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    The Untold
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    The Untold
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    The Untold
    Audiobook6 hours

    The Untold

    Written by Courtney Collins

    Narrated by Courtney Collins

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    With shades of Water for Elephants and True Grit, a stunning debut novel set in the Australian outback about a female horse thief, her bid for freedom, and the two men trying to capture her.

    It is 1921. In a mountain-locked valley, Jessie is on the run.

    Born wild and brave, by twenty-six she has already lived life as a circus rider, horse and cattle rustler, and convict. But on this fateful night she is just a woman wanting to survive though there is barely any life left in her.

    Two men crash through the bushland, desperate to claim the reward on her head: one her lover, the other the law.

    But as it has always been for Jessie, it is death, not a man, who is her closest pursuer and companion. And while all odds are stacked against her, there is one who will never give up on her-her own child, who awaits her.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateMay 29, 2014
    ISBN9780698163928
    Unavailable
    The Untold
    Author

    Courtney Collins

    Courtney Collins lives on the Goulburn River in regional Victoria, Australia. The Untold is her first novel, and she is currently at work on her second novel.

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    Reviews for The Untold

    4/5

    54 ratings19 reviews

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    • 4/5
      So far so good
    • 5/5
      An exciting ride! An extraordinary story told from even more extraordinary perspective. Loved it!
    • 4/5
      I liked this book, but I'm not sure I loved it. It was visually beautiful, which is enormously important in a book that takes place in the forested mountains of Australia. But aside from a group of young boys the main character Jessie befriends while she is hiding out from the law (because she killed a man), none of the characters really pulled me into the story. I just didn't care what happened to them. Thankfully, it was also a short read. With very little character depth to get in to, I felt like I was practically breezing through it. Recommended for someone looking for a pretty, short read.
    • 2/5
      I received this book for early review from LibraryThing.A quick read. Honestly, it didn't do a lot for me. The beginning of the book was strong (the prologue and Jessie's first pages), and the back and forth of Jessie/baby chapters vs Jack Brown chapters caught me. Unfortunately, though, I lost interest, probably around the point of her initial flight and encounter with the old man and old woman. Maybe it was a combination of the starkness and Jessie's laconic premonitions - her story became less and less compelling, to the point where I didn't really care if she was caught or no. An interesting way of telling the tale, but not enough to hold interest.
    • 3/5
      3.5 stars**contains spoilers**This is the fictionalized story of Jessie Hickman/Henry/Bell/Hunt/Payne, a horse rustler in 1840s Australia, a wild and harsh place. When the book opens, Jessie has just killed someone and is on the run (again). The book tells the story of her journey toward the wilderness mountains, where she figures she can disappear. In the meantime, two men are chasing her, and they won't give up.The book is beautifully written, and it has an interesting style of detached, almost dreamy language describing extremely harsh, violent settings and events. The lack of dialog tags (all dialog is in italics) helps with the stream-of-consciousness feel to the writing, but not in an overbearing way. I can see where it might get confusing at times, but I didn't have any trouble following it. I *will* say that the preface didn't become clear to me until an embarassingly long time after I'd finished the last page. Dur.Gotta be honest, though--I almost threw up (and threw the book down) when I got to page 9, and I'm no lightweight. It's brutal, seriously. [BEGIN SPOILERS] In the opening chapter (after the preface), Jessie goes into labor 2 months early, just after she's killed someone and needs to get away immediately. The baby is in trouble, but Jessie can't produce milk or help the baby breathe, so Jessie digs a grave, slits the baby's throat, buries her, and goes on her way. The rest of the book is then told mostly from the buried baby's perspective, which was really hard to take in places (the author does slip into limited third-person here and there).[END SPOILERS] I would recommend this book to people who like stories about outlaws, rustlers, the Australian Outback, and survival. I would NOT recommend this book to people sensitive to violence.
    • 5/5
      This is an amazing novel based on a real historical figure back in the 1920's. Jessie is a female horse rustler and trick rider on the run from the law in the rural Australian Hunter Valley. She's had a rough life, abandonment, abuse, you name it, she's survived it. She finally breaks and kills her drunken abusive husband and Is on the run from the law. The story describes her adventures fleeing the law, and the man she loves Jack Brown who is helping a seargent track her. But Jessie is a survivor and she does get help in unlikely places. The writing is beautiful, this author has a wonderful talent for description and storytelling. I was mesmerized by the whole thing. The ending is very satisfying as well. Highly recommended.
    • 5/5
      While reading this tale of the Australian bushwoman, Jesse, I felt that I was sitting around a campfire listening to an elderly, grizzled, cowboy, tell me a tale from the past. Instead, it is Jesse's murdered newborn who is our narrator. Jesse faces horrendous life choices, suffers abuse, makes do, survives prison, rustles cattle, and endures a loveless marriage. Quite a character and a spectacularly intriguing heroine! If an historical account of life in Australia in the early 1920's appeals to you, I highly recommend this book. My thanks to the author and Penguin's First to Read program for a complimentary copy.
    • 5/5
      I love a refreshing angle and an author that can paint pictures with her words, weaving a tale that engages many of the senses. I will be recommending this to friends and library patrons.
    • 3/5
      In The Untold the author tells us the story of a mythical woman known to have lived in a remote area of New South Wales in Australia in the early 1900s. The author's note at the end of the book, best read before reading the novel itself, explains that, although rumoured tales of the woman's life that still circulate amongst the locals cannot all be authenticated, there are records proving her existence and some facts surrounding her life are documented. Based on what little is known of the woman, the author has weaved together fact with fiction to create a vivid picture of Jessie and her life in the rugged, harsh environment in a sparsely populated and unforgiving terrain. The author effectively brought Jessie to life, and her story is told in fragments from the perspective of her dead infant who Jessie gave birth to two months premature. The child survived only briefly, and, alone and on the run from the law, Jessie was forced to hurriedly bury her child in a shallow grave. Although I admire the imagination and creativity of telling the story from the dead infant's perspective, I found it awkward. However, it didn't necessarily detract from the story the author so brilliantly and beautifully weaved together. Jessie's life was not by any means an easy one, but she used her wits and talents to survive multiple circumstances that could have easily ended the life of one less well-equipped. She fearlessly does what she must while struggling to retain a sense of humanity that was lost to many of those she encounters along the way. The harsh, untamed territory of that part of Australia is vividly brought to life and is in itself an essential character in this novel.The Untold is a good story of suspense and survival that I would recommend.I received this book as an Early Reviewer in exchange for a fair review, but that did not influence my review.
    • 4/5
      This story is told by the character with the shortest part in the story. I was suprised how quickly the story snag my intrest....Exciting times to be a woman whith many skills....
    • 5/5
      "My mother was not one to say oh dear or oh my. She was one to say fuck. And often."A hauntingly beautiful story that brings to life the story of Jessie Hickman, a woman who made her way through life in the Australian wilderness in the 1920's by traveling with a circus and then stealing horses. Jessie lands in prison and is released to Fitz Henry as a horse trainer, but Fitz has other ideas. Forced into marriage and worse, Jessie takes matters with Fitz into her own hands and becomes an outlaw once again. The choice of narrator for the story was the most compelling aspect for me. From the perspective of Jessie's dead and buried child, Jessie's character is built in a magical light from the person who loves her the most. The writing is in a beautiful prose that made for easy reading and there were many phrases that made me stop and think." That is how we differ, my mother and I: I do not know death as a river. I know it as a magic hall of mirrors and within it there is a door and the door opens both ways."While Jessie's story is captivating and her exploits could easily hold on their own, I actually wanted to know more about the buried child. It's story in death begins, but we don't really hear any more about it. A lot of interesting things were happening in the dirt! The secondary characters of Jack Brown and Andrew Barlow add another layer of mystery that I really did not see coming in the end! Overall, a unique and expertly written story of an Australian folk hero.This book was received for free in return for an honest review.
    • 4/5
      The start of the book is narrated by the dead baby of the principle character - the mother of the baby. The baby tells about how its mother got out of prison and was to live with a man who was supposed to be sort of a mentor as she tried to go straight. He, of course, turns out to be abusive and the rest of the novel is about what she does about it and the consequences thereafter. The first half of the novel is interesting and then there is a whole lot of wandering from spot to spot in rural Australia with not much happening. The book started with great promise and then bogged down in the second half.
    • 4/5
      Interesting choice of narrator. Not entirely sure it worked but it didn't stop me from really enjoying this novel. It was good storytelling and I really loved the way the ending wrapped up. I would be happy to read more by this author in the future
    • 4/5
      Once I got over the strange narrator, I enjoyed the story immensely and couldn't put it down. I love a good western, and although this takes place in Australia, it still fits the genre. Even more, I love a good female protagonist in a western. Jessie was a very interesting character and the jumping around between past and present helped to explain her motives. She made more and more sense as different things were revealed throughout the novel and the ending left on a hopeful note.
    • 4/5
      Told through the point of view of her dead child, this book follows the life of Jessie, a troubled youth turned wanted woman. Set in the 1920's Australian outback, this book chronicles the climax of Jessie's life. As a child she was adored by her father, but when he died she was sold by her mother to the circus. Her natural ability with horses leads her down a path of stardom, but eventually turns sour when the circus folds and Jessie is forced to find her own means of surviving. After a time in jail, Jessie is released to the care of a man who treats her like a piece of property. This story is wonderfully told - emotional, well-paced, and offers a bit of history not often explored.
    • 5/5
      Dark, fast-paced, and gripping this mesmerizing debut novel will be the defining definition of Australian noir. From the first line spoken, “If the dirt could speak, whose story would it tell?”, to the last line, “She said: I am here.”, the tender carefully affectionate narration by a dead baby of her mother’s life was a risky chance by the author may make the reader uncomfortable at first but so surprised me by how much empathy I had for the mother, the story’s main protagonist. It is 1921 and twenty-six year old Jessie has already been a circus performer, horse and cattle rustler, and convict. Seeking a slice of freedom that she defines for herself, Jessie is now escaping into the harsh unforgiving Australian bushland where freedom and death are often interchangeable. A substantial bounty on her head has bands of roguish of men hunting her down with dreams of relief from a hardscrabble life. But, two men hope to find her first; Black stockman Jack Brown and lawman Sergeant Andrew Barlow each harboring their own secret demons. This story is loosely based on the life of Elizabeth Jessie Hickman, and through imaginative storytelling makes the landscape as much a character as the embittered soldiers, aborigines, convicts, and others who populated the unforgiving terrain. It was a heart-stopping adventure which took me to the edge of the precipice and back many times as despair, hope, and faith imbued the characters. I look forward to reading more books by Courtney Collins.
    • 5/5
      Jessie Hickman was an Australian woman during the early 1900’s who traded a rough childhood for even harder life as a horse thief. Although a real person, this fictionalized account is narrated by a very unusual yet fascinating voice and encapsulates a moment in time in the Australian wilderness. Efficiently written, this novel takes an interesting backstory and turns it into an account of an extraordinary woman the two men who try to chase her down. I usually like chunky novels with lots of details but this novel excels at creating imagery out of subtlety and I found it hard to put down. I received this novel through LibraryThing.
    • 4/5
      The Burial is a poetic, reimagined tribute to the extraordinary life of legendary Australian 'lady bushranger', Jessie Hickman. Set in the 1920's, as Jessie flees the law after murdering her brutal husband, this is a brooding novel narrated by Jessie's dead newborn child, whose spirit remains tethered to her mother.I admire the lyrical nature of this novel with it's spare yet evocative phrasing. Collins paints incredible scenes, Jessie lying bleeding by the river barely conscious, the menace and beauty of the landscape of the Widden Ranges and the idyllic camp high in the mountains, home to a group of desperate children. Yet I must admit the narrative style is not one I am entirely comfortable with. As an omniscient observer, accompanying the narrator, there is a distance created that for me blunts the connection with the characters, even though I appreciate that it is a technique that allows Collins to move in and out of past and present to reveal Jessie's genesis.While The Burial is dark and melancholic, dwelling on loss and death, it also celebrates the triumph of survival against all odds. Jessie refuses to let go, refuses to give up, no matter the sacrifice and despite being dogged by ghosts, both living and dead. Her bravery and her determination is laudable and her trials unimaginable as she searches for grace and freedom.Gritty yet glorious, The Burial is an impressive debut. Collins has revealed an extraordinary voice sure to be embraced by the literati.
    • 4/5
      I think this is my fiction pick for 2012