Big Stone Gap (Big Stone Gap Novels) [Paperback]

In the town of Big Stone Gap, Virginia, not much happens. The highlight of 35-year-old Ave Maria Mulligan's week comes on Friday, with the arrival of the Bookmobile, the sight of which sends her into raptures. Her favourite book concerns the ancient Chinese art of reading faces. Through her face-readings, we come to understand the hostilities simmering within her family: her father whose small eyes are the clear "sign of a deceptive nature" and her aunt who "has a small head and thin lips. (That's a terrible combination)". Adriana Trigiani's first novel concerns the family scandals that befall Ave Maria in this seemingly uneventful town. Greed, lust, envy--all the ancient emotional elements--manifest themselves even in this hamlet of "ordinary folk". Fans of Fannie Flagg or Rebecca Wells will enjoy this down-home tale, full of small, everyday details and colloquial revelations. The writing is often awkward, but so too are the characters who inhabit this place: the Bookmobile lady who thinks of herself as the sexiest woman alive; the amateur actors in the local Outdoor Drama who bristle with ambition when they hear that Elizabeth Taylor is coming to visit. In Big Stone Gap, her visit is so anticipated, it's like she's an angel sent from heaven. --Ellen Williams, Amazon.com. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

This is a gentle and humorous story of Ave Maria Mulligan, whose incongruous name belies her awkward conformity in the small mountain town of Big Stone Gap. Unlike many of the townsfolk, Ave Maria did not marry in her teens and immediately start a family, but has carved a contented niche for herself, serving her community as the town pharmacist as well as volunteer emergency service provider and director of the town's big tourist attraction stage-play. Believing herself to be happy as the town's self-proclaimed spinster, she is shocked to discover emotions that she does not recognize when she learns her family secret, concealed from her long after her father's death, and only revealed in a posthumous letter from her mother. The letter kick-starts Ave Maria's curiosity and drive and awakens in her the realization that she has been suppressing her thoughts and feelings for too long. She sets about unravelling the confusion of her emotions and heads towards self-fulfilment and understanding, a study that some of her friends have already begun. Iva Lou Wade, who eats men for breakfast, and the dashing Theodore Tipton both understand Ave Maria better than she does herself, and with their individual brands of caring for her, Ave Maria emerges at the end of her 35th year a very differnet person from at the beginning. This romantic journey encompasses two marriage proposals, a bitter and angry family feud and a community's hopes, excitements (including a visit from Elizabeth Taylor!) and fears. Trigiani weaves an original and charming illustration of the old maxim that still waters run deep. (Kirkus UK) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, the tiny town of Big Stone Gap is home to some of the most charming eccentrics in the state. Ave Maria Mulligan is the town's self-proclaimed spinster, a thirty-five year old pharmacist with a "mountain girl's body and a flat behind." She lives an amiable life with good friends and lots of hobbies until the fateful day in 1978 when she suddenly discovers that she's not who she always thought she was. Before she can blink, Ave's fielding marriage proposals, fighting off greedy family members, organizing a celebration for visiting celebrities, and planning the trip of a lifetime—a trip that could change her view of the world and her own place in it forever. Brimming with humor and wise notions of small-town life, Big Stone Gap is a gem of a book with a giant heart. . . .

Big Stone Gap, Virginia, is the sort of sleepy hamlet in the Blue Ridge Mountains where kids get married and start families at eighteen and stay for ever. So thirty-five-year-old Ave Maria Mulligan is something of an oddity. A self-proclaimed spinster, as the local pharmacist she's been keeping the townsfolk's secrets for years.

Now Ave Maria is about to discover a scandal in her own family's past that will blow the lid right off her quiet, uneventful life. Soon she's juggling two unexpected marriage proposals and conducting a no-holds-barred family feud. The thought of spending the rest of her life in Big Stone Gap is suddenly overwhelming . . .

With an unforgettable cast of characters and a heroine with an extraordinary story to tell, all living in this quirky, rather remarkable town where even Elizabeth Taylor pays a visit, Big Stone Gap is a wonderfully vibrant debut. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Adriana Trigiani grew up in Big Stone Gap, Virginia, and now lives with her husband and daughter in New York City. In addition to being the bestselling author of BIG STONE GAP, BIG CHERRY HOLLER and MILK GLASS MOON, she is an award-winning playwright, television writer, and documentary filmmaker. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

This will be a good weekend for reading. I picked up a dozen of Vernie Crabtree's killer chocolate chip cookies at the French Club bake sale yesterday. (I don't know what she puts in them, but they're chewy and crispy at the same time.) Those, a pot of coffee, and a good book are all I will need for the rainy weekend rolling in. It's early September in our mountains, so it's warm during the day, but tonight will bring a cool mist to remind us that fall is right around the corner.

The Wise County Bookmobile is one of the most beautiful sights in the world to me. When I see it lumbering down the mountain road like a tank, then turning wide and easing onto Shawnee Avenue, I flag it down like an old friend. I've waited on this corner every Friday since I can remember. The Bookmobile is just a government truck, but to me it's a glittering royal coach delivering stories and knowledge and liver itself. I even love the smell of books. People have often told me that one of their strongest childhood memories is the scent of their grandmother's house. I never knew my grandmother but I could always count on the Bookmobile.

The most important thing I ever learned, I learned from books. Books have taught me how to size people up. The most useful book I ever read taught me how to read faces, an ancient Chinese art called siang mien, in which the size of the eyes, curve of the lip, and height of the forehead are important clues to a person's character. The placement of ears indicated intelligence. Chins that stick out reflect stubbornness. Deep-set eyes suggest a secretive nature. Eyebrows that grow together may answer the question Could that man kill me with his bare hands? (He could.) Even dimples have meeting. I have them, and according to face reading, something wonderful is supposed to happen to me when I turn thirty-five. (It's been four months since my birthday, and I'm still waiting.)

If you were to read my face, you would find me a comfortable person with brown eyes, good teeth, nice lips, and a nose that folks, when they are being kind, refer to as noble. It's a large nose, but at least it's straight. My eyebrows are thick, which indicates a practical nature. (I'm a pharmacist - how much more practical can you get?) I have a womanly shape, known around here as a mountain girl's body, strong legs, and a flat behind. Jackets cover it quite nicely.

This morning the idea of living in Big Stone Gap for the rest of my life gives me a nervous feeling. I stop breathing, as I do whenever I think too hard. Not breathing is very bad for you, so I inhale slowly and deeply. I taste coal dust. I don't mind; it assures me that we still have an economy. Our town was supposed to become the "Pittsburgh of the South" and the "Coal Mining Capital of Virginia." That never happened, so we are forever at the whims of the big coal companies. When they tell us the coal is running out in these mountains, who are we to doubt them? It's pretty here. Around six o' clock at night everything turns a rich Crayola midnight blue. You will never smell greenery so pungent. The Gap definitely has its romantic qualities. Even the train whistles are musical, sweet oboes in the dark. The place can fill you with longing.

The Bookmobile is at the stoplight. The librarian and diver is a good-time gal named Iva Lou Wade. She's in her forties, but she's yet to place the flag on her sexual peak. She's got being a woman down. If you painted her, she'd be sitting on a pink cloud with gold-leaf edges, showing a lot of leg. Her perfume is so loud that when I visit the Bookmobile, I wind up smelling like her for the bulk of the day. (It's a god thing I like Coty's Emeraude.) My father used to say that that's how a woman ought to be. "A man should know when there's a woman in the room. When Iva Lou comes in, there ain't no doubt." I'd just say nothing and roll my eyes.

Iva Lou's having a tough time parking. A mail truck has parked funny in front of the post office, taking up her usual spot, so she motions to me that she's pulling into the gas station. That's fine with the owner, Kent Vanhook. He likes Ivan Lou a lot. What man doesn't? She pays real nice attention to each and every one. She examines men like eggs, perfect specimens created by God to Nourish. And she hasn't met a man yet who doesn't appreciate it. Luring a man is a true talent, like playing the piano by ear. Not all of us are born prodigies, but women like Iva Lou have made it an art form.

The Bookmobile doors open with a whoosh. I can't believe what Iva Lou's wearing: Her ice-blue turtleneck is so tight it looks like she's wearing her bra on the outside. Her Mondrian-patterned pants, with squares of pale blue, yellow, and green, cling to her thighs like criss-cross ribbons. Even sitting, Iva Lou has an unbelievable shape. But I wonder how much of it has to do with all the cinching.

Could it be that her parts are so well-hoisted and suspended, she has transformed her real figure into a soft hourglass? Her face is childlike, with a small chin, big blue eyes, and a rosebud mouth. Her eyeteeth snaggle out over her front teeth, but on her they're demure. Her blond hair is like yellow Easter straw, arranged in an upsweep you can see through the set curls. She wears lots of Sarah Coventry jewellery, because she sells it on the side. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.