Wisp of a Thing

A Novel of the Tufa, Book 2

By: Alex Bledsoe

Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki

Audie Award Winner, Fantasy, 2014

Alex Bledsoe’s The Hum and the Shiver was named one of the best fiction books of 2011 by Kirkus Reviews. Now Bledsoe returns to the isolated ridges and hollows of the Smoky Mountains to spin an equally enchanting tale of music and magic older than the hills.

Touched by a very public tragedy, musician Rob Quillen comes to Cloud County, Tennessee, in search of a song that might ease his aching heart. All he knows of the mysterious and reclusive Tufa is what he has read on the Internet: They are an enigmatic clan of swarthy, black-haired mountain people whose historical roots are lost in myth and controversy. Some say that when the first white settlers came to the Appalachians centuries ago, they found the Tufa already there. Others hint that Tufa blood brings special gifts.

Rob finds both music and mystery in the mountains: close-lipped locals guard their secrets, even as Rob gets caught up in a subtle power struggle he can’t begin to comprehend. A vacationing wife goes missing, raising suspicions of foul play. And a strange feral girl runs wild in the woods, howling in the night like a lost spirit.

Change is coming to Cloud County, and only the night wind knows what part Rob will play when the last leaf falls from the Widow’s Tree - and a timeless curse must at last be broken.

©2013 Alex Bledsoe; 2013 Blackstone Audio

Original

There are plenty of ‘Fairies in modern times’ books out there these days, but this series takes things in unexpected directions. The story is good, the characters and situations are well thought out, and the reading is excellent.

Unbelievable!

I could not stop listening to this, it was amazing and beautiful! I’d can’t wait to read the rest!

How have I not read these sooner?!?

great series. original urban fantasy (in a back-woods sorta way). Bledsoe doesn't hammer you with the details of the magic system, but rather s/he let's it emerge slowly and organically as s/he tells fantastic interwoven tales of rich characters. it makes think a bit of Winesberg Ohio if Anderson had an inclination for the fey.

Wasn’t That Something?

I’ve not read anything like it. Fanciful and interesting. I could easily follow the story. It was compelling.

Tufa is Colorfully Rich and Deep

I Love this second in the Tufa novels. Wisp of a Thing is written from the perspective of an outsider in the closed and isolated Appalachian community of Needville, Tennessee who, when he first arrives is closed and isolated in his own grief. Music, magic, mystery and ancient Appalachian legends twine through the novel.

I wasn’t disappointed, this novel is better than the first. As colorfully rich, deep and three dimensional as the Richard Dadd oil painting referred to in this story.

Read by one of my favorite narrators Stefan Rudniki with his smooth dark chocolate voice brings this tale alive.