Running Barefoot is told in first person, from Josie’s point of view. Running Barefoot can be added to the list of incredible work Gilbert has done. I can honestly say I’ve never been disappointed in any of her narrations. Once again, narrator Tavia Gilbert delivers a stunning performance. Can he save her? Will they be able to claim the love they’ve both kept secret for the past ten years? Now, it’s his turn to be the teacher and the inspiration, for something in Josie has broken. Both of them change drastically before Samuel returns to the town of Lavan and the woman he has always loved.

He and Josie exchange letters for a time, but they eventually lose contact. Samuel does leave town upon his graduation. He knows he’s falling in love with her, but he also knows it’s inappropriate because of her age. Through her, he discovers a love of books and music. Meeting Josie changes Samuel in ways he never imagines possible. Now that he’s living among white people, all he wants is to graduate and join the marines. Although there is much of his Navajo heritage he cherishes, Samuel doesn’t want to spend his life on the reservation, herding sheep. His father died years ago, and his mother is content to live on a reservation with a man who has been known to be abusive. Samuel is a troubled eighteen-year-old, burdened by feelings of unworthiness. Although she’s too young to realize it, she has fallen in love with Samuel. At first, she’s intimidated by his sternness, but slowly, the two form a fast friendship unlike anything Josie has known before. When Josie is thirteen, she meets Samuel Yazzie, the Native American grandson of one of her neighbors. Needless to say, it isn’t easy for Josie to feel like she fits into the small Utah town where she’s lived all her life.

She’s also an extremely talented pianist, close to a prodigy in status. Josie is wise beyond her years, and possesses a maturity that astounds and puzzles those around her. Her mother died when she was nine, leaving her the only girl in a family of men.

Josie Jensen is different from everyone she knows. Running Barefoot, with Tavia Gilbert as the narrator, did not disappoint me. After reading and falling in love with Amy Harmon’s A Different Blue, I knew it wouldn’t be long before I felt compelled to listen to another one of her books.

Running Barefoot by Amy Harmon