Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
Nickel Mountain  By  cover art

Nickel Mountain

By: John Gardner
Narrated by: Michael Butler Murray
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $18.89

Buy for $18.89

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

John Gardner's most poignant novel of improbable love.

At the heart of John Gardner's Nickel Mountain is an uncommon love story: When at 42, the obese, anxious, and gentle Henry Soames marries seventeen-year-old Callie Wells - who is pregnant with the child of a local boy - it is much more than years which define the gulf between them. But the beauty of this audiobook is the gradual revelation of the bond that develops as this unlikely couple experiences courtship and marriage, the birth of a son, isolation, forgiveness, work, and death in a small Catskill community in the 1950s. The plot turns on tragic events - they might be accidents or they might be acts of will - involving a cast of rural eccentrics that includes a lonely amputee veteran, a religious hysteric (thought by some to be the devil himself), and an itinerant "Goat Lady." Questions of guilt, innocence, and even murder are eclipsed by deeds of compassion, humility, and redemption, and ultimately, by Henry Soames' quiet discovery of grace.

©1963, 1973 John Gardner (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

What listeners say about Nickel Mountain

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    8
  • 4 Stars
    12
  • 3 Stars
    6
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    10
  • 4 Stars
    9
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    7
  • 4 Stars
    10
  • 3 Stars
    4
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    2

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A beautiful story, elegantly rendered

This is a delicate, slow and thoughtful book about real humans. The reader captures all the heart felt empathy of the author and is faithful to the lovely and moving browse.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Good story & storytelling.

I enjoyed this story from a farming area in
upstate New York. The characters become very real and endear themselves to the reader.
John Garner was quite a good storyteller, kind and smart. Going to read his other work, "Sunlight Dialogues" now.
Thank you for the terrific audiobook narration.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful