The Antidote
by Karen Russell
Buy on AmazonA novel that’s both an epic and an omen, this work of historical fiction is rooted in Dust Bowl tragedies that transcend time and place. In a landscape that surely feels cursed, Karen Russell introduces us to, among others, a Prairie Witch, whose gift is radical listening, providing a kind of proto-therapy that takes the weight of “whatever they can’t stand to know” from her patrons. Histories we collectively cannot withstand and what they mean for our future are at the core of this National Book Award finalist, in which Russell masterfully renders the strange quotidian and imbues the everyday with menace or magic.
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"A novel that’s both an epic and an omen, this work of historical fiction is rooted in Dust Bowl tragedies that transcend time and place. In a landscape that surely feels cursed, Karen Russell introduces us to, among others, a Prairie Witch, whose gift is radical listening, providing a kind of proto-therapy that takes the weight of “whatever they can’t stand to know” from her patrons. Histories we collectively cannot withstand and what they mean for our future are at the core of this National Book Award finalist, in which Russell masterfully renders the strange quotidian and imbues the everyday with menace or magic."
NPR Books We Love — 2025 · apps.npr.org
"Karen Russell, the magical realism and prose virtuoso, conjures the American Dust Bowl. Her vibrant imaginings are voiced by a stellar cast. Sophie Amoss shimmers as the Antidote, a “prairie witch” who takes verbal deposits; Asphodel Oletsky, a teen recently orphaned when her mom was murdered, is vividly portrayed by Elena Rey; and the masterful Mark Bramhall inhabits the sane, sensitive, long-suffering wheat farmer, Harp Oletsky. The audiobook’s action occurs between two immense weather events six weeks apart in 1935—an epic dust storm dubbed “Black Sunday” bookended by a torrential rain and flood. (17 hours)"
The Best Fiction Audiobooks of 2025 · fivebooks.com