privilege to hear about this man’s life and land and loves.
And the reader was fantastic.
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- L.J. B.
- 11-08-22
Beautiful
Thank you for a perfectly read insight into a shepherd’s life revealing the intimate and intelligent bond between humans, sheep, dogs, and seasons.
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- Amazon Customer
- 03-14-17
Amazing documentary of a way of life rapidly disappearing
It was like walking in the hills, laying on the grass, observing the beautiful landscape. It was beautifully narrated. I am hoping the author writes another specifically on sheep farming including raising, breeding and doctoring. Covers superficially sheep farming more in a romantic anecdotal way, but very knowledgeable of the old way of doing things, I am very interested on learning such ways before they are lost.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Stephen York
- 08-21-21
Excellent!
This is a dynamic book written in in the spirit of Wendell Berry. Highly recommended!
Dr. Stephen York
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- Elizabeth Trail
- 10-09-22
Deserves TEN stars
I'm on my third listen and still discovering profound new insights. I need to own this book in print -- and I don't say that often.
Memoir is my favorite genre, so sheep and sheepdogs and the Lake District sounded perfect -- James Herriot from the farmer's point of view. But as someone who lives in and loves my own rural place, without being truly "hefted" here (you'll understand when you've listened to the book), I was immediately caught up in James Rebank's central question -- how different groups of people develop a sense of "ownership" of a place, a landscape, based on their own expectations and experiences there. The 18th and 19th century artists and poets romanticized the Lake District. Hikers and tourists have made it their own. Teachers (at least the ones Rebanks encountered at the local comprehensive in his day), counted their successes as the students who escaped to other places. And yet, the Lake District is a working landscape -- created by centuries of farmers and livestock interacting with the land. So if there is a question of who holds claim to the "real" Lake District (and sometimes there is), Rebanks argues persuasively that title goes to the forgotten centuries of nameless farmers and shepherds, who cleared the fields, planted the hedgerows, and patiently built and rebuilt the endless miles of stone walls, a few feet every year.
The autobiography and the sheep stories are just the backdrop of a profound and multifaceted consideration of place, community, and what constitutes a life worth living. The story of how the author went from dropout to Oxford would be fascinating if he was at all impressed. He's not. The main thing he got from university, from his point of view, was the ability to earn enough money to keep his farm going another generation. And yet, how much of his keen awareness of the forces brought to bear on his beloved way of life does he owe to his education?
Anyway, an amazing book. The narrator does just what he should -- reads well and convincingly, and stays out of the way of the story.
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- the Shepherdess
- 12-11-15
Not to be missed.
As an American shepherdess, I found so much to identify with while listening to this story. I found much truth about this way of life told with almost unbearable insight. For anyone wishing to better understand why some of us cherish this vocation, they can not do better than to read or listen to this book. Well done you, Mr. Rebanks.
And a tip of the hat to Bryan Dick for the reading.
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5 people found this helpful
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- sarah clayton
- 08-18-21
BRYAN DICK BRINGS THIS BOOK ALIVE
Bryan Dick's narration of this book brought it alive and made it a delightful listen. I've recommended it to all my family.
Sarah
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- Elizabeth
- 12-31-21
Absolutely loved it!
It’s erudite, heartfelt and simply wonderful. A man growing from young adult to manhood and reclaiming his roots in his love of the land and his sheep. How much I can share his feeling about his his sheep and land. I once had a small flock of Shetland sheep, another one of those unimproved breeds. I miss them so much but had to give them up for my health. Every thing James Rebanks writes about being a shepherd is true. And one can’t help but love sheep. I always loved the way they smelled - the predominant odor is lanolin, except during breeding time when the males take on their must smell. This is just a wonderful narrative.
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- Suzanne C.
- 12-29-22
Surprisingly good
It was both a restful and stimulating read. It made one feel as though he were there,
observing and even experiencing the life of a shepherd.
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- anonymous
- 06-05-19
A Glimpse into a Different World
I so enjoyed this book. I initially picked it up because I am a passionate knitter and was interested in learning a little about the life of people involved in the wool world. While these particular sheep are not raised for their wool, tending them is probably similar to that of the wool producing type. I could not believe how difficult a life a shepherd leads. The commitment is year round and intense. I have gained a new respect for the whole industry and all its perils. The book is also beautifully written and the narrator excellent.
Thank you, James Rebanks!
Barbara Lankler
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4 people found this helpful