From the Bookshelf of Retro Chapter Chicks …

Simon the Fiddler

Paulette Jiles

Start date: February 1, 2021

Finish date: February 28, 2021

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September-October 2025: The River Knows Your Name
By Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ Jenn Ƹ̴… , Founding Retro Chick · 1 post · 8 views

last updated Aug 23, 2025 07:26PM

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Oct 27, 2020 Book Concierge rated it really liked it

Shelves: historical-fiction, audio, texas, immigrant-experience, library, concierge, strong-women, civil-war

Digital audiobook performed by Grover Gardner

Simon Boudlin made a brief first appearance in Jiles’ The News Of the World . In this work, he is the focus of the story. Set in Texas at the end of the Civil War and the beginning of the reconstruction period, Jiles follows Simon and his band of iterant musicians as they try to stay alive and out of trouble, and as Simon tries to win the heart of Doris, an indentured immigrant Irish lass, who works as governess for the family of a Union officer.

I Digital audiobook performed by Grover Gardner

Simon Boudlin made a brief first appearance in Jiles’ The News Of the World . In this work, he is the focus of the story. Set in Texas at the end of the Civil War and the beginning of the reconstruction period, Jiles follows Simon and his band of iterant musicians as they try to stay alive and out of trouble, and as Simon tries to win the heart of Doris, an indentured immigrant Irish lass, who works as governess for the family of a Union officer.

I love the way Jiles crafts these stories. While the plot focuses on the characters and their reactions to events happening around them, the atmosphere is enhanced by her descriptions of the landscape, the food, and culture of the times.

Simon is a marvelous character. Intelligent, quick witted, resourceful, determined and head-over-heels in love with the charming Doris. Their path is not an easy one and there were times when I feared for their safety and, even, their lives. Still, I was cheering him on in his quest to win her heart and establish their future success.

The supporting cast is equally memorable. Damon Lessing, whom Simon meets when they are conscripted into the Army and assigned to the “band,” is a piper. Patrick O’Hehir is the drummer boy who is the youngest among them. And Doroteo Navarro, a Tejano guitar player, who has some experience as a fisherman and is therefore invaluable to at least one leg of their journey. Together they form a good team, supporting one another and surviving a number of altercations and dangers.

Jiles manages to put me right into the heart of this landscape and time in history. Of course, I’m sure it helps that this is the territory in which I grew up, and I’m very familiar with many of the locations she uses, but I think her writing makes the images equally vivid for those who have never experienced this landscape.

Grover Gardner does a fantastic job of voicing the audio book. I felt as if I were listening to an old-timer recall adventures of his youth. His somewhat gravelly voice is that of an older character, but he was still believable, even when interpreting the female characters. ...more

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Feb 15, 2021 ˜”*°•.˜”*°• Sheri •°*”˜.•°*”˜ rated it liked it

Shelves: historical-fiction, retro-chicks-group-read

This story is set in Texas at the end of the war between the states. The main character, as you probably have guessed, is a fiddler so there’s a musical theme flowing through the book which is nice. The way the author writes also flows nicely making the book easy to read. I enjoyed the interesting scenes of Texas that are described as the fiddler travels through the desolate, war ravaged land. The problem is there isn’t enough of a story to make it interesting for very long. The relationship bet ...more

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