Jean Hegland has 3 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 3 narrators, with an average listener rating of 3.2★ across 5 ratings. The most-rated is Into the Forest.
Into the Forest
Summary
At first, Into the Forest was a word-of-mouth favorite of booksellers. Soon larger publishing houses were noticing Jean Hegland's debut novel and giving it rave reviews. Powerful and disturbing, Into the Forest offers images of an all-too-believable future. As America collapses in the chaos of war, pollution, and bankruptcy, two sisters pool their resources to survive alone in the hills above San Francisco. Although dwindling food and increasing isolation threaten them, they soon find a more immediate danger standing at their door. When a young man arrives, his friendship offers tantalizing fulfillment, but his love threatens to divide the sisters. Hegland's provocative work is reminiscent of George Orwell's 1984 and Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale. It infuses a tale of survival with startling insights into a young woman's quest for strength.
©1996 Jean Hegland (P)1998 Recorded Books
Into the Forest
Summary
Now a major motion picture Set in the near-future, Into the Forest is a powerfully imagined novel that focuses on the relationship between two teenage sisters living alone in their Northern California forest home. Over 30 miles from the nearest town, and several miles away from their nearest neighbor, Nell and Eva struggle to survive as society begins to decay and collapse around them. No single event precedes society's fall. There is talk of a war overseas and upheaval in Congress, but it still comes as a shock when the electricity runs out and gas is nowhere to be found. The sisters consume the resources left in the house, waiting for the power to return. Their arrival into adulthood, however, forces them to reexamine their place in the world and their relationship to the land and each other. Reminiscent of Margaret Atwood's A Handmaid's Tale, Into the Forest is a mesmerizing and thought-provoking novel of hope and despair set in a frighteningly plausible near-future America. Praise for Into the Forest “[A] beautifully written and often profoundly moving novel.” (San Francisco Chronicle) “A work of extraordinary power, insight and lyricism, Into the Forest is both an urgent warning and a passionate celebration of life and love.” (Riane Eisler, author of The Chalice and the Blade) “From the first page, the sense of crisis and the lucid, honest voice of the....narrator pull the reader in....A truly admirable addition to a genre defined by the very high standards of George Orwell's 1984.” (Publishers Weekly (starred review)) “Beautifully written.” (Kirkus Reviews) “This beautifully written story captures the essential nature of the sister bond: the fierce struggle to be true to one’s own self, only to learn that true strength comes from what they are able to share together.” (Carol Saline, co-author of Sisters) “Jean Hegland’s sense of character is firm, warm, and wise...[A] fine first novel.” (John Keeble, author of Yellowfish)
©1999 Jean Hegland (P)1999 Random House, Inc., Banta Doubleday Dell Audio Publishing, A Division of Random House, Inc.
Still Time
Summary
From the author of Into the Forest, a moving novel about memory, Shakespeare's green worlds, and the power of reconciliation. Until John Wilson met the warm, wise woman who became his fourth wife, the object of his most intense devotion had always been the work of William Shakespeare. From his feat of memorizing Romeo and Juliet and half a dozen other plays as a student to his evangelical zeal as a professor, John's faith in the Bard has shaped his life. But now his mental powers have been diminished by dementia, and his wife has reluctantly moved him to a residential care facility. Even there, as he struggles to understand what's going on around him, John's knowledge of the plays helps him make sense of his fractured world. Yet when his only child, Miranda - with whom he has not spoken since a devastating misunderstanding a decade ago - comes to visit, John begins to question some of his deepest convictions. In his devotion to Shakespeare, did he lose his way? Did he wrong the child who wronged him? The story of an imperfect father and a wounded daughter's efforts to achieve some authentic connection even now, Still Time celebrates redemption and the gift of second chances. It is that rare novel that ends on a resounding note of hope, reminding us that there is always time to live fully and love deeply, so long as we are alive.
©2015 Jean Hegland (P)2015 Audible, Inc.