Bug Hollow
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Bug Hollow
Narrated by:
Emily Rankin
Buy Now for £17.94
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Narrated by:
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Emily Rankin
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By:
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Michelle Huneven
About this listen
'Wonderful. A moving portrait of an imperfect family' Jennie Godfrey
'I adored it' Claire Lombardo
'A gorgeous, sprawling family saga' Literary Hub
Summer, California, 1970s. Sally Samuelson is eight years old, and the course of her family's life is about to change.
When Ellis, her older brother, tragically fails to return from a week up the coast, the world of the Samuelsons never spins on the same axis again. Especially when Julia, Ellis's girlfriend, shows up pregnant on their doorstep.
And over the next four decades, the family fractures and rebuilds again and again - in a story that takes in grief, love affairs, illnesses, late-in-life marriages and long-hidden secrets, to show one complicated but loving family trying to make sense of the world.
'Crackles with compassion . . . I inhaled this book in a weekend, regretting only that it would ever end' Leslie Jamison
'Like a narrative love child of Alice Munro's stories and Elizabeth Strout's novels' New York Times Book Review
'Huneven is a literary sister to Ann Patchett, Anne Tyler and Tessa Hadley' Raffaella Barker
'I couldn't stop reading this story of a beautiful, broken and quirky family who feel utterly real' Ericka Waller
Readers are loving Bug Hollow . . .
'This book broke my heart and put it back together' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'A beautiful portrait of a complicated, ordinary, and extraordinary family' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'Anyone who loved Anne Patchett's Tom Lake should get their hands on Bug Hollow' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'May be one of my favourite books of all time' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'The perfect nostalgic summer book' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'Rarely do I find a book so real and heartwarming. I loved every character, flaws and all' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'Best book I read this year!' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'This novel just wedged its way into my heart and soul' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'If you're a fan of Anne Tyler and Elizabeth Strout, you will love this' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐©2025 Michelle Huneven
Critic reviews
Phil and Sibyl Samuelson and their three children are at the center of this deeply satisfying novel, but Huneven's leaps through time and stories provide constant surprise and delights . . . Reading the novel feels like watching a master painter at work: color is laid down, forms emerge, and then at the end your breath is taken away, because it has all come together (Ann Napolitano, author of Hello Beautiful)
Bug Hollow is wonderful. A moving portrait of an imperfect American family, this novel is a world I got lost in. I enjoyed it hugely (Jennie Godfrey, author of The List of Suspicious Things)
Michelle Huneven is such an elegant, watchful writer, and she has immense love and compassion for her characters. This is a novel that lays bare the tenderness of the world, exploring its breadth and smallness at once. I adored it (Claire Lombardo, author of Same as it Ever Was)
Bug Hollow crackles with compassion and propulsion, offering the layered pleasures of the long view - the evolving fortunes and dynamics of a family across decades - without ever surrendering the texture of their days or the pulse of their trippy hearts, their capacity to surprise themselves and us. I inhaled this book in a weekend, grateful to feel it simmering and swirling inside me, regretting only that it would ever end. Michelle Huneven is a treasure, and Bug Hollow gives us the song of her sentences and the glorious telescope of her attention with a whittled, nimble intensity that took my breath away (Leslie Jamison, author of The Empathy Exams)
Michelle Huneven gets under the skin and into the heart. Reading her is like calling your best friend for a long overdue catch up-confiding, clever and with the rush of connection that lucid, fine-tuned prose creates. Pages fly with phrasing so right it feels like you were born knowing it, and peopled with characters more real than seems possible. Michelle Huneven is sister in the blood to Ann Patchett, Anne Tyler and Tessa Hadley. If this is her sixth novel, I am in for the rest please (Raffaella Barker, author of From a Distance)
A wonderful novel. I enjoyed it so much (Polly Samson, author of A Theatre for Dreamers)
This book is beyond. I couldn't stop reading. Insightful and tender, the story of a beautiful, broken and quirky family who feel utterly real. I didn't want it to end (Ericka Waller, author of Goodbye Birdie Greenwing)
Michelle Huneven's wondrous and intimate journey of the Samuelson family embedded me with their deepest secrets, greatest loves, epic heartbreaks and a grief that touched them all for generations. Huneven's piercing observations of moments big and small left me feeling not just their witness, but more a distant relative emotionally invested in their outcome. I'm going to carry the Samuelsons in my heart for a very long time (Griffin Dunne, author of The Friday Afternoon Club)
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