Listener in the Snow

by Tim Jollymore

Listener abounds with Native stories, Algonquin legend, Indian characters, and heartrending strife set against the Northern Minnesota snowscape.

Native mojo and a windigo vision stir up a storm in this adventure. The struggle between domestic commitment and deceit plays out through Tatty Langille, the Mi'kmaq storyteller.

His path to save his marriage is anything but typical-events explode in surreal settings, through winter storms, and during tavern brawls in rural Minnesota, weaving Native culture with odd Scandinavian characters.

Tatty believes his Mary goes north to midwife a cousin's twins, but her sudden renewed contact with those far off stinks with suspicion. When family secrets, Ojibwe myth, and murder fuel surprises and twists in Tatty's search, he is left only with questions.

Is Mary the wife he believed her to be? Had her wild rages pointed to a hidden past? Has Tatty lived a lie? Should he run? Can he out-distance his denial and his own buried past? After uncovering Mary's identity, what will he do?


Author's Tim Jollymore grew up among swamps, forests, and Indian reservations of northern Minnesota, the setting of his first novel. He worked as a tree planter, pulp peeler, local historian, traveling salesman, architectural designer, a contractor, and teacher.
Jollymore writes and lives near his family in Northern California, returning to Minnesota in summer. He earned a master's degree in literature from the University of Minnesota.

318 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 16, 2014

About the author

Tim Jollymore grew up next to the swamps, forests, and Indian reservations of northern Minnesota, the setting of his first novel. He spent his working life as a tree planter, pulp peeler, local historian, traveling salesman, and corporate manager. After migrating to California, he pursued residential design, contracting, and the teaching of English. Jollymore earned his master’s degree in literature at the University of Minnesota. He has also studied architecture and education.
Since leaving teaching in 2011, he has devoted his time to fiction and drama, writing a five-act play, completing two novels and numerous short stories. He posts to his review blog frequently and has written a travel blog. His first novel, Listener in the Snow, will appear in June of 2014.
During summer, he camps across the western states to visit extended family in northern Minnesota. Otherwise, he writes in Oakland, California and shares free time with his sleepyhead, artist companion, Carol. He lives in northern California nearby his three grown children, one of whom writes. When he can, Jollymore yells and screams along with his Viking grandson.
Jollymore’s fiction explores struggles of identity in American society from the viewpoint of the under and working classes. Though these contests—sometimes mysterious and often fierce— play out in spare, natural settings and every day, domestic life, they are marked by unusual, compelling events.

Reviews

[Holley S · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had met Tim in Ely where I bought this book. Even my brief encounter with him allowed me to see the author behind the book. Listener in the Snow is the first book I’ve read of his and it was done well. I enjoyed the stories and the way they were told and the connections made throughout. The unfolding story to me was grief and acceptance and understanding and release. It was artfully done.

[Davyd Morris · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Listener in the Snow" is a tale of identities lost and found, set in the icy wild woods of northern Minnesota. Tatty is an Algonquin who has rejected his cultural roots who escapes to college in Florida where he meets his soul mate, Mary, an Ojibwe girl who has similarly cut her own family ties. After years of a progressively strained marriage, Mary suddenly leaves to rediscover her familial roots in Minnesota. When Tatty follows her into the teeth of a blizzard, he rediscovers his own cultural identity and the essence of his own love for Mary. "Listener in the Snow" is a journey with searching souls, Native spirituality, and Finnish characters who all harbor their secrets in the midst of a bone-chilling winter storm that first masks then reveals all. A fascinating and thought-provoking read.

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this story. The cadence of the sentences are a perfect partner to the beautiful descriptions of a snowy Minnesota. Brrr. The author captured the winter and made it real. The tale, told from Tatty's point of view, brings to life how all our past experiences are brought into our present relationships. The twists and turns of the story were a surprise and kept pulling me onward to the end. The characters are well drawn and compelling. I loved the Native American stories and culture the author brought to the story. I will be looking forward to his next book.

[Rich Layne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Listener in the Snow is rich in imagery: I could feel the cold, see the snow whipping around me, be part of a winter storm. Jollymore shifts the reader to a different dimension, a a setting where lore and mystery exist comfortably side by side with the forest and the isolated human outposts. Reading about Tatty's story is to be there with him, as he enters a familiar yet unknown realm. I wasn't sure what to expect when I started this book, but I was hooked within pages. You'll find yourself sitting comfortably next to a crackling fire on a star bright night, if only in your imagination.

[Becky Parker Geist · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the imagery Tim Jollymore conjures up and stirs in the mind and how the swirling of the snow and the swirling of the emotions move us into extraordinary places. It seems pretty rare these days that I am surprised by the turn of events in a book, but he succeeded brilliantly in this book. There were a few points at which I felt confused about the overall structure - where and when scenes were taking place in the shifts between past and present, but those were minor bumps in an overall terrific journey. I very highly recommend this book!

[Chris Norbury · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lyrical writing and unique, intriguing characters elevate this far above average for literary fiction. Jollymore's sense of place is excellent as he brings us to one of the more desolate locations you'll ever read about--Thief Lake, MN in the dead of winter during a brutal cold snap (think 30 to 40 BELOW zero).

The setting resonated with me because my book, Castle Danger, is also set during a brutally cold winter in northern MN and I also use the weather as a secondary "character" that influences the plot in several ways.

Even though the overall theme and plot are on the dark side, the humanity of the characters shines through and overcomes the desolation of winter.

[Cookiemakermom · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought the outline of the story was good, but the writing somehow felt disconnected from the story teller, as if it were a book report. Because it lacked emotion, I had a difficult time investing in the characters. Also the rhythm felt off. Some parts read slow and tedious, other parts read so quickly that I wondered what just happened.

[Teresa Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maybe because I live in the North and have experienced snow storms such as the one Tatty lived through, I was immersed in the story. I think it could be classified as a tragedy. I was held from the beginning throughout.

[Felecia Peterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Started interesting.. then I got bored.. but then it picked up. I did enjoy the middle and ending.. I just had to follow the characters.. and it took a while to develop. Interesting thought process!

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Listener in the Snow follows Tatty Langille as he travels from Florida to northern Minnesota during the blizzard of the century, to see his wife, who’s midwifing a family member’s twins, and meet her Ojibwe family and tribe. But all is not as it seems. There’s some great visual storytelling, especially in the finale, a snowmobile chase across frozen lakes, except the ice in some spots is thin. A colorful cast of original character and a lot to think about.

— John Byrne Barry, author of Wasted: Murder in the Recycle Berkeley Yard and Bones in the Wash: Politics is Tough. Family is Tougher.

[Connie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Though I only gave this book 2 stars I feel that I could give it a 3 by the conclusion. Jollymore grew as a writer as he developed the character of Tatty. By the conclusion I felt that Tatty's telling matched his character, but this was not so for a major portion of the book. Tatty did not feel believable as a narrator. His overuse of description didn't match how I felt he was as a person. Jollymore writes beautiful phrasing that, I feel, would be better for the omnipotent third person narrative than the first person he used. At times the description becomes awkward and it bogs down the reader. That being said I enjoyed the story and the transformation of Tatty. The strong relationship between Mary and Tatty was tense and caring at the same time. I look forward to reading the author's next books.

[Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well-told story that for the most part blends the dream-state into the conscious state as entirely feasible. I appreciate how Jollymore expands and condenses what has happened over the approximate 40-year lifespan of his protagonist Tatty from Florida into two-three days of reckoning with unhealed wounds on Thief Lake in snowy Minnesota, a place he had never been to before. And the use of Wallace Steven's "The Snow Man" to inform chapter titles and to set the mood of these encounters is as magical as the windigo itself.

[Kristi Duarte · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tim Jollymore spins a mesmerizing tale about a modern Native American couple in a soft, poetic language. The novel brings you into the main character's world and lets you experience his confusion as he is pulled between the material "Western" world, and the world of his ancestors where myth and reality cannot always be discerned. Highly recommended.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very nice tale of Native American mysticism interwoven with modern day life. As always, a longer version of this review is up at: www.cloquetriverpress.com.
Peace.
Mark