The History of Sound

Description

“Exquisitely crafted, deeply imagined, exhilaratingly diverse, The History of Sound places Ben Shattuck firmly among the very finest of our storytellers.”
—Geraldine Brooks, New York Times bestselling author of Horse

A stunning collection of interconnected stories set in New England, exploring how the past is often misunderstood and how history, family, heartache, and desire can echo over centuries

In twelve luminous stories set across three centuries, The History of Sound examines the unexpected ways the past returns to us and how love and loss are entwined and transformed over generations. In Ben Shattuck’s ingenious collection, each story has a companion story, which contains a revelation about the previous, paired story. Mysteries and murders are revealed, history is refracted, and deep emotional connections are woven through characters and families.

The haunting title story recalls the journey of two men who meet around a piano in a smoky, dim bar, only to spend a summer walking the Maine woods collecting folk songs in the shadow of the First World War, forever marked by the odyssey. Decades later, in another story, a woman discovers the wax cylinders recorded that fateful summer while cleaning out her new house in Maine. Shattuck’s inventive, exquisite stories transport readers from 1700s Nantucket to the contemporary woods of New Hampshire and beyond—into landscapes both enduring and unmistakably modern. Memories, artifacts, paintings, and journals resurface in surprising and poignant ways among evocative beaches, forests, and orchards, revealing the secrets, misunderstandings, and love that linger across centuries.

Written with breathtaking humanity and humor, The History of Sound is a love letter to New England, a radiant conversation between past and present, and a moving meditation on the abiding search for home.Advance Praise for The History of Sound

“Exquisitely crafted, deeply imagined, exhilaratingly diverse, The History of Sound places Ben Shattuck firmly among the very finest of our storytellers.”
—Geraldine Brooks, New York Times bestselling author of Horse

“Shattuck has recovered what was thought lost—in American history, natural history, and unspoken human longing—and returned it to us on the page. This is what great art does. Lovingly detailed, beautifully told, with interconnections that make the reader gasp aloud, these stories are unlike anything on your bookshelf. I love The History of Sound and you will too. Get it now.”
—Andrew Sean Greer, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Less and Less Is Lost

“The History of Sound is much more than a stunning short story collection—the best I’ve read in more than a decade—it’s a seductive cluster of interweaving narratives that will keep you turning the pages even as you savor each story’s specificity, heart, and wit. Ben Shattuck writes about music, painting, history, and the natural world with such authority and grace, but it’s his characters that stay with you in their desperate attempts to make sense of this inexplicable world. I can’t wait to read whatever Ben Shattuck has coming next.”
—Nathaniel Philbrick, author of In the Heart of the Sea, Mayflower, and Travels with George

“Ben Shattuck’s stories are stunning: enthralling, suspenseful, and haunting; often witty and always deeply moving. Like Alice Munro and Andrea Barrett, he has a keen eye for the mysterious intersections of human nature with nature itself—and a knack for capturing the span of an entire life in a single tale, each resonating with others to create a book about history, destiny, and the way we live now. At the end, I longed for more.” 
—Julia Glass, author of Vigil Harbor and Three Junes

“In braiding themselves together, The History of Sound’s stories generate the most ingenious and pleasing and moving evocation of New England, in all its seasonal and geographic variety. Over time—from 1696 to Radiolab—mysteries posed in one story are off-handedly addressed years later in another, protagonists become someone else’s minor character, and fates are meted out as each new narrative throws a crucial contextualizing light upon the other. Ben Shattuck is a devoted magpie: these stories celebrate the earth’s music and bounty, and remind us how diminished we are when severed from who and what we loved.” 
—Jim Shepard, author of The Book of Aron and Like You’d Understand, Anyway

“Beautifully constructed, emotionally resonant, and richly rooted in the natural world, these stories chime memorably through time and space.”
—Andrea Barrett, author of Ship Fever and Natural History

“The stories in this beautifully written book toggle between the past and the present, and their subjects include the natural world in and around New England, and, within that natural world, a cultural landscape that includes music, faith, love, and murder. Ben Shattuck is a gifted writer who is wonderfully generous and wide-ranging in his concerns. He cares deeply about those in peril, those in need of help and aid, and his imagination goes out to them. Like the novelists of the 19th century, he looks upon the world with wonder, as if no one had ever really seen it or its secrets or made an account of it before. In every sense, this is a wonderful book.”
—Charles Baxter, author of Feast of Love and There’s Something I Want You to DoBen Shattuck is the author of Six Walks: In the Footsteps of Henry David Thoreau, which was a New Yorker Best Book of 2022, a Wall Street Journal Best Book of Spring, a New York Times Best Book of Summer, a New England Indie Bestseller, and was nominated for the Massachusetts Book Award. He is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and winner of the PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers and a Pushcart Prize. He lives with his wife and daughter on the coast of Massachusetts, where he owns and runs the oldest general store in America, built in 1793. He is also the director and founder of the Cuttyhunk Island Writers’ Residency.

1.     The stories in The History of Sound are linked in clever and surprising ways. What did you think of this puzzle-like structure? How did these connections between stories enhance your reading experience? Were there any narrative threads from these pairs that you’d like to see continued in another story?
 
2.     The collection is deeply concerned with what we pass on, knowingly or unwittingly, over generations. Is there a particular object in your life that you think might have significance on a future generation?
 
3.     Several of the stories are concerned with the lasting imprint of first love. What role, if any, does first love play in your life? How do you think about that relationship and time?
 
4.     How does the northeastern landscape contribute to the overall atmosphere and mood of the book? Can you draw any parallels between the physical setting and the emotional or psychological state of the characters? How does your immediate environment impact your life?
 
5.     Have you ever uncovered a hidden or unknown family story or history? How did it impact your understanding of your family’s past and your own identity?
 
6.     Discuss the theme of home and belonging as it appears across these stories. How do the characters define and redefine home over time? How do you think about home?
 
7.     Many of the transcendent moments in The History of Sound are spurred by a character’s realization about the natural world. Do you turn to nature when you’re seeking clarity? What have you found there?
 
8.     Considering the dialogue between past and present that connects each story, did reading this collection make you think differently about how you view the past? Do you think that misunderstandings and longings have a way of coming back to us in unexpected ways?

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