You Feel It Just Below the Ribs

A Novel

By: Jeffrey Cranor, Janina Matthewson

Narrated by: Kirsten Potter, Adepero Oduye

A haunting, provocative novel, You Feel It Just Below the Ribs is a fictional autobiography in an alternate twentieth century that chronicles one woman’s unusual life, including the price she pays to survive and the cost her choices hold for the society she is trying to save.

Born at the end of the old world, Miriam grows up during The Great Reckoning, a sprawling, decades-long war that nearly decimates humanity and strips her of friends and family. Devastated by grief and loneliness, she emotionally exiles herself, avoiding relationships or allegiances, and throws herself into her work—disengagement that serves her when the war finally ends, and The New Society arises.

To ensure a lasting peace, The New Society forbids anything that may cause tribal loyalties, including traditional families. Suddenly, everyone must live as Miriam has chosen to—disconnected and unattached. A researcher at heart, Miriam becomes involved in implementing this detachment process. She does not know it is the beginning of a darkly sinister program that will transform this new world and the lives of everyone in it. Eventually, the harmful effects of her research become too much for Miriam, and she devises a secret plan to destroy the system from within, endangering her own life.

But is her “confession” honest—or is it a fabrication riddled with lies meant to conceal the truth?

A jarring and uncanny tale of loss, trauma, and the power of human connection and deception, You Feel It Just Below the Ribs is a portrait of a disturbing alternate world eerily within reach, and an examination of the difficult choices we must make to survive in it.

Love it!

I've been a fan of the Within the Wires podcast since it first released. To get a bigger bite of this intriguing world through this book is such a delight. I was captivated from start to finish, with more questions and answers as the story progressed. Very compelling and thought provoking. Love it!!

Made a great impression!

I loved this book! I'm a fan of Welcome to Night Vale, so I may be a bit biased. but I found the story to be very compelling. The narrators draw you in, and by the end you can see how their styles compliment each other as they play their characters.
The story itself makes you think about how history is written from different points of view.
Definitely would recommend!

Who is the reliable narrator? Great listen!

Great audio book! Compelling story with an excellent delivery. I was left constantly doubting the reliability of both the main narrator and the secondary narrator.

Makes you think

It really does. Who do we trust? What institutions, which accounts? Who gets to tell the story of the “truth”?

Awesome Book

I drank this in one sitting. Planned to break it into chapters but honestly, I cant think of a better way to have spent a day. Powerful narration and a beautifully written work of fiction.