Big Stone Gap
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3.0 • 1 Rating
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
‘One of my all-time favourite novels’ WHOOPI GOLDBERG
‘Funny, charming and original’ FANNIE FLAGG, author of Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café
How do you face the future when the past won’t let you go?
Big Stone Gap is a sleepy village where kids get married and start families at eighteen, and stay for ever. So thirty-five-year old Ave Maria Mulligan is something of an oddity. A self-proclaimed spinster, as the local pharmacist she's been keeping the townsfolk's secrets for years.
Now Ave Maria is about to discover a scandal in her own family's past that will blow the lid right off her quiet, uneventful life.
Soon she's juggling two unexpected marriage proposals and conducting a no-holds-barred family feud. The thought of spending the rest of her life in Big Stone Gap is suddenly overwhelming . . .
The ultimate Small Town American novel from the bestselling author of The Shoemaker's Wife, a Richard and Judy Book Club pick.
Praise for the BIG STONE GAP series:
'Hilarious and romantic. I couldn’t put it down’ SARAH JESSICA PARKER
'One of my all-time favourite novels' WHOOPI GOLDBERG
‘If you love curling up with charming tales of small towns and quirky characters, switch off with this’ COSMOPOLITAN
'Delightfully quirky' PEOPLE
'As comforting as a mug of chamomile tea on a rainy Sunday' NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
'Utterly addictive' GLAMOUR
'As quirky and charming as her first novel. If you are not a fan already, you will be after this' COMPANY
'Honest, wholesome entertainment with a spicy Deep South kick' DAILY MAIL
'As warm and sweet as Southern Comfort' ELLE
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A wholesome Cinderella story with a winning blend of '70s nostalgia and Appalachian local color, Trigiani's debut introduces a likable heroine who's smart but obtuse, needy but rejecting, and generous with affection but afraid of love. Ave Maria Mulligan is the daughter of the late pharmacist of Bit Stone Gap, Va., and an immigrant Italian seamstress. She inherited the pharmacy when her father died, but it's only her mother's recent death that made Ave realize that, at 35, she's the town spinster. Not that she lacks for attention. Handsome Theodore Tipton, the high school band and choral director, is her best friend, and sexy bombshell Iva Lou Wade, who drives the book mobile that Ave eagerly awaits, is around to offer romantic advice. Plainspoken, direct and humorous, Ave has an amusing foible: having discovered a book on the Chinese art of face reading, she describes everyone in terms of the personality traits their facial features ostensibly demonstrate. In her self-deprecating assessment, Ave has "a mountain girl's body, strong legs, and a flat behind." So when Theodore proposes, and then takes it back, and mountain-man Jack MacChesney then also offers matrimony--out of pity, Ave assumes, so she rejects him--she's near despair. Moreover, a letter left by her mother informs Ave that her real father is a man who lives in Italy. Ave's emotional turmoil takes place against a colorfully detailed tour of Big Stone Gap's history and attractions, including its summer drama festival and its designation as the home of Appalachian bluegrass. Even the actual 1978 visit of senatorial candidate John Warner and his wife, Elizabeth Taylor, plays a part in the story. In the tradition of romantic heroines, Ave is unable to recognize true love until it's almost too late, and meanwhile, there are some fairy tale touches, such as the arrival of her entire newly discovered Italian family. What saves the narrative from sentimentality and invests it with charm is Trigiani's witty voice, her tart-tongued but appealing heroine and her ability to recall the cultural details that immerse the reader in the atmosphere of her little mining town. FYI: Trigiani has been a playwright, the founder of a female comedy group, a writer for the Bill Cosby show and other TV series, and a documentary filmmaker.
