Crown

De: Evanthia Bromiley

Narrado por: Andre Bellido, Helen Laser, Erin Ruth Walker

A suspenseful, lyrical debut novel tracking three days leading up to the eviction of a pregnant single mother and her nine-year-old twins from a trailer park in the American Southwest.

Jude Woods is on the brink of eviction. Pregnant, jobless, and mother to Evan and Virginia, she has three days to box up her family’s life and find a safe place to live. In the Woods’ quiet trailer park, neighbors keep to themselves, but it’s no secret Jude and her twins are in jeopardy—the eviction notice slapped on their front door like a white shout.

When Jude’s contractions flare just as their power is shut off, she rushes to the hospital instructing Evan and Virginia to hide in their car in the surrounding fields. If the children are discovered outside alone, they will be taken from her. Jude labors through the night in a crowded emergency room while the twins, desperate in the heat of the cramped car and spurred by their wild imaginations, strike out along the dangerous riverbank in search of a new home for their growing family. As night hurtles toward the morning lockout, both mother and children reckon with what it means to live and dream in a modern America insistent on slamming doors.

Poetic and distinct, the voices of the three Woods open to a chorus of waitresses and oil men, veterans and graffiti artists as Crown trawls the laundromats, public bus systems, and waiting rooms of a forgotten blue-collar city. In this mesmerizing, singular debut, the tenacious spirit of a young family and their community comes to profound and moving life.

©2025 Evanthia Bromiley (P)2025 Simon & Schuster Audio

Poignant, believable story

Virginia’s contrived voice almost made me give up in the first 10 minutes but I wanted to give the author and characters a chance.
Whoever coached “Virginia” must not know any 8 year old girls. The voice was almost painful each time the narrative went back to Virginia.
For my listening this was a barrier to the character and the story.
For others, it may be nothing.

Stunning Writing, Resonant Performance

Stunning novel; resonant, near perfect audio performance. Crown is an uncommon telling of a too common story of a family trying to create home under the unrelenting consequences of poverty.

Evanthia Bromily’s writing, like Claire Keegan, like Carys Davies in Clear, is transcendent, clear, her lyricism and language evoking poignance, emotion and beauty, power and wonder in clean deft strokes. The distinctive voices of the surreal, tree climbing twins, Virginia and Evan, are full of grace. They live a life striving for balance, turn-taking hands on unflinching awareness and magical escape. Their pregnant mother, Jude, broken and valiant.… you fear for them all, and you desperately want this family to survive.

While the primary characters carry our hearts, the unique secondary characters tether them to this world. The voice actors render the nuance and heart of their characters with poignance. I loved every moment listening, and I have purchased a book because now I must read it for myself.