Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    The Brave: A Novel
    Unavailable
    The Brave: A Novel
    Unavailable
    The Brave: A Novel
    Audiobook9 hours

    The Brave: A Novel

    Written by Nicholas Evans

    Narrated by Michael Emerson

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Tom Bedford is living alone in the isolated wilds of Montana. Having distanced himself from his own troubled past, he rarely sees his ex-wife, and his son, Danny, is away in Iraq and hasn't spoken to him for years. Tom hasn't always been so removed from society. As a boy, his mother was a meteoric rising star in the glitzy, enchanted world of 1960s Hollywood. There, she fell in love with the suave Ray Montane, who played young Tom's courageous onscreen hero, Red McGraw, the fastest draw around. Tommy and his mother lived in a glamorous, Hollywood version of the Wild West. Everything was perfect, until the gold flaking on their magical life began to chip away, revealing an uglier truth beneath. Ray was not who he seemed. Tommy and his mother fell into a deadly confrontation with him, and they fled Hollywood forever, into the wilderness of the real West.

    As a man, Tom has put all of that behind him--or so he thinks. Unexpectedly, his ex-wife calls, frantic: Danny has been charged with murder. In the chaos of war, his son has been caught in a violent skirmish gone bloodily awry. The Army needs someone to pay for the mistake. Tom, forced into action, is now suddenly alive again and fighting to save the son he'd let slip away. To succeed, he must confront the violence in his own past, and he finds that these two selves--the past and the present--which he'd fought so long to keep separate, are inextricably connected. As father and son struggle to understand one another, both are compelled to learn the true meaning of bravery.

    Beautifully interlacing the past and present, the author of The Horse Whisperer reminds us that we are tied to the glories and mistakes of our own history. The Brave lives up to its name, as one the most courageous and full-hearted novels of our time.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHachette Audio
    Release dateOct 12, 2010
    ISBN9781607886303
    Unavailable
    The Brave: A Novel
    Author

    Nicholas Evans

    Nicholas Evans is a Research Fellow on the Leverhulme Trust funded Comparative Kingship: the Early Medieval Kingdoms of Northern Britain and Ireland project at the University of Aberdeen. He is a historian whose research and teaching have focussed on the medieval Celtic-speaking societies of Britain and Ireland. He is the author of The Present and the Past in Medieval Irish Chronicles (Boydell Press, 2010), A Historical Introduction to the Northern Picts (Aberdeen University/Tarbat Discovery Centre, 2014) and co-author of King in the North: The Pictish Realms of Fortriu and Ce (Birlinn 2019).

    Related to The Brave

    Related audiobooks

    General Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Ruthless Landscapes

      Apr 1, 2018

      Ruthless Landscapes
      9 min read

    • Article

      Land Of Opportunity

      Dec 1, 2022

      Land Of Opportunity
      4 min read

    • Article

      Cinema

      Dec 27, 2016

      Young Conor’s mother is dying. Bullied at school, haunted by nightmares, and watching his mom grow weaker before his eyes, the boy withdraws deeper into the protective world of his drawings. After the strike of midnight, a monster calls at his bedroo

      4 min read

    • Article

      Tuesday, March 19

      Mar 7, 2024

      Tuesday, March 19
      2 min read

    • Article

      Films

      Sep 14, 2023

      Films
      5 min read

    • Article

      Nature Calls

      Apr 1, 2022

      Nature Calls
      1 min read

    • Article

      Romeo Coates

      Sep 29, 2022

      Romeo Coates
      4 min read

    • Article

      Tom’s Tales

      Nov 4, 2021

      Order books online at gaystheword.co.uk Tom Daley/HQ An emotionally articulate memoir from the most-decorated British diver of all time and winner of the 2021 Attitude Sport Award. Starting with his bronze medal at London 2012, Coming Up for Air foll

      2 min read

    • Article

      Love And The Oater

      Feb 27, 2024

      Love And The Oater
      7 min read

    • Article

      Under The Skin

      Apr 23, 2023

      OZARK DOGS, by Eli Cranor (Headline, $37.99) Former college quarterback Eli Cranor produced my favourite debut of last year with Don’t Know Tough, an extraordinary tale powered by evocative prose and the jagged voice of abused teen and football star

      2 min read

    • Article

      Review: 'Charm City Kings' Is An Appealing If Familiar Coming-of-age Drama About Baltimore's Dirt-bike Scene

      Oct 8, 2020

      Like any self-respecting teenager, Mouse (Jahi Di'Allo Winston), the protagonist of the West Baltimore-set indie drama "Charm City Kings," likes to express a healthy disdain for the popular culture of yesteryear. Not for something as relatively recen

      2 min read

    • Article

      5 Movies You Should See This Month

      Jun 29, 2018

      Viewers will rejoice in the hopes of immigrants while watching 'En el Séptimo Día,' one of Monitor critic Peter Rainer's best movies of June.

      3 min read

    • Article

      ‘Simon The Fiddler’ Explores The Redemptive Power Of Music

      Nov 10, 2020

      A musician, conscripted into the Confederate Army in the waning days of the Civil War, finds reasons for hope.

      2 min read

    • Article

      Screen

      Feb 2, 2024

      Screen
      5 min read

    • Article

      Nomadland

      Dec 30, 2020

      Nomadland
      8 min read

    • Article

      Film

      Mar 9, 2022

      Film
      3 min read

    • Article

      Romeo Coates “Between You And Me…”

      Aug 26, 2021

      JEALOUS DETRACTORS complaining Jenny Seagrove “bags the plum female roles” in partner Bill Kenwright’s shows, must think again. Cast to play Gayev in Bill’s production of Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard from this October, these enlightened times now ens

      4 min read

    • Article

      TV & REVIEWS

      Mar 14, 2023

      TV & REVIEWS
      4 min read

    Reviews for The Brave

    3.5/5

    98 ratings15 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      He must have sleep walked writing this book. No where as good as his others. I had a very difficult time warming up to his son Danny and subsequently did not read the chapters dealing with his court Marshall but skimmed them. Resolved in true Hollywood fashion. Likewise, the improbability of the fate that befell Diane is mind boggling and once again true Hollywood. Makes you wonder if he was hoping to sell it to a studio.
    • 3/5
      A friend of mine highly recommended this book to me, which leaves me pondering what to say to her. I think the book was fine, predictable, but not outstanding. The story is character driven, flipping between Tommy Bedford's childhood and the events unfolding there (between life in an English boarding school through a move to Hollywood with his starlet sister and her cowboy-movie-star boyfriend) and current day events, where adult Tom Bedford tries to both patch his failed relationship with his Marine son, who is on trial for murder while serving in Iraq. None of the story-lines were a surprise, in fact they were pretty predictable, but it was interesting to see how Evans played them out. Not sure that I'd call the book outstanding, but it was an easy read on a chilly day. I guess when your first book is a run-away best seller, it may be hard to keep the pace alive.
    • 3/5
      Evans always does emotions so well, but it was not up to his usual standard.
    • 4/5
      The Brave turned out to be a very emotional audiobook that left the reader wondering how things could turn out good in the opening of the story, with a young boy visiting his mother in prison. The story is read by Michael Emerson who I believe did an outstanding job of bringing to life the character of both young Tommy, and the man he grew to become known as Tom.Tom is a divorced father living alone in Montana needing to offer support to his son Danny who is facing a military crisis. Tom has never had a real relationship with his son since Danny was a young boy, and soon starts to revisit the memories of his own childhood as a way to come to terms with the man that he has become. So the story proceeds to alternate between the present and the events that stand out in Tommy's childhood.Tommy lived his early years in England and as many young boys at that age were, found himself obsessed with a cowboy show. He seems to be a boy that is picked on quite often and that only gets worse when he is sent away to the Ashlawn Preparatory School. That all changes for Tommy when his sister Diane shows up at the school to visit Tommy with his idol from his favorite cowboy show, Ray Montane. Diane wanted to be an actress for as long as Tommy could remember and it appears that she has had her lucky break. Ray pledges his love to Diane and offers to take both her and Tommy back to Hollywood with him and hopefully give her a chance at the 'big screen'.When they arrive in Hollywood, life for Tommy and Diane is more than they ever could have imagined! There was the glitz and glamour, Hollywood parties where Diane showed up on the handsome Ray's arm, and the opportunity for Diane to make herself known in the world of 'show biz'. With this wonderful lifestyle how could it not have a happy ending? As Diane's career seems to be evolving and is making a name for herself, Ray's career seems to be fizzling out as it appears to be the end of the cowboy era. Diane see's a new side of Ray that is not as appealing as the man she first met. And as he continues his downward spiral secrets and emotions will come full circle as we follow Tom's journey through his childhood memories. I must admit that I wasn't really enjoying this audiobook when I first started it, but by the time I was done with the second disc there was no way I couldn't complete it. It is full of great characters, family secrets, old time Hollywood, and turned out to be quite an emotional ride. I do not hesitate in recommending this audiobook.
    • 4/5
      I listened to the audiobook version of The Brave read by Michael Emerson (Lost) and it was wonderful. It's one of those books that vacillates between the present and 40 years earlier. It starts off with a visit to death row by a 13 year old boy to his mother. The reason for her conviction is kept from the reader until the very end of the book and the author weaves a very suspenseful tale that really kept my interest.
    • 4/5
      The Brave is a novel of Tom Bedford's life. It alternates between telling about his boyhood (bullied in an English boarding school, hanging around Hollywood movie-making, and ending up in Montana), and his latest adulthood drama (being supportive of a son who is accused of killing civilians in wartime). We know from the start that Tommy's mother was executed for a crime; we don't know the details until the end.I really enjoyed the parts about Tommy's childhood. Tommy was a very sympathetic character, as he dealt with all the changes in his young life. I wasn't as thrilled with the parts about Tom's adulthood -- he seemed a "bit player" in the main drama, the potential court-martial of his son. By the end, parallels were drawn between past and present, and I did like the conclusion.If you are drawn to this book because it's written by the author of "The Horse Whisperer" and has horses on the cover, be warned that horses are a fairly small part of the story.
    • 4/5
      Tommy Bedford is seen visiting his mother, so he can say goodby before she is executed after being found guilty of murder.The novel opens in 1959, in England where Tom is eight-years-old and lives in a fantasy world of cowboys and Indians. He's a quiet boy and dealing with a bed wetting issue. His parents are sympathetic but much older than the parents of most of his friends.When he's sent to Ashlawn Prep Boarding School, he faces bullying and sadistic behavior by one of the staff. It gets so bad that he smuggles a letter to his sister, begging her to get him out of the school.His sister, Diane, is an actress and it isn't until the next year that she can help. She has become a successful actress and moved to Hollywood. She begins dating Ray Montane, who is famous for his cowboy character, Red McGraw.Imagine the effect on a little boy, now age nine, when his actress sister and her famous husband, arrive at his boarding school. Tom's esteem soars but then he becomes confused when his sister admits that she's really his mother. Then she tells him that she and Ray will be able to provide for him in their Hollywood home.The story is interlaced between events of the past and what is happening currently. We learn of the circumstances when sixteen-year-old Diane became pregnant and see Tom, now in his fifties, is a divorced filmmaker and writer. The emotional abuse he had growing up has led to his escape into alcohol which ruined his marriage and changed the rest of his life.This is a powerful, character driven novel. The pacing is done gradually so the reader can see more of the events that shape the novel. Tom and Diane are sympathetic characters and the author of "The Horse Whisperer," has created another novel that will entertain readers.
    • 4/5
      This book was beautiful. Which sounds like a weird way to describe a book, especially one with a few murders in the plot... But beautiful is such a great word for it. The characters were all great. I loved Tommy and Diane. Cal was another great character. The story follows Tommy through his life growing up in England, moving to Hollywood, and eventually "settling down" in Montana. The whole way through I was so captivated by what he was going through. The opening scene with Tommy and his mother is so captivating that I couldn't help but care what happens to Tommy through the rest of the story. The writing was beautiful in this story. Since it was an audiobook that I read I can imagine some of the imagery was as much from the writing as it was from the narrator's voice. But either way I could see everything that was going on. The descriptions weren't long and drawn out, but everything I saw in my head was on a large scale. I didn't just see where the action was happening, if they were in a room I saw the whole room, if they were outside I could see the whole scaling landscape around the area. I think the writing and the narration were such a perfect fit for each other that this book really was able to take on a life of it's own for me. The story itself was great also. The story jumps around in Tommy's life. Each part of the story answers one question and then raises another. Even when the story jumps forward it somehow is able to answer the questions from the past... The story wasn't always fast-paced, but it wasn't boring either. Everything about this story just hit that perfect balance. The narrator for this one was amazing. I don't like to see who narrates before I start and audiobook because then as I'm listening to the book all the characters take on the narrator (especially if it is someone famous). While I was listening I kept thinking to myself this voice is so familiar, and when I finished and looked to see who it was I realized why I liked the narration so much. Michael Emerson has such a great voice. I loved Lost, and even though I didn't so much like Ben I do like the guy who plays Ben. He was able to give each of the characters their own voice, without making them sound fake or "put on". I loved the narration as much as I loved the story. A review copy of this title was provided by Hachette Book Group.
    • 3/5
      A major disappointment. had much higher expectation after reading Horse Whisperer, Continental Divide ect...The plot is convulted yet simp[lisitic and rarely credible especially the court martial scene of the protagonist's son not to mention the conviction and execution of his mother for the death of her abusive husband (it turns out that er son the protagonist is the guilty party but shhe covers for him. from trial to execution it takes about 2-3 years...a fantasy has capital punishment crimes typically take 15-20 after appeals for the execution to take place.Was hoping for his forte, wildlife, animal and wilderness got Hollywood, unformed characters, nonsensical or unexplained threads to try and tie this story together.
    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed this book. Evans has done it again!
    • 5/5
      This book starts off with a kid in boarding school being horribly bullied, and as a reader you desperately want him to get one over on the bullies. Well as far as that goes, this book delivers in magnificent style. The Speech Day section was such a joy. When it comes to living the dream, central character Tommy does it in some style. Of course it all has to go horribly wrong, as the very first chapter makes clear, but what a journey. This had a slightly more low-brow feel than the author’s other work, but you can’t fault it for readability.
    • 1/5
      I was unable to keep up, and became so bored I was unable to finish it. One of the only books I did not finish, but I don't plan on ever wasting the time to do so.
    • 4/5
      Loved it. Loved the Horse Whisperer, so I KNEW this would be good... now I have a read a few more of his older books. Great story- you had to read to the very last chapter to resolve the issues in the book... of course, there were horses and gorgeous scenery... great read!
    • 3/5
      Cowboys in Hollywood.This book started out with a powerful first chapter, where young Tommy visits his mother in prison, on death row, the day before her execution. The following chapters, however, didn't live up to the original promise. I found the two time frames - Tommy as a child and then as Tom, the adult, were confusing, possibly because so many of the characters remained the same. I struggled to keep myself in the correct era. By the middle of the book I'd totally lost interest and my rating dropped by another star.Young Tommy is cowboy mad, he watches all the westerns on TV, has his favourite cowboy characters and plays cowboys and Indians in his garden. When he is sent to boarding school at just five years old, he is considered strange by his peers. He is bullied by boys and staff alike, until rescue comes in the form of a real-life cowboy.As an adult, divorced from his wife and estranged from his son, Danny, he lives a lonely existence as a script writer. Then Danny is accused of murder and the family is reunited in his defense.All books have their strengths and weaknesses and I was impressed by Evans' descriptions of Hollywood and the wilds of Montana. However, I found the plot rather plodding, with not a lot of reward. There wasn't much depth in the narration, jumping from school in England, to the razzmatazz of Hollywood, to ranching in Montana, without going into much detail at each phase. Personally, I think you would have to be a cowboy fan to really enjoy this book, and in that respect it is a bit dated, westerns being now, very much a thing of the past.Nicholas Evans was originally a movie script writer and that was how this book read. He has already cut out all the detail that is usually erased when a book becomes a movie.A light read, voted three stars by myself and the members of my book group.
    • 4/5
      The motto of the boarding school to which Tommy Bedford is dispatched is Fortune Favours the Brave. It's 1959 and the school bristles with bullies and sadistic staff. Tommy, a quirky loner, obsessed with cowboys and Indians, needs all the bravery he can summon. Salvation comes when his glamorous actress sister is swept off to Hollywood by one of his heroes, TV cowboy Ray Montane. But with the Cold War looming, the sinister side of Tinseltown seeps through and Tommy and Diane soon find themselves in jeopardy. Forty years on, Tommy has to confront his boyhood ghosts when his own son finds himself charged with murder.My Thoughts:I had read ‘The Divide’ before which I really enjoyed but have never fancied anything else by Nicholas Evans. This book however is for book group so I have given it ago and have to say was quite surprised how much I did like it.The book is very easy to read and has a nice flow to it. The story is told with flashbacks to Tommy’s childhood and then in the present. I enjoyed the flashbacks a lot more than Toms’s adult life. My favourite character had to be Diane and I was with her all the way and if I had been in her shoes then I know I would have done the same. Will ask at book group what they think might have happened if the truth had been told at the time. Can’t really say here as I don’t want to create any spoilers.My only negative is that I found the book predictable and I did guess quite early on what was the first major thing to happen to Tommy and later in the book again I guessed the second major revelation. I also found the book a little sugary at the end. The book was a cosy read and is perfect for a Sunday afternoon when stopping in is an option due to all the rain.