The Levee

Reviews

"The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 engulfed tens of thousands of square miles, across ten states, with up to 30 feet of water. Krueger sets his first original audiobook in this moment of crisis, as desperation pushes people, passions, and levees to their breaking points. The Ballymore estate is surrounded by one of those levees, built to protect the home and its people. But when a rowboat arrives at the estate, carrying work-release convicts who will help rescue the residents, the convicts are met with a surprising situation: not everyone wants their assistance. Jackson crafts consistent voices for many of the characters, softening his gravelly voice for women and making judicious use of accents. As the waters rise, the levee weakens, and the tension increases, Jackson's soothing, rhythmic narration is lulling. This allows for panicked dialogue to rise up and grip the listener like a cresting wave. His voice creates a cocoon around the listener like the levee itself, which seems protective but could ultimately mask great danger. This tense and satisfying tale has a historical setting eerily relevant to modern climate fears." "Golden Voice narrator JD Jackson acts out Krueger’s dramatic audio-original novella, which is about the potential breach of a levee, the only thing holding back torrents of water during the unprecedented flooding of the lower Mississippi River in 1927. Four men — three convicts temporarily released and a man named Quince Mobley — arrive by boat and work tirelessly to save the high, circular levee and rescue the obstinate stranded residents of an estate called Ballymore. Jackson’s deep, gravelly voice pervades the performance, shifting subtly to reflect the stiff-necked women and the strong-backed, sometimes bellicose, men. The raging river’s inexorable attacks are reflected in Jackson’s cadence as he adds emotional energy to the exhausting fight between men and the mighty Mississippi." "The gripping tale is narrated by J.D. Jackson; in his slow drawl, the story dramatically builds like flood waters rising." "Years ago, while still in his 20s, William Kent Krueger read William Faulkner's novella "Old Man" and was captivated by the tale of a convict sent out in a small boat to rescue a pregnant woman during a flood. Inspired, he wrote his own story, which he called "The Levee." It wasn't quite right, and he put it away.

 

In his mid-40s, he pulled out the story and reworked it, but put it away again; it still wasn't right.

 

And then during the COVID-19 lockdown — a time that Krueger calls the most productive of his life — he took it out one more time. "Rather than merely rework it, I completely rethought the story," he said in a coda to "The Levee," just released by Simon & Schuster as an audiobook original.

 

The story is set in 1927, during a flood of "Biblical proportions." The Mississippi River south of Memphis swelled to 80 miles across, and hundreds of people were trapped or died. Three inmates are released from prison to help with rescues, and they set out with a fourth man who supervises them. They end up at Ballymore, a stately house protected by a levee that may or may not be in danger of giving way and inhabited by a family torn about leaving.

 

The gripping tale is narrated by J.D. Jackson; in his slow drawl, the story dramatically builds like flood waters rising."

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