Damnation Spring

By: Ash Davidson

Narrated by: CJ Wilson, Rebecca Lowman, Mark Sanderlin, Candace Thaxton

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

Named a Best Book of 2021 by Newsweek, the San Francisco Chronicle, The Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times

“A glorious book—an assured novel that’s gorgeously told.” —The New York Times Book Review
“An incredibly moving epic about an unforgettable family.” —CBS Sunday Morning
“[An] absorbing novel…I felt both grateful to have known these people and bereft at the prospect of leaving them behind.” —The Washington Post

A stunning novel about love, work, and marriage that asks how far one family and one community will go to protect their future.

Colleen and Rich Gundersen are raising their young son, Chub, on the rugged California coast. It’s 1977, and life in this Pacific Northwest logging town isn’t what it used to be. For generations, the community has lived and breathed timber; now that way of life is threatened.

Colleen is an amateur midwife. Rich is a tree-topper. It’s a dangerous job that requires him to scale trees hundreds of feet tall—a job that both his father and grandfather died doing. Colleen and Rich want a better life for their son—and they take steps to assure their future. Rich secretly spends their savings on a swath of ancient redwoods. But when Colleen, grieving the loss of a recent pregnancy and desperate to have a second child, challenges the logging company’s use of the herbicides she believes are responsible for the many miscarriages in the community, Colleen and Rich find themselves on opposite sides of a budding conflict. As tensions in the town rise, they threaten the very thing the Gundersens are trying to protect: their family.

Told in prose as clear as a spring-fed creek, Damnation Spring is an intimate, compassionate portrait of a family whose bonds are tested and a community clinging to a vanishing way of life. An extraordinary story of the transcendent, enduring power of love—between husband and wife, mother and child, and longtime neighbors. An essential novel for our times.

A wonderful story beginning to end.

Just read this book. There are no words I can write to do it justice. You just have to read it yourself.

You don’t find a lot of books like this.

The ending left me with mixed feelings. I wasn’t totally on board with the route she chose BUT I respect the choice; Taken as a whole, this was a damn good book.

I’ve been scouring a lot of environmental fiction lately, and ‘damnation spring’ has been one of my clear favorites (alongside ‘bewilderment’ and ‘American War’). Lots of great authors have taken a shot at apocalyptic (or at the very least dystopian) cli-fi. ‘Damnation Spring’ is far more grounded.

It’s about environmental protection and a toxic torts case straight out of ‘Dark Waters’, but it’s also about family, work, and the struggle to leave a better life for your children. I loved the plot; I loved the setting; I love the characters even more. This was the book I was looking for when I bought ‘Migrations.’ Now, it’s my new gold standard.

24/7….

Is how I wanted to listen to this book, it was so good!
It was a novel about family - the goods and the bads. Of remaining family, even in the worst.
An awesome book, well written.

Beautiful

Beautiful tragic story of survival and perseverance. I didn’t want it to end. Love wins.

The ending redeemed it

Ok, let me explain…. I liked the story, with its strong message of environmentalism counter-pointed with the lives of lumbermen who depend on logging for a living. But the drawback was the amount of detail of logging procedure, and some secondary characters that didn’t add to the story. But this is also a love story, and that is what elevated the entire book, especially the ending. Definitely heartbreaking, but somehow uplifting too. ❤️ The narration, especially by CJ Wilson, was wonderful.

Redwoods’ Story

Splendid story of life in a Northern California logging community. Terminology is challenging. Communication between protagonists is a highlight that enhances listening. One of year’s best for my library.

Heartfelt and Thought Provoking

Having lived through the 1970’s, this novel rings true in its portrayal of the seeming opposing environmentalists or “hippies” and the Northwest timber industry. The complexities of the desire to protect ancient forests, the needs of civilization for wood for housing and other vital interests, and the concerns of the native peoples and families who have owned and invested in the land with their homes and lives are all juxtaposed in this masterfully written story. But the heart of it is surely Colleen, whose heartbreaking path to motherhood and family will resonate with anyone who has ever loved or lost a child. And her husband Rich will remind you that a man can be good even when confused and struggling. The narration was perfect, alternating between Rich and Colleen and their young son Chub. Definitely worth a credit.

Ok audio book

I liked this book but didn’t love it. I think it was way too long otherwise would have rated higher. Similar content to movies I’ve seen in the past. I will not re listen or recommend but not asking for credit refund either.

just excellent

a simple excellent book with fully realized characters and locale, a story line which evolves in unexpected directions, and excellent voice acting. one od threw best i have read/ listened to all year.

An Unconventional Topic

I enjoyed the human drama behind this tale of the Redwoods in the 70’s, although the specific processes of the industry eluded my limited knowledge of the logging/ timber industry. Too often the authors ended scenes abruptly, and I totally disagreed with two decisions regarding two main characters near the end of the book, but I found the presentation of more than one side of a character or opposing viewpoints to be illuminating.