Burnt Mountain
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3.6 • 168 Ratings
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
From one of our most acclaimed writers comes this dramatic tale of a well-born Southern woman whose life is forever changed by the betrayal of her mother and by the man she loves.
Growing up, the only place tomboy Thayer Wentworth felt at home was at her summer camp - Camp Sherwood Forest in the North Carolina Mountains. It was there that she came alive and where she met Nick Abrams, her first love...and first heartbreak. Years later, Thayer marries Aengus, an Irish professor, and they move into her deceased grandmother's house in Atlanta, only miles from Camp Edgewood on Burnt Mountain where her father died years ago in a car accident. There, Aengus and Thayer lead quiet and happy lives until Aengus is invited up to the camp to tell old Irish tales to the campers. As Aengus spends less time at home and becomes more distant, Thayer must confront dark secrets-about her mother, her first love, and, most devastating of all, her husband.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Bestselling author Siddons combines American Southern and Irish folklore in her 12th novel (after Fault Lines) with lackluster results. Growing up around Georgia's wealthy elite, 17-year-old free spirit Thayer Wentworth finds herself unexpectedly pregnant. But a test shows that her baby is "badly... malformed" and she has an abortion. She makes a fresh start at college, where she falls for Dr. Aengus O'Neill, a gregarious but oddly childlike professor. When Thayer's favorite grandmother dies, she inherits her fairy tale like Atlanta home and moves into it with O'Neill, now her husband. O'Neill, a famous storyteller (he's invited to speak at a nearby boy's camp) becomes so obsessed with disturbing scenes he remembers from his native Ireland that Thayer begins to think he's mad. Coincidentally enough, she's confronted with her past at the most opportune moment, showing her a clear way out. With anemic characters and many unresolved story lines, Siddons takes on too much and does too little with it.
Customer Reviews
Burnt Mountain
I have read all of Siddons books. . . I love her writing, but this book was a huge disappointment - undeveloped characters and sadly lacking story line. I won't be recommending this for book club or passing it on to anyone to read - Big waste of time.
Seriously?
Really stupid book.
The Good Part is Missing
Some of Rivers Siddons books are among my favorite and her voice comes through often in this interesting story. However, it feels a little like she cheated by skipping to an epilogue like when a mom skips the good part of a bedtime story because it is late...and they all lived happily ever after.