Every so often I stray from my normal reading for something more contemporary. Wild Mountain by Nancy Kilgore is just such a book. While it does tackle some big issues, it was a at it’s heart a story of love. It was sent to me at no charge for my honest review.
About Wild Mountain:
Vermonter Mona Duval loves the covered bridge beside her store. She loves local history and the rugged, rural nature of her home state. But when an ice storm collapses the bridge, she is bereft. Frank MacFarland, a seasonal resident who is beguiled by Mona, lends his political expertise to help rebuild the bridge. But they meet with powerful opposition. Tensions arise in the town, compounded by resistance to the soon-to-be-voted on Freedom to Marry bill. And then, unexpectedly, Mona’s abusive ex-husband arrives. Wild Mountain is a page-turning, beautifully written novel about the love between Frank and Mona, the love of place, freedom to marry, and freedom from the past, by a writer whose prose has been compared to Alice Munro’s.
About the Author:
Nancy Hayes Kilgore, a writer and psychotherapist, is the winner of the 2016 Vermont Writers Prize. Her writing has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and her first novel, Sea Level, was a Foreword Reviews Book of the Year. Formerly a parish pastor, Nancy leads workshops on writing and spirituality for clergy, therapists, and writers throughout the U.S. She lives in Vermont with her husband, a painter. Author’s website: nancykilgore.com.
My Opinion:
This book is at its heart, all about love. The good kind of love that develops between a man and a woman. Then there is the kind of emotion that simmers in a man who has mental health issues. A location can engender very strong feelings of love. Our friends and family fall under the umbrella of love and we will collectively fight for and support a cause we strongly believe in – this is yet another type of love. This book pulls all of these types of love into a delightful tale of small town Vermont.
The story circles around Mona who owns the local country store. She wants to think she is aloof from all that goes on around her but she is far more involved than she realizes. As she faces the changes in her personal and professional life as well as the larger issues swirling around she learns that many people lean on her. And that she needs her friends and neighbors far more than she realizes.
I readily admit this is not the type of book I usually read but I was intrigued by the setting and so I took a chance. Oftentimes such serendipity is rewarded and in this case it was. I found myself quite involved in the lives of the people in and around Wild Mountain. Ms. Kilgore has a very poetic way of writing that turns words into vignettes that played as little movies in my head as I read the story. I almost shivered as the ice broke on the river, I felt the breeze blow across the fields and the spring sun warmed my face. I, unlike the author do not have a magical way with words but trust me when I say you will be rewarded by reading this book.
Rating:
4.5
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