A New Book

Sometimes during my lunch break I just sit, eat and watch the world go by.
Other times I may take a brisk walk through the park or perhaps settle on the nearest bench I find and get busy with some list making.

Then there are the days when I take something to read and as today is read a book day I made sure I had my new book in my bag.

Earlier in the year I read Big Stone Gap and I loved it. It's part one of a story which follows Ava Maria Mulligan and her life in Virginia.
When I found the second installment in a charity shop recently I was cock-a-hoop.
G asked me what I liked about Adriana Trigiani's writing.
My reply was 'everything.'
I loved the way she drew the characters with words, the place the story was set, the food, the social history she weaves into the story line.

These are a few lines from the first paragraph of Big Cherry Holler. 

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 can barely see Powell Mountain out my kitchen window; just yesterday it was a shimmering gold pyramid of autumn leaves at their peak......
..........How I love these mountains in October; the leaves turning- layers of burgundy and yellow crinolines that change color in the light- the apples are in, the air smells like sweet smoke, and I get to build big fires in Mrs Mac's deep hearths.

I'm hooked.