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The Hum and the Shiver

The Tufa Novels, Book 1

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The Hum and the Shiver

By: Alex Bledsoe
Narrated by: Emily Janice Card, Stefan Rudnicki
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About this listen

In this valley songs live … and kill.

No one knows where the Tufa came from or how they ended up in the mountains of east Tennessee. When the first Europeans came to the Smoky Mountains, the Tufa were already there. Dark-haired and enigmatic, they live quietly in the hills and valleys of Cloud County, their origins lost to history. But there are clues in their music, hidden in the songs they have passed down for generations.

Private Bronwyn Hyatt, a true daughter of the Tufa, has returned from Iraq, wounded in body and spirit, but her troubles are far from over. Cryptic omens warn of impending tragedy, while a restless “haint” has followed her home from the war. Worse yet, Bronwyn has lost touch with herself and with the music that was once a part of her life. With death stalking her family, will she ever again join in the song of her people and let it lift her onto the night winds?

©2011 Alex Bledsoe (P)2011 Blackstone Audio, Inc. Fantasy Fiction Genre Fiction Small Town & Rural Magic

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Critic reviews

“Bledsoe turns standard urban fantasy tropes on their head by reimagining modern elves as a tiny, isolated ethnic group unsure of their own origins…The slowly unfolding mystery of the Tufa is a fascinating and absorbing masterpiece of world-building.” ( Publishers Weekly)
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Any additional comments?

I chose this book. It was not my usual read, but something intrigued me. Then it took four attempts before I got into it. I really think that it is worth a try. Now I will look out for book two.

The Hum and the Shiver.

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The most enjoyable part of the experience was the story, which was unusual for me enough to keep me hanging. The characters are well fleshed out and have substance. The challenge with the story is that while it is set in our world, it is describing something that is super natural. But the complexities of everyday life and challenges are familiar enough. It reminded me of the 'Wood Wife', another similar story. In terms of audio I liked the realistic American accents of the narrator which brought the story to life. AS a non/native english speaker, I wouldn't be able to read the book on its own as phonetics in english are harder to read for me. Plus I tend to listen on the go when I don't have time to sit and read.

Overall it is a good book with some rivoting themes, I particularly like that fact that the characters are able to evolve in some way and that they can be critical of their own environment. In other words they are quite realistic. This can be rare in fantasy fiction.

An unexpected surprise

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I loved this book on first hearing. I became invested in the characters , although I didn't know where they were going.

unusual fairy tale

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A strange mix of a book - I was setting myself up for a standard mystery-folk-who-might-be-magical-living-with nature sorta thing, but was quite quickly jarred out of that. The Tufa are no cute backwoods folk, strummin' their guitars and spouting homilies; they can be nasty, crude and casually violent. On the other hand, they love their children, respect their parents and get joy from their music. So in short they can come across as normal folk - but there's a strangeness about them and what's with their music???

So what is this story? It's essentially about Bronwyn, who spent her early years fighting what she saw as a pre-ordained path by rebelling with a capital "R" and ultimately running away to the army. The book starts with her coming home from Iraq a decorated and (reluctantly on her part ) much feted hero. She's been badly injured, and as she struggles to sort out her concussed head and traumatised body, things are not quite as she expected back home. There's a "haint" - or ghost - that needs to talk with her, the family are seeing death omens everywhere, there's a new preacher trying with patient decency to engage with his new flock, and there's an underlying sense of threat. There are a host of well drawn supporting characters, a well conceived and developed world, and if things are a tad slow to start with, they gather a pace and I was totally absorbed by the final sections.

There's a fair degree of swearing and while there's no loving descriptions of sex, seemingly essential in certain genres these days, there's sexual talk and imagery, some of it pretty crude. It's in context though, and mostly sits within the storyline, altho it grated occasionally.

As to the narration - there are two narrators, alternating chapters, or clusters of chapters. Both do fine, but he has a very distinct, dark, deep voice that took me a while to take to - that said, by the end he sounded just fine! Well read, characters well inhabited and differentiated - a good listen.

Engaging and different

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I’m not a fan of audiobooks but ill health forced them into my life so when i find a book that I actively want to listen to, it’s a real treat. I love the surreal, magical fable aspect of the book but I really enjoyed the way contemporary social issues and behaviours were addressed. There are plenty of gritty, resourceful woman and some awful discrimination has been thrown at them. Yet they survive. As does the music which gives them all a voice.
I was quite happy with the two narrators and they fit each other well.

Entertaining tale with disturbing undertones

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