Adriana Trigiani

Big Stone Gap

Sarah Sammis

Big Stone Gap by Adriana Trigiani is both a debut novel and the start of the Big Stone Gap series. Ave Maria Mulligan is a thirty-five-year-old pharmacist, uninterested in marriage but pursued by a local bachelor. The big excitement in this sleepy Appalachian town is the announced arrival of Elizabeth Taylor.

Apparently the one chapter about Elizabeth Taylor, tucked in about two thirds through the book, is based on fact. How though it inspired the rest of this sleepy book, I have no idea.

Removing the actress from the book, the next BIG EXCITEMENT is the weekly arrival of the bookmobile. I like bookmobiles and libraries and librarians — heck, I even am a librarian. But as a riveting plot point, the bookmobile isn't much of a happening.

Near the end of the book — well after Elizabeth Taylor — the lengthy and dull character studies finally end and POOF a family secret appears. I guess the plot missed the bus and arrived on a later one.

Jessica Ford

This was a very fun book to read. I just loved all of the characters. It was a quick, light read. Great for a weekend.

A Novel

Vicki Grever

Bee 

Jessie

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Now a major motion picture written and directed by Adriana Trigiani, starring Ashley Judd, Patrick Wilson, Whoopi Goldberg, John Benjamin Hickey, Jane Krakowski, Anthony LaPaglia, and Jenna Elfman This edition features behind-the-scenes bonus material from the film—including photos, excerpts from the script, and favorite recipes from on the set “Charming . . . Readers would do well to fall into the nearest easy chair and savor the story.”—USA Today Millions of readers around the world have fallen in love with the small town of Big Stone Gap, nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, and the story of its self-proclaimed spinster, Ave Maria Mulligan. In the series’ enchanting debut, Ave Maria reaches her thirty-fifth year and resigns herself to the single life, filling her days with hard work, fun friends, and good books. Then, one fateful day, Ave Maria’s past opens wide with the revelation of a long-buried secret that will alter the course of her life. Before she knows it, Ave Maria is fielding marriage proposals, trying to claim her rightful inheritance, and planning the trip of a lifetime to Italy—one that will change her view of the world and her own place in it forever. Full of wit and wonder, hilarity and heart, Big Stone Gap is a gem of a book, and one that you will share with friends and family for years to come.

Big Stone Gap

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