
The Sound of Gravel
A Memoir
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Narrated by:
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Ruth Wariner
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By:
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Ruth Wariner
About this listen
"The narration by Wariner compliments the candid nature of her story...A captivating and emotional story delivered in a straightforward way without an ounce of self-pity." (Library Journal)
A riveting, deeply-affecting audiobook memoir of one girl's coming-of-age experiences in a polygamist cult.
Ruth Wariner was the 39th of her father's 42 children. Growing up on a farm in rural Mexico, where authorities turned a blind eye to the practices of her community, Ruth lives in a ramshackle house without indoor plumbing or electricity. At church, preachers teach that God will punish the wicked by destroying the world and that women can only ascend to Heaven by entering into polygamous marriages and giving birth to as many children as possible. After Ruth's father - the man who had been the founding prophet of the colony - is brutally murdered by his brother in a bid for church power, her mother remarries, becoming the second wife of another faithful congregant.
In need of government assistance and supplemental income, Ruth and her siblings are carted back and forth between Mexico and the United States, where her mother collects welfare and her step-father works a variety of odd jobs. Ruth comes to love the time she spends in the States, realizing that perhaps the community into which she was born is not the right one for her. As Ruth begins to doubt her family's beliefs and question her mother's choices, she struggles to balance her fierce love for her siblings with her determination to forge a better life for herself.
Recounted from the innocent and hopeful perspective of a child, The Sound of Gravel is the remarkable true story of a girl fighting for peace and love. This is an intimate, gripping audiobook resonant with triumph, courage, and resilience.
©2016 Ruth Wariner (P)2016 Macmillan AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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This one is just not for me
- By Pamela Plimpton on 03-15-19
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Escape
- By: Carolyn Jessop, Laura Palmer
- Narrated by: Ann Marie Lee
- Length: 15 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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When she was 18 years old, Carolyn Jessop was coerced into an arranged marriage with a total stranger - a man 32 years her senior. Merril Jessop already had three wives. But arranged plural marriages were an integral part of Carolyn's heritage: She was born into and raised in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), the radical offshoot of the Mormon Church.
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Like a train wreck you can't turn away
- By Cheryl D on 10-28-07
By: Carolyn Jessop, and others
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The Polygamist’s Daughter
- A Memoir
- By: Anna LeBaron, Leslie Wilson - contributor
- Narrated by: Anna LeBaron
- Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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"My father had more than 50 children." So begins the haunting memoir of Anna LeBaron, daughter of the notorious polygamist and murderer Ervil LeBaron. With her father wanted by the FBI for killing anyone who tried to leave his cult - a radical branch of Mormonism - Anna and her siblings were constantly on the run with the other sister-wives. Often starving and always desperate, the children lived in terror. Even though there were dozens of them together, Anna always felt alone.
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Bait and Switch
- By A. C. on 04-25-17
By: Anna LeBaron, and others
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Lost Boy
- By: Maia Szalavitz, Brent W. Jeffs
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 8 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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In the polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS), girls can become valuable property as plural wives, but boys are expendable, even a liability. In this powerful and heartbreaking account, former FLDS member Brent Jeffs reveals both the terror and the love he experienced growing up on his prophet's compound and the harsh exile existence that so many boys face once they have been expelled by the sect.
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Interesting male view of polygamy
- By Karen on 09-17-13
By: Maia Szalavitz, and others
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The Less People Know About Us
- A Mystery of Betrayal, Family Secrets, and Stolen Identity
- By: Axton Betz-Hamilton
- Narrated by: Laurie Winkel
- Length: 7 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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In this powerful true crime memoir, an award-winning identity theft expert tells the shocking story of the duplicity and betrayal that inspired her career and nearly destroyed her family. Axton Betz-Hamilton grew up in small-town Indiana in the early '90s. When she was 11 years old, her parents both had their identities stolen. Their credit ratings were ruined, and they were constantly fighting over money. This was before the age of the Internet, when identity theft became more commonplace, so authorities and banks were clueless and reluctant to help Axton's parents.
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Holy Shit
- By Jason Wiking on 02-19-20
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Call Me Cockroach
- Based on a True Story
- By: Leigh Byrne
- Narrated by: Allyson Ryan
- Length: 8 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Our prisons and mental hospitals are filled with tragic stories like Tuesday Storm's. Her early childhood was riddled with torturous "games" and violent physical attacks. She was isolated from the rest of her family, locked in an attic with nothing but a bare bed and a bucket for a toilet, and fed just enough to be kept alive. The experts say it's next to impossible to find the soul's light in a dark past like Tuesday's.
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The rest of the story...
- By PJH on 07-11-15
By: Leigh Byrne
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Call Me Tuesday
- Based on a True Story
- By: Leigh Byrne
- Narrated by: Allyson Ryan
- Length: 7 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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At eight years old, Tuesday Storm's childhood is forever lost when the death of her older sister Audrey sends her family spiraling out of control into the darkest of dysfunction. In the wake of the tragedy, Tuesday's mother, distraught and looking for a scapegoat, singles Tuesday out from her siblings to take on the blame for Audrey's death, and then targets her for unspeakable abuse.
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loved it, so glad she shared her story.
- By Olivia Telles on 05-01-16
By: Leigh Byrne
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The Pale-Faced Lie
- A True Story
- By: David Crow
- Narrated by: Kaipo Schwab
- Length: 11 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Growing up on the Navajo Indian Reservation, David Crow and his siblings idolized their dad. Tall, strong, smart, and brave, the self-taught Cherokee regaled his family with stories of his World War II feats. But as time passed, David discovered the other side of Thurston Crow, the ex-con with his own code of ethics that justified cruelty, violence, lies - even murder. A shrewd con artist with a genius IQ, Thurston intimidated David with beatings to coerce him into doing his criminal bidding. David's mom, too mentally ill to care for her children, couldn't protect him.
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Best new release I’ve read!
- By A. Deal on 02-17-20
By: David Crow
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American Daughter
- A Memoir
- By: Stephanie Thornton Plymale, Elissa Wald
- Narrated by: Mozhan Marno
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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The sharp and surprising true story of a woman who finally sets out to understand her past, and the mother she had one day hoped to forget. Full of unexpected twists and unbelievable revelations, American Daughter is an immersive memoir that will have you on the edge of your seat to the very last minute.
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Amazing memoir
- By talltower4 on 09-02-21
By: Stephanie Thornton Plymale, and others
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Half Broke Horses
- A True-Life Novel
- By: Jeannette Walls
- Narrated by: Jeannette Walls
- Length: 7 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Jeannette Walls's memoir The Glass Castle was "nothing short of spectacular" ( Entertainment Weekly). Now, in Half Broke Horses, she brings us the story of her grandmother, told in a first-person voice that is authentic, irresistible, and triumphant.
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A BETTER BOOK THAN "THE GLASS CASTLE"
- By Kathryn on 01-10-10
By: Jeannette Walls
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Educated
- A Memoir
- By: Tara Westover
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 12 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, Tara Westover was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom. Her family was so isolated from mainstream society that there was no one to ensure the children received an education, and no one to intervene when one of Tara’s older brothers became violent. When another brother got himself into college, Tara decided to try a new kind of life. Her quest for knowledge transformed her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge University.
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The Other Side of Idaho's Mountains
- By Darwin8u on 03-28-18
By: Tara Westover
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The Witness Wore Red
- The 19th Wife Who Brought Polygamous Cult Leaders to Justice
- By: Rebecca Musser, M. Bridget Cook
- Narrated by: Rebecca Musser
- Length: 14 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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The revealing and inspiring memoir of a woman forced into polygamous marriage in FLDS Church and her brave struggle to protect others from the same fate. Rebecca Musser grew up in fear, concealing her family's polygamous lifestyle from the "dangerous" outside world. Covered head-to-toe in strict, modest clothing, she received a rigorous education at Alta Academy, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints' school headed by Warren Jeffs.
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Compelling and emotional read
- By Briley on 10-08-13
By: Rebecca Musser, and others
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Spilled Milk
- Based on a True Story
- By: K.L. Randis
- Narrated by: K.L. Randis
- Length: 7 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Brooke Nolan is a battered child who makes an anonymous phone call about the escalating brutality in her home. When social services jeopardize her safety, condemning her to keep her father's secret, it's a glass of spilled milk at the dinner table that forces her to speak about the cruelty she's been hiding. In her pursuit of safety and justice, Brooke battles a broken court system that pushes to keep her father in the home.
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Kept me listening to the end
- By Andrea Taylor on 05-22-25
By: K.L. Randis
What did you love best about The Sound of Gravel?
The author was open and honest about the bad and good. I am sure it was difficult to relive some of those experiences but I think it is important that we understand what some of these children are going through.Open and Hones
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Great but narration was bland
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unbelievable yet raw with honesty
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I miss them already
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Awful True Story
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Harrowing story, ultimately courageous
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Unbelievable!
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I am so glad she was able to escape into a better life, as well!
I really like how the author read her own story. It is always a better telling of the experience when the one who wrote it, reads it to us! She was able to mimic the people's actual voices better than I would have been able to, since she was there and I was not. Also, authors that read their own stories are able to enunciate the important words/phrases where they're supposed to and bring more enthusiasm to the story than those who read other people's stories.
Told with appropriate feeling and enthusiasm
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Wow
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A few months ago I was privileged to attend a book club meeting where the author, Ruth Wariner, was presenting her book and left a generous period of time for questions. I had not yet read the book, and didn't think I would. . .sounded like uncomfortable reading on many levels for me. . .I am only two generations away from polygamy. She took all questions, all of them, tidy and simple and the convoluted, messy ones. It became clear that this quiet, composed woman was a hero. She was brave and fierce and stoic. I ordered my audible copy and started listening that very evening.
She'd lived inside a tornado for her first 14 years and was spit out in a scene as tragic as any penned by Shakespeare . . .and she stood up, dusted herself off and flew into action. Astounding. A hero, a mother to her siblings. . .no. . .a sister in the best measure of that word. You need to meet her. Read her story. . . .if you are a parent, you need to feel the damage done by hers and see? feel? the places where choices could have been different and changed a bunch of lives for the better. If you are a child, anyone's child, you will see it's absolutely often the right thing to do to RUN, to keep on, one foot in front of another, AWAY from where you first came to yourself. There is a place where a stand can be made - this far, no further! You have options. Scary for sure, and braveness requisite, but options are there. Ruth's story is an inspiration, stark as it is, that hard things can be done. Must be done. Must. Be. Done.
And then, as a special gift and blessing to all, the story needs to be told. Thank you, Ruth.
Inspiration. Hard things. Can be done.
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