The History of Sound (PB) by Ben Shattuck

Winner of the Story Prize Spotlight Award • Winner of the 2025 Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award • Longlisted for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction & the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction

Now a major motion picture starring Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor, this extraordinary collection of interconnected stories has captivated readers and critics alike. Named an ALA Notable Book and one of NPR’s “Books We Love,” Ben Shattuck’s debut is what The Boston Globe calls “polyphonic fiction… a reminder of the short story’s power.”

Twelve luminous stories span three centuries of New England life, each one paired with a companion piece that reveals hidden connections, long-buried secrets, and the unexpected ways our past echoes into the present. The haunting title story follows two men who meet at a piano in a smoky Maine bar, then spend a fateful summer recording folk songs in the shadow of World War I. Decades later, a woman discovers those same wax cylinders while cleaning her new house, setting off reverberations that ripple through time.

From 1700s Nantucket to contemporary New Hampshire woods, these stories pulse with salt air and pine. Shattuck weaves together families, lovers, and strangers across generations, exploring how history gets misremembered, how desire transforms, and how we’re forever searching for home. Written with breathtaking humanity and quiet humor, this is literary fiction that lingers like morning fog over Perkins Cove—beautiful, mysterious, and impossible to forget.

Perfect for readers who love interconnected narratives, New England settings, and stories that reward careful attention.

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