Here If You Need Me: A True Story - Couverture rigide

Ten years ago, Kate Braestrup and her husband Drew were enjoying the life they shared together. They had four young children, and Drew, a Maine state trooper, would soon begin training to become a minister as well. Then early one morning Drew left for work and everything changed. On the very roads that he protected every day, an oncoming driver lost control, and Kate lost her husband.

Stunned and grieving, Kate decided to continue her husband's dream and became a minister herself. And in that capacity she found a most unusual mission: serving as the minister on search and rescue missions in the Maine woods, giving comfort to people whose loved ones are missing, and to the wardens who sometimes have to deal with awful outcomes. Whether she is with the parents of a 6-year-old girl who had wandered into the woods, with wardens as they search for a snowmobile rider trapped under the ice, or assisting a man whose sister left an infant seat and a suicide note in her car by the side of the road, Braestrup provides solace, understanding, and spiritual guidance when it's needed most.

HERE IF YOU NEED ME is the story of Kate Braestrup's remarkable journey from grief to faith to happiness. It is dramatic, funny, deeply moving, and simply unforgettable, an uplifting account about finding God through helping others, and the tale of the small miracles that occur every day when life and love are restored.

Reading her story, Braestrup is a good narrator. Her voice is warm and clear, and it is a comfortable voice. One that the listerner can well imagine hearing in time of need. Braesrup's style is almost plain language, but to think of it as simple is a disservice. It is straight-forward, honest, and puts us there. When Braestrup is talkng in the here and now, about actual events and the people she serves, the book is sharp, clear, and focused. She made me laugh out loud on more  than one occasion. I was comforted by Braestrup's kind voice and gentle story-telling skills. Even the moments in the book that are sad are told in a way that makes you see what an important role she has in this world where things do not always end happily.

"....[Kate's] reading of her story has both a tenderness and an authority that make the audiobook an even more intimate experience than the print book...." (AudioFile 2009)