Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Big Stone Gap and Big Cherry Holler by Adriana Trigiani

With these books delightful, Ave Maria Mulligan as their central character you are taken on a wonderful homespun journey through the sleepy towns and hamlets of Virginia.
The tales, the characters and landscapes contained within these first two books are just a delight. There is the sad and the gritty but there is also humor in spades and the characters in particular are so well drawn that just can`t help falling in love with them, even those who are annoying or down right mean have their redeeming points or at the least you can understand their motives.
The syntax I would imagine is spot on and once you get used to it, it is a delight.
The drawing of the Virginia country side is a particular strength of these books especially for someone like myself reading all the way down in New Zealand and when the characters travel to Italy, well you feel right at home there too! The Italian contingent is as equally spot on I would guess.
Ave Maria Mulligan and her life journey is a rite of passage journey that encounters many speed bumps, many hard decisions have to be made and much of life is not easy but at no time does the story become predictable and in no way mundane and with its setting it could have become so in the hands of a lesser author.
I loved both these books, they were a joy to read and it was a delight to get to know these people, their stories and their places. I am half way through Milk Glass Moon and I have bought Adriana`s latest stand alone novel because that's how much I like her and her stories!

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