Listen to a sample
Outside Passage
- Author
- Julia Scully
- Narrator
- Celeste Lawson
- Publisher
- Blackstone Publishing
- Publish Date
- 1 September 2013
- Run Time
- 6 hours 19 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
What to expect
When Julia Scully was seven years old, her father committed suicide, and she and her sister were sent to an orphanage. Julia sought comfort in the rituals of the orphanage—learning to knit, roller-skating after dinner, listening to One Man's Family on the radio—and tried to adapt. But two years later, emotionally damaged by the isolation and brutality of the orphanage, the girls followed their mother to the near-wilderness of the gold-mining territory north of Nome, Alaska, where she had leased a roadhouse in the tiny settlement of Taylor. Julia had no idea what to expect when she arrived, but to her surprise she found a healing power in the stark beauty of the vast tundra—the summer wildflowers and berries, the reindeer, foxes, and wolves. Later she reveled in the boisterous, chaotic boomtown atmosphere that prevailed when thousands of American troops descended on Nome at the outbreak of World War II.
A lyrical and affecting memoir of those years, Outside Passage is simultaneously an emotional account of a young girl's first steps into adulthood and a unique portrait of a vanished frontier life.
Critics Review
-
“A simple reminder of the immense power of a child’s love, which can last through terrible neglect.”
Time
-
“In this stunning memoir, Julia Scully recounts her exotic childhood in Alaska, where a ‘stark…treeless landscape extends on and on in every direction’…That she gained such a richness of experience from such a cutoff place is one of the delights of this miraculous book.”
Elle
-
“Irresistible. Told in a spare luminous voice…The sense of place is sharp and clear as the Alaskan air itself, evoked in the icy slap of the Bering Sea, the crystalline streams tumbling over salmon-colored pebbles, the Alaskan malamutes that run in packs along the frozen, rutted streets…It’s a rare delight to find a book in which the setting and voice so perfectly mesh.”
Cleveland Plain Dealer
-
“Outside Passage is notable as much for what it doesn’t say as for what it does…Outside Passage paradoxically tells far more—and is far more modern—than its gushing, revelation-crammed counterparts.”
Amazon.com, editorial review
See more reviews See fewer reviews
-
“Beautifully written, understated prose…A perceptive and sensitive account.”
Publishers Weekly
-
“Will this be the Angela’s Ashes of Alaska?…A memorable expression of a difficult life.”
Booklist
-
“This chronology of a hard and unusual childhood offers a good snapshot of the struggles of a Depression-era family in one of the more remote outposts in America.”
Kirkus Reviews
User Reviews
No reviews yet.
Details
- Author
- Julia Scully
- Narrator
- Celeste Lawson
- Duration
- 6 hours 19 minutes
- Release Date
- 1 September 2013
- ISBN
- 9781481573993
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Blackstone Publishing
- Genre
- Memoirs, Biography: general, Biography: general, Gender studies: women and girls
Synopsis
When Julia Scully was seven years old, her father committed suicide, and she and her sister were sent to an orphanage. Julia sought comfort in the rituals of the orphanage—learning to knit, roller-skating after dinner, listening to One Man's Family on the radio—and tried to adapt. But two years later, emotionally damaged by the isolation and brutality of the orphanage, the girls followed their mother to the near-wilderness of the gold-mining territory north of Nome, Alaska, where she had leased a roadhouse in the tiny settlement of Taylor. Julia had no idea what to expect when she arrived, but to her surprise she found a healing power in the stark beauty of the vast tundra—the summer wildflowers and berries, the reindeer, foxes, and wolves. Later she reveled in the boisterous, chaotic boomtown atmosphere that prevailed when thousands of American troops descended on Nome at the outbreak of World War II.A lyrical and affecting memoir of those years, Outside Passage is simultaneously an emotional account of a young girl's first steps into adulthood and a unique portrait of a vanished frontier life.
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.