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.

    Gap Creek: The Story of a Marriage
    Gap Creek: The Story of a Marriage
    Gap Creek: The Story of a Marriage
    Audiobook (abridged)4 hours

    Gap Creek: The Story of a Marriage

    Written by Robert Morgan

    Narrated by Jill Hill

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    An Oprah's Book Club SelectionAn unflinching tale of turn-of-the-century Appalachian life, Gap Creek chronicles the challenging first year in the marriage of Julie Harmon and Hank Richards. After losing both her father and brother before turning 17, Julie faces fire, flood, grifters, sickness, and starvation with grim determination and remarkable stamina. By capturing the earthy details of rural life, including raw, riveting accounts of everything from hog slaughtering to childbirth, Robert Morgan weaves the human and the heroic that coexist in every individual.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHighbridge Company
    Release dateJan 27, 2000
    ISBN9781598872286
    Gap Creek: The Story of a Marriage
    Author

    Robert Morgan

    Robert Morgan is a poet, novelist, and biographer. His most recent book is Boone: A Biography (2007), winner of the Kentucky Literary Award and finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Award. He is the recipient of fellowships and awards from the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters, as well as an honorary degree from his alma mater, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Since 1971 he has taught at Cornell University, where he is now Kappa Alpha

    More audiobooks from Robert Morgan

    Related to Gap Creek

    Related audiobooks

    Historical Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Between Innocence And Experience

      Jun 7, 2019

      At the centre of Poomani's novel, Heat, is Chidambaram, a boy who, in an act of daring and planning beyond his years, strikes down his elder brother's killer, Vadakkuraan. A powerful land-grabber, Vadakkuraan is always surrounded by his own armed men

      1 min read

    • Article

      'The Heart's Invisible Furies' Is the Funny, Touching Story of an Irish Everyman

      Sep 1, 2017

      Boyne's new novel follows its protagonist throughout the decades, from birth in 1945 to age 70, and the story encompasses a great deal of history.

      3 min read

    • Article

      Top 10 Books

      Feb 5, 2021

      Top 10 Books
      1 min read

    • Article

      In Conversation With Heather Morris

      Mar 16, 2020

      Heather Morris is author of global bestseller The Tattooist of Auschwitz, a fictionalisation of the story of Lale Sokolov, a Slovakian Jew, who fell in love at a concentration camp. Her new novel, Cilka’s Journey, is the much-anticipated sequel. Heat

      2 min read

    • Article

      Jay Baruchel

      Oct 26, 2019

      Jay Baruchel
      3 min read

    • Article

      Celeste Ng’s Hard Truths

      Sep 17, 2022

      Celeste Ng’s Hard Truths
      6 min read

    • Article

      'The Reformatory' Tells A Story Of Ghosts, Abuse, Racism — And Sibling Love

      Nov 2, 2023

      Tananarive Due's haunting, unflinching novel delves deep into the realities of the Jim Crow South and the very real horrors that took place at Florida reformatory schools in the 1950s.

      3 min read

    • Article

      A Deer with Dad

      Oct 1, 2018

      A Deer with Dad
      3 min read

    • Article

      Mystery Guide

      Dec 31, 2023

      Mystery Guide
      4 min read

    • Article

      Christison Braidyn

      Sep 28, 2020

      Christison Braidyn
      4 min read

    • Article

      Shanda

      Jan 1, 2024

      Shanda
      13 min read

    • Article

      The Girl On The Mountain

      Oct 5, 2021

      The Girl On The Mountain
      2 min read

    • Article

      My Pegasus

      Aug 27, 2020

      My Pegasus
      6 min read

    • Article

      Princess Bari

      Apr 15, 2019

      Princess Bari
      6 min read

    • Article

      BITS & PIECES

      Apr 4, 2023

      My father, Basil, was a hardworking West Virginia coal miner, so as a form of relaxation, he would do anything to make people laugh. For example, when my mom, Rachel, my sister, Brenda, and I prepared dinner, we all wore aprons that tied in the back.

      3 min read

    • Article

      Count Your Chickens

      Mar 5, 2018

      Count Your Chickens
      5 min read

    • Article

      You Girls Are Good

      Mar 31, 2022

      You Girls Are Good
      16 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Gap Creek

    3.5/5

    692 ratings33 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      one of my all time favorite books, sticks with you
    • 5/5
      I have read and/or listened to this book multiple times. I find it humorous and engaging. Everyone I have recommended it to has enjoyed it also. I do wish there were less he said/she said but otherwise I continue to find it a very worthy read. In my opinion it is the best Robert Morgan has written and a great Oprah pick.
    • 3/5
      I breezed through this book in two sittings. Morgan's writing flows so naturally that it's easy to devour, but don't look to this book for an uplifting read. This is a brutally honest look at the hard life of a young bride during the late 1800's.
    • 5/5
      I thought I had read this book before so when I picked it up and starting reading I realized I had confused it with another. I am so glad that I picked it up and got started. This was an incredible, pure, beautiful, heartbreaking story of the first year of a marriage. Julie is a young woman I will never forget.
    • 3/5
      In our modern world, we have no concept of how easy life is. This book drives that point home with every page. The water we so unconsciously get from the tap would have to be fetched at the spring, and maybe boiled, depending on conditions. The load of laundry we so carelessly throw in before leaving for the day used to take a full day's hard physical labor. The bread we pull out of the plastic sleeve would have to be hand-made with the flour that we milled and maybe the buttermilk that we churned after milking the cow, then put in the stove that we heated with the wood that we split, and on and on in a cycle of endless chores. Gap Creek is about work, both physical and emotional. Told from the view point of 17-year-old Julie Harmon in turn of the century (1900) Appalachia, the book describes the move from her own family where she did the work of a man due to her father's illness and death to her new home with her husband Hank where she still does the lion's share of work to help them make a start. Hank gets a job making bricks for a new mill, so Julie sets up housekeeping away from her family in an isolated area. This first home is actually in the cottage of an old widower who offered to let them stay there in exchange for meals and housekeeping. When the odious Mr. Pendergast dies due to burns from a house fire, their situation becomes even more precarious due the couple's naivete and the fact that they have no legal claim on the house and could be considered squatters. They live in fear of heirs showing up and are duped twice by people who claim to be them or represent them, and lose the only cash they had. Meanwhile they face fire, a freeze, flooding and famine, one calamity after another. The emotional work here is negotiating this new marriage, challenging in the best of times, but almost insurmountable in the obstacles they face. Julie is determined to be a good wife and keep Hank happy or at least stable, even after he loses his job due to a temper tantrum, lashes out at her verbally and physically and makes poor decisions. She is clever in the ways she appeases him and outsmarts him, but always with a loving intent. The story is simple and told in spare, but lyrical prose. Julie describes her relationship to work: "As I scrubbed the floor, I was scrubbing the world. And I was scrubbing my mind to make it clear. It was work that made me think clear and work that made me humble....it was with my hands and my back and shoulders that I could say how I feel." (122) Examples of just how strong she is include single-handedly butchering a pig (little too much detail involved -- like when they make head cheese in Little House on the Prairie!) and going through labor and delivering her own baby alone. ("This is work meant for me from the beginning of time" 284) So many situations should do her in, but she perseveres and the book offers hope, though not optimism.
    • 1/5
      Spoilers ahead

      Gap Creek by Robert Morgan was also a free friday book and it was an Oprah Book of the Month book as well. Oprah, you did not pick a winner here. The story is about the first year of marriage between a young couple in 1900 South Carolina. It started out strong, with Julie being an unusually hard working and dedicated woman, and that doesn’t change. But at some point she totally stops standing up for herself. At one point of the story she gets conned and when her husband finds out he slaps her in the face and calls her a “stupid heifer” and what does she do? NOTHING!! If i was her i would slapped him right back and walked out the door. And the whole rest of the book her husband is temperamental and just about useless. Until the end when he kind of redeems himself (not really) when he takes care of Julie and their sick baby after Julie birthed the baby at home, by herself. And in the end they lose everything the worked for and wind up leaving their home. WTF.
    • 3/5
      This was a hard book to read. It's the fictionalized story of the author's grandparents' first year of marriage and what a hardscrabble year it was. Like the old adage 'if it weren't for bad luck they would have no luck at all'. Fire, floods, bad mother-in-law, death of an infant; they had it all. I'm glad I finished they book but had I known I probably wouldn't have started it at all. Certainly not Little House on the Prairie.
    • 3/5
      The cover claims this is an Oprah's Book Club selection--I can't say I cared much for her choice.The story is mostly about Julie Harmon Richards, and most of it takes place after she married Hank Richards. I admire Julie's work ethic and her ability to push forward no matter what discouragements life put in her path. I think Hank really loves Julie, but he's not always much of a husband to her. Though I realize that this was set in a time when women didn't have all the opportunities they do today, I have to wonder if Julie really was better off with Hank or if she should have left him.Hank barely works in this novel--he has a job when they first get to Gap Creek--but as we later learn, he loses it when he hits a boss. I'm never clear on whether he really was searching for work or if he just assumed no one would hire him. He does go out an hunt occasionally and works around the house and farm at time, but most times we hear that Julie is doing the work not Hank in the narrative. I do hope he helped her with planting etc. I do wonder if they will make it as a couple long-term.Hank also likes to blame Julie and call her names. Though I do think he had a right to blame her when she gave away Pendergast's money to a (probably false) attorney, he did not have to call her a stupid heifer. It's almost justice when Hank is also tricked into giving away money (to someone claiming to be Pendergast's daughter). One would think they'd have learned from the first instance to ask for proof. In fact, by the third time someone comes around claiming to represent the heirs, I have to wonder if he really is an attorney--though since he comes with the pastor, we have to hope he truly is an attorney representing the heirs. I wondered if Hank was true to Julie. It sort of seemed like the author hinted that Hank might have had relations with Carolyn when she visited them and neither admitted it to Julie.It's a shame that they have to leave after doing all the work to plant crops and put up provisions.
    • 5/5
      Great read. I read this several years ago. Made me appreciate the blessings I have! Gave me an appreciation of people's true hardhsips. I'd recommend this book. I'll likely read it again.
    • 4/5
      This is the story of a young couple, Julie and Hank, at the beginning of their married life in Appalachia in 1900. Told from Julie's point of view, she struggles to understand her husband's ways and moods. They face one painful trial after another while she works like a mule to survive. The observations about human nature and nature make this a tender, often heartrending story.
    • 4/5
      Very sweet story. Beautiful visualization and believable characters. Wonderful book.
    • 4/5
      A very good book! Really engrossing from the very beginning. Good character development.
    • 4/5
      I've read this book before, and I didn't rate it very high, but after rereading it in preparation for reading the sequel, I enjoyed it much more. Perhaps being older has given me an appreciation for the hard work and hard times that Julie and Hank have. Morgan has done such a wonderful job in giving Julie a voice to tell her story of a hard life in the Appalachians many years ago, plus the story of her marriage. I'm now excited to read the sequel and see what life is ahead for this pair.
    • 3/5
      Gap Creek. Robert Morgan. 1999. I’ve wanted to read this book for years and I discovered it in my bookcase a few weeks ago. I don’t know how long I’ve had it or where I got it (Catholic Charities or Faith Rescue?). It is, as the blurb says, “The story of a Marriage.” Julie and Hank literally fall in love at first sight. They marry quickly and move to Gap Creek in the Appalachian Mountains. Not only do they have to learn to live with each other, Julie has to keep house and feed the nasty old man in whose house they are staying. She struggles with farm work and house work as well as a demanding mother-in-law as she slowly comes to realize she is the strong one in the family and she must keep her marriage together. A lovely little love story.
    • 1/5
      I started this book because I saw the author was about to release a sequel to it and I was interested ". This book started off fairly interesting, but quickly lost my attention. It is a very depressing look at a marriage at the end of the 19th century. It's a sad and dark book. I put it down and tried to come back to it several times, but I simply could not finish it. Its rare for me to quit a book before its done, but it was boring and I just did not like the main characters! Hank the husband is such a jerk.. I do NOT recommend this book and am actually quite surprised that it was an Oprah book club book!
    • 5/5
      My favorite book! Three major factors helped me determine this 1) After reading it, I continued to think about the characters and, even days later, wondering what happens next. 2) When reading other books, I find myself disappointed that the characters and plot aren't like Gap Creek. 3) I use my feelings about Gap Creek as a gauge for rating other books. In the pioneer days of the Appalachian Mountains a very young, naive girl marries a man she barely knows (which wasn't unusual for that time) and struggles to make a life. In a world where money, food, and resources are hard to come by, this girl grows into a woman. Through laughter, tears, and hard work she makes a life for herself and her family. A truly touching story that makes a reader appreciate how privileged we are in today's society. Can't wait to read the sequel!!P.S.If you like Gap Creek, I recommend The Hinterlands also by Robert Morgan.
    • 3/5
      This book was just ok....a very slow read, but the plot was missing...it basically gave the life of a woman in rural america at the turn of the century
    • 2/5
      Dont recommend. Story felt very incomplete.
    • 3/5
      By the time I finished reading "Gap Creek", it was hard to imagine that anything else could go wrong for Julie and Hank as they try to make a life for themselves in South Carolina at the end of the 19th century. This is a story of love, hardship and eternal hope that life is worth living and what a young couple have to endure. Amidst all the tragedies that befall Julie and Hank, there is always hope that there is a new beginning for them to move towards.Here is one notable passage for me from "Gap Creek":"Everybody looks younger in death... I wonder why.""Because they have stopped worrying.... All the grief goes out of them, if they went to heaven."
    • 4/5
      I loved this book, the imagery was amazing. The newlyweds and their progression through life working a farm under the watchful eye of the owner who is elderly. The flood was frightening and saving the animals was so important and yet they lost so much. The relationships between the characters was good, the old man was interesting and his death made me cry. Julie worked like a dog, even being pregnant. They learned and lived and loved and then lost so much that they needed to start over. This is a book that stays with you and you think about it for a long time. The end gave you hope and yet made you wonder why
    • 4/5
      This book is really beautiful. The characters are naive and their hopekulness during all thei hardship really touched me.
    • 4/5
      Amazing hardships, but a good story about a simpler life and simpler times.
    • 1/5
      The book is supposed to be set in Appalachia, in North Carolina, but if the author has ever been to that part of the country, it sure doesn't show. The book jacket says he lives there, but that has to be an error. After reading the book, along with a "thin" sense of place, I'm not absolutely certain I could say when the story takes place. He gives a clue once, but only once; I remember thinking that maybe it was around 1900, but now I don't remember why I thought so.The book was written in the first person, from the woman's perspective. There surely are male authors who can pull that off, but Morgan isn't one of them. Also, Morgan doesn't seem to know much about what these communities were actually like. Did he do any research for the book?
    • 5/5
      A wonderful account of a marriage during earlier, trying times. Filled with fascinating stuff about making do in an isolated living environment. Should be required reading by every young, pampered couple in the country whose idea of hardship is a two bedroom house.
    • 4/5
      A gripping tale about harsh life in Appalachia and a young couple's first year of marriage. This lyrical work includes a rather graphic depiction of childbirth. Another Oprah title with a body of water in the title!
    • 4/5
      Robert Morgan brings Appalachia to life in Gap Creek. The novel follows the struggles of newlywed, Julie Richards, in turn of the century South Carolina. Morgan’s ability to create a real sense of place, write natural dialogue and develop believable characters makes his books engaging from the first page on.
    • 4/5
      A raw portrait of basic day-to-day survival in an age very far removed from our modern day conveniences.
    • 3/5
      Good but not memorable book.
    • 4/5
      "It was the first time I ever noticed how the way the world looks don't have a thing to do with what's going on with people." (p.12) I thought this was the defining sentence of the book. Really put into perspective the tribulations of the time.
    • 3/5
      I enjoyed this title although I believe it is aimed for the teen crowd.