Listen to a sample
Beneficence
- Author
- Meredith Hall
- Publisher
- Blackstone Publishing
- Publish Date
- 23 February 2021
- Run Time
- 9 hours 46 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
What to expect
A family’s only hope to heal their shattered lives is that love is stronger than grief
When they meet in the 1930s, Doris and Tup’s love is immediate. They marry quickly and Doris commits to the only life Tup ever wanted: working the Senter family farm, where his parents and grandparents and great-grandparents are buried under the old pines. Their lives follow the calming rhythms of the land—chores in the cow barn, haying the fields, tending their gardens—and in this they find immeasurable joy.
Soon their first child, Sonny, is born and Doris and Tup understand they are blessed. More children arrive—precocious, large-hearted Dodie and quiet, devoted Beston—but Doris and Tup take nothing for granted. They are grateful every day for the grace of their deep bonds to each other, to their family, and to their bountiful land. As they hold fast to this contentment, Doris is uneasy, and confesses, “We can’t ever know what will come.”
When an unimaginable tragedy turns the family of five into a family of four, everything the Senters held faith in is shattered. The family is consumed by a dark shadow of grief and guilt. Slowly, the surviving Senters must find their way to forgiveness—of themselves and of each other.
Critics Review
-
“These voices from the past speak so clearly to our time.”
Washington Post
-
“Hall’s prose is hewn, sinewy, with moments of electrifying beauty and grace.”
Boston Globe
-
“[A] powerful story of love and loss and endurance…transcendent.”
New York Journal of Books
-
“Spare but decked with moments of crystalline beauty…gorgeous and moving.”
Foreword (starred review)
See more reviews See fewer reviews
-
“Narrators Cassandra Campbell, Tom Taylorson, and Rachel Jacobs channel each member of the close-knit Senter family. Their stunning performances will put listeners in the heart of the family...This beautiful, haunting story, performed with sensitivity, is best enjoyed on audio. Winner of the Audiofile Earphones Award.”
AudioFile
-
“If the word ‘luminous’ didn’t already exist, you’d have to invent it to describe Meredith Hall’s radiant new novel Beneficence.”
Richard Russo, New York Times bestselling author
-
“It instructs us to savor life, to set aside our cold spirit, to notice human beings closely and tenderly, and to believe that telling life plainly is a virtue which can achieve beauty.”
Richard Ford, New York Times bestselling author
User Reviews
No reviews yet.
Details
- Author
- Meredith Hall
- Narrator
- Cassandra Campbell, Tom Taylorson, Rachel Jacobs
- Duration
- 9 hours 46 minutes
- Release Date
- 23 February 2021
- ISBN
- 9781665011471
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Blackstone Publishing
- Genre
- Family life fiction, Narrative theme: Love and relationships, Family life fiction
Synopsis
A family’s only hope to heal their shattered lives is that love is stronger than grief.When they meet in the 1930s, Doris and Tup’s love is immediate. They marry quickly and Doris commits to the only life Tup ever wanted: working the Senter family farm, where his parents and grandparents and great-grandparents are buried under the old pines. Their lives follow the calming rhythms of the land—chores in the cow barn, haying the fields, tending their gardens—and in this they find immeasurable joy.Soon their first child, Sonny, is born and Doris and Tup understand they are blessed. More children arrive—precocious, large-hearted Dodie and quiet, devoted Beston—but Doris and Tup take nothing for granted. They are grateful every day for the grace of their deep bonds to each other, to their family, and to their bountiful land. As they hold fast to this contentment, Doris is uneasy, and confesses, “We can’t ever know what will come.”When an unimaginable tragedy turns the family of five into a family of four, everything the Senters held faith in is shattered. The family is consumed by a dark shadow of grief and guilt. Slowly, the surviving Senters must find their way to forgiveness—of themselves and of each other.
About xigxag
xigxag is an independent, UK-based audiobook platform and the UK's only B Corp certified audiobook company. We offer nearly 150,000 audiobooks, all with professional human narration. No AI-generated voices. xigxag is rated an Ethical Consumer Best Buy for audiobooks and a top-rated ethical bookshop.
There is no subscription. You buy the audiobooks you want, you own them permanently, and prices start at $13.95. The more you listen over the year, the less you pay per book, and there is always a selection in Listen for Less from $7.95. You can also send audiobooks as gifts using our audiobook gift cards or in-app gifting.
Every audiobook on xigxag has honest reviews covering both the book and the narration, and our community features make it easy to share what you are listening to, discover what others recommend, and find your next listen.
Download or stream on iOS, Android, or in your browser. Browse the full catalogue at xigxag.co.uk.