Samantha Peabody, a seasoned bio-acoustician and eccentric recluse living in North Carolina’s Pisgah National Forest, recalls in this journal-like novel her year with two children who accompanied her in a “Sonic Adventure Program,” deep in the woods. Spending time with the girls, eight-year-old Betty and six-year-old Janet, Sam must confront her conscience in light of an ever-widening communion with the forest around them. This is the tale of an aging adult and two troubled children and their shared journey to compassion. In its uncanny texture and structure, the novel contemplates the transformations possible for those who listen to — and truly hear — the sounds of wilderness, where one’s true nature sings.

Kevin McIlvoy’s previous books are A Waltz (Lynx House, 1981), The Fifth Station (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 1987), Little Peg (Atheneum, 1991), Hyssop (TriQuarterly, 1998), The Complete History of New Mexico (Graywolf, 2005), and 57 Octaves Below Middle C (Four Way, 2017). He teaches in the graduate creative writing program at Warren Wilson College and lives near Asheville, North Carolina.