History of the Rain

By: Niall Williams

Narrated by: Jennifer McGrath

Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

We are our stories. We tell them to stay alive or keep alive those who only live now in the telling. In Faha, County Clare, everyone is a long story....

Bedbound in her attic room beneath the falling rain, Plain Ruth Swain is in search of her father. To find him Ruthie must first trace the jutting jaw lines, narrow faces, and gleamy skin of the Swains from the restless Reverend Swain, her great-grandfather, to her father, Virgil - via pole-vaulting, leaping salmon, poetry and the 3,958 books piled high beneath the two skylights in her room.

©2014 Niall Williams (P)2014 W F Howes Ltd

Critic reviews

"Extremely moving, poignantly capturing Ruth's doomed childhood relationship with her twin brother. By the final chapter I was weeping." ( Sunday Times)

"A rambling, soft-hearted Irish family saga stuffed with eccentricity, literature, anecdotes, mythology, humour and heartbreak." ( Kirkus)

Brilliantly written, in all ways

Beautiful, lyrical, hauntingly sad, but also hopeful. I loved this book, all i want a book to be.

Lyrical wonderful book

This book is absolutely unsentimental but still moving and beautiful. The Irish rural characteristics both tragic and comic are given great treatment and yet it has a modern feel because it is set after the economic boom and bust that happened in Ireland. I highly recommend it

Thrilling Tale, Fascinating History

Set in post-WW2 Finland, this novel has action, suspense, and a lot of grim history that most don’t know about the complex struggles of Nazis, US, USSR, and Finland.

Gorgeous prose and narration!

Some writers write books, good books, yet others love words, language, and stories and create beautiful prose that catches our hearts. Niall Williams is the latter. I've listened to two of his books now (The History of Rain and This is Happiness), and I've been left in awe of his storytelling and writing. The narration is gorgeous as well.
The History of Rain is kind of like an ode to literature, or rather literature is another character. Ruthie Swain tells the stories of her family whose grey clouds follow them through several generations.
To understand her father, Ruthie reads his over 3000 books and references them in her narration.
This story is about family, love, struggles, resilience, and self-worth.
Only two quotes out of many to share:

“We tell stories. We tell stories to pass the time, to leave the world for a while, or go more deeply into it. We tell stories to heal the pain of living.”

“I love the feel of a book. I love the touch and smell and sound of the pages. I love the handling. A book is a sensual thing. You sit in a chair with it or like me you take it to bed and it's, well, enveloping. Weird I am, I know(...)You either get it or you don't.”

The writing swept me away.

The novel was mesmerizing. Groff seamlessly juggles between past and present. The story of this young, escaped servant girl struggling to survive in the wilderness of the new world is gripping, and encompasses both spiritual and philosophical elements.

Magnificent writing

I loved This is Happiness and loved this too (maybe just a tad less). Williams takes the English language and strings together words into beautiful phrases and sentences. Another reviewer wrote down two quotes, but if I wrote every phrase and sentence that wowed me, I’d have a full notebook. His metaphors can be amusing, charming, beautiful. Never mind the story, which is touching and bittersweet, just for the language this is worth listening to. I was a bit less charmed by the narrator. At first I found her long pauses between sentences and her lisp (was it supposed to be part of the affect? - I could not decide) got on my nerves, so that it took me a bit of time to get drawn into the story enough to ignore those flaws in her narration. Her voice and tone were good for the story, though. Niall Williams is a gem of an author.

The lure of local flavour

If you could sum up History of the Rain in three words, what would they be?

Irish prose poetry

What did you like best about this story?

The deep, unspoken feelings running through family and community

Which character – as performed by Jennifer McGrath – was your favorite?

Ruth

If you could rename History of the Rain, what would you call it?

River Swain

Any additional comments?

The narrator's accent contributes in no small measure to the 'placement' of the story; and the calm tone used in the rendering underlined the intimacy felt throughout the narrative.

Soul touching

Will I ever forget this story so beautifully read and written? No it is etched forever in my heart.

Beautiful ending

This very talented author expertly paints a town you can imagine being a part of and people you would like to know, because of their authenticity. The eccentricities found in both place and people are intriguing. Well worth the credit, as was my first experience with Niall Williams and Faha in This is Happiness. I am looking forward to spending time in another of his wonderful novels.

Just Okay

I much preferred This is Happiness which has a far better narrator and as well as a more interesting story.

in places the language was beautiful, but overall the story was too haphazard, too affected by efforts to be literary, and in many areas it was just over written. It really could have benefitted from a good editor.

i wanted to love this as much as I do This is Happiness, but it's just not as well crafted.