The Audiobook:

Comedy is probably not the first thing that springs to mind when we recall the Great Depression, but when Betty MacDonald recounted her experiences of that “hard” and “dreary” era in Anybody Can Do Anything, she found lots to laugh about.

Chronologically, this book takes place after her misadventures on a chicken ranch – the subject of Betty’s first book, The Egg and I – and before her account of a year spent in a tuberculosis sanatorium, recounted in The Plague and I (both of which are also available in audio from Post Hypnotic Press). Despite the hilarity with which she described her time spent chicken farming, she was unhappy in her marriage and terribly lonely. Anybody Can Do Anything opens with her leaving the farm and her husband and making her way with her two children back to Seattle and the bosom of her family, just as the Depression begins. She and her family – a mother, a brother, and three sisters, plus her two young girls – live in a “modest dwelling in a respectable neighborhood, near good schools and adequate for a normal family.” As the Depression goes on, they find much comfort in having that home and in having each other to rely on and commiserate with.

The Narrator:

We are incredibly fortunate to have the award winning Heather Henderson narrating Betty MacDonald’s wonderful memoirs. Heather’s warm voice, knack for characterizations and engagement with Betty MacDonald’s writing equal a superb listening experience. And we’re not the only one’s who have noticed. Henderson was a finalist in the 2015 Voice Arts Awards for her narration of The Egg and I, and a UK audible customer wrote:

“Not a reader I had come across but she is amazing – she brings out the fact that Betty was brought up to be a lady which makes her misadventures and tribulations even funnier – imagine Margo from The Good Life suddenly finding herself running a chicken farm! The characterization is vivid without being cartoonish, her pronunciation of certain words is (to my English ears) delightful and you can tell she is having a ball reading this book and is delighted to share it with you! Her reading is heartfelt, droll and wry. As Juliet Stevenson is to Jane Austen on audio so Heather Henderson is to Betty MacDonald – and there is no higher praise!”