Welcome to some bookish fun today as we share Book Beginnings, hosted by Rose City Reader; and as we showcase The Friday 56 with Freda’s Voice.
To join in, just grab a book and share the opening lines…along with any thoughts you wish to give us; then turn to page 56 and excerpt anything on the page.
Then give us the title of the book, so others can add it to their lists!
If you have been wanting to participate, but haven’t yet tried, now is the time!
What better way to spend a Friday?
Let’s gather around and chat about books.
Today I’m featuring one of Adriana Trigiani’s Big Stone Gap books: Big Cherry Holler.
Beginning: The rain is coming down on this old stone house so hard, it seems there are a hundred tap dancers on the roof. When Etta left for school this morning, it was drizzling, and now, at two o’clock, it’s a storm.
I always think that weather sets a scene really well, especially if it becomes part of the plot later. We shall see.
***
56: Why is he still talking to her? What does he see in her? I have my answer. She laughs a final time and pats the small of his back.
***
Amazon Description: BIG CHERRY HOLLER, the extraordinary sequel to BIG STONE GAP, takes us back to the mountain life that enchanted us in Adriana Trigiani’s best selling debut novel. It’s been eight years since the town pharmacist and long time spinster Ave Maria Mulligan married coal miner Jack MacChesney. With her new found belief in love and its possibilities, Ave Maria makes a life for herself and her growing family, hoping that her fearless leap into commitment will make happiness stay. What she didn’t count on was that fate, life, and the ghosts of the past would come to haunt her and, eventually, test the love she has for her husband. The mountain walls that have protected her all of her life can not spare Ave Maria the life lessons she must learn.
BIG CHERRY HOLLER is the story of a marriage, revealing the deep secrets, the power struggle, the betrayal and the unmet expectations that exist between husband and wife. It is the story of a community that must reinvent itself as it comes to grips with the decline of the coal mining industry. It is the story of an extended family, the people of Big Stone Gap, who are there for one another especially when times are tough—including bookmobile librarian and sexpert Iva Lou Wade Makin, savvy businesswoman Pearl Grimes, crusty cashier Fleeta Mullins, and Rescue Squad captain Spec Broadwater, who faces the complications of his double life. Ave Maria’s best friend Theodore Tipton, now band director at the University of Tennessee, continues to be her chief counselor and conscience as he reaches the pinnacle of marching band success.
When Ave Maria takes her daughter to Italy for the summer, she meets a handsome stranger who offers her a life beyond the Blue Ridge Mountains. Ave Maria is forced to confront what is truly important: to her, to her marriage, and to her family. Brimming with humor, wisdom, honesty, and the drama and local color of mountain life from Virginia to Italy, BIG CHERRY HOLLER is a deeply felt, brilliantly evoked story of two lovers who have lost their way and their struggle to find one another again.
***
I’m glad that I signed up for the Sequel Challenge, as it gives me an opportunity to grab some of the unfinished books in this series…and others.
What are you all sharing today? I’m off to find out!
SNOW SPARKS 
Ah, gotta love the rain themes. Looks like a very interesting read.
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Yes, I do love anything “rain,” lol. Even my car license plate shouts it out (IM4RAIN).
Thanks for visiting, Riv…enjoy your read.
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I love the Holler series. I need to read the third one in the series. Love the beginning sentences.:)
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I’ve read a couple of these, Hattie, as well as other books by this author. I enjoy them! Thanks for stopping by.
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Sounds like a decent read. I prefer the beginning this week, probably since I woke up to getting dumped with snow… really set my scene! 😉
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I do enjoy that scene, too, Freda…and it’s raining here where I live. Thanks for visiting…and hosting.
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Elmore Leonard says: “Never open a book with weather.” But I agree with you — it sets the scene! These sound like books I’d really enjoy. I’m adding Big Cherry Holler and Big Stone Gap to my Amazon wish list.
My Book Beginnings / Friday 56 post features DAKOTA BLUES.
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It has been awhile since I read Big Stone Gap, but I’m already engrossed in the characters’ lives. Thanks for stopping by, Sandra.
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Rain! If I read that, I’d be hooked. I love the rain :}
(Thank you for visiting!)
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Oh, so do I, Aki…if it isn’t a windy rain…lol; thanks for stopping by.
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Sounds great! Nothing like a storm to make you want to snuggle in with the book.
I like your new blog — sorry it took me a while to get over here.
Thanks, always, for participating in Book Beginnings!
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Oh, I totally agree, Gilion….and thanks for visiting today. Glad you like my new look here.
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I just KNEW this was a Trigiani book! i have been meaning to read this for the longest time!
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I didn’t know I’d missed one of the Stone Gap books…so I’m glad I found this one. Thanks for visiting, Aloi.
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This sounds really good!
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I’m really enjoying it, Yvonne…thanks for stopping by.
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I like the image of the rain as tap dancers on thHere’s my Friday Post.e roof!
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Yes, I like that part, too, Bev. And throughout the story, the author paints lovely word pictures until I can almost see the scenes. Thanks for stopping by.
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i used to hate the rain. there’s just too much of it out here where i live. later when i realized that other parts of the world barely have some, my perspective changed. i love the rain now.
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I do love many aspects of the rain, especially the soft, gentle kind. Not a fan of driving, windy rain…lol.
Thanks for visiting, Aobibliophile.
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