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The Solace of Open Spaces book cover
Author-Narrated Wyoming Memoir

The Solace of Open Spaces

by Gretel Ehrlich

Audiobook Narrated by Gretel Ehrlich 4 hrs and 44 mins

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A writer's profound meditation on life in the vast, unforgiving landscape of Wyoming, where solitude and wide horizons offer unexpected healing. After personal tragedy, Gretel Ehrlich finds herself drawn to work as a ranch hand amongst the taciturn cowboys and endless plains of the American West, discovering a world where nature's raw beauty shapes both land and character.

Through luminous essays, she explores the rhythms of ranch life, the stoicism of those who inhabit these empty spaces, and the surprising solace found in wilderness and weather. Her observations range from the practical details of sheep-herding to philosophical reflections on loneliness, community, and what it means to belong to a place. This is nature writing at its most intimate and transformative—a testament to how wild places can mend the human spirit.