Audiobook Sample
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- Title: Girl in the Garden
- Author: Kestra Pingree
- Narrator: Kestra Pingree
- Length: 05:47:36
- Version: Abridged
- Release Date: 06/08/2021
- Publisher: Findaway Voices
- Genre: Fiction, Teen, Romance, Fairy Tales & Folklore
- ISBN13: 9.78E+12
The first time I heard Kestra Pingree’s voice narrating “Girl in the Garden”, I was transported back to that Oaxacan grandmother’s storytelling circle. There’s something about an author narrating their own work that creates an alchemy of authenticity – like being handed a secret diary with all its raw edges intact. Pingree’s performance carries that same intimate quality I’ve only encountered around campfires and family kitchens, where stories aren’t performed but lived.
Ri’s rebellious voice crackles through my headphones with the same electric restlessness I felt at seventeen, stuck in my abuela’s Miami house during a sweltering summer. The audiobook’s opening lines – “”How’s your summer going? Mine is ruined.”” – hit with the visceral punch of adolescence remembered. Pingree’s narration captures that perfect teenage alchemy of defiance and vulnerability, where every word is both armor and exposed nerve.
What makes this audiobook special is how Pingree uses her dual role as writer-performer to create a layered listening experience. When Ri describes the “”endless pines”” of the countryside, Pingree’s voice takes on the whisper of wind through branches. In Avery’s rose-loving oddity, she finds surprising tenderness beneath his quirks – a reminder of the eccentric characters I’ve met in my travels, from the Bulgarian beekeeper who recited Pushkin to his hives to the Japanese fisherman who taught me that obsession is just love with calloused hands.
The production quality feels intentionally raw, like the cassette recordings I used to make during my first solo backpacking trips. There’s no studio-perfect polish here – occasionally you hear the narrator take a breath or the subtle shift of a page turning. These imperfections become part of the story’s texture, mirroring Ri’s own jagged edges as she navigates between the “”stupid rose garden”” and the forbidden forest’s allure.
Pingree’s background in folklore shines through the audio performance. Listen for how her voice changes when describing the garden versus the wilderness – cultivated spaces get clipped, precise diction while the forest passages flow with liquid cadences. It’s an auditory representation of the book’s central tension between constraint and freedom that reminded me of Chilean folktales where the wilderness always speaks in riddles.
At just under three hours, this compact audiobook delivers an emotional journey disproportionate to its length. The romance subplot unfolds with the slow-burn intensity of a summer storm building over fields, while Ri’s personal transformation avoids easy redemption arcs. When she declares “”I won’t let anyone stop me,”” Pingree’s voice cracks just enough to reveal the fear beneath the bravado – a detail that would likely escape a less invested narrator.
Compared to other YA audiobooks I’ve reviewed, “Girl in the Garden” stands out for its unvarnished authenticity. Where many teen narrators sound like adults playing dress-up, Pingree’s Ri feels like she’s leaning across a diner booth to tell you her story between cigarette breaks. The closest comparison might be Emma Cline’s “The Girls”, though Pingree’s work has more folkloric texture and less historical remove.
My only critique is that some listeners might crave more atmospheric sound design, especially during the forest sequences. Yet the absence of embellishment ultimately serves the story’s intimate nature – this isn’t a cinematic production but a secret being whispered directly into your ear, much like those Oaxacan stories that needed nothing but a voice and the night air to work their magic.
May your next listen transport you as deeply as this one did me,
Marcus
Marcus Rivera
