Guest Review: Burnt Mountain by Anne Rivers Siddons

Burnt Mountain 
written by Anne Rivers Siddons
published by Grand Central Publishing, 2010

find it here: (affiliate links) Barnes & Noble, Amazon, iBooks, Book Depository, Goodreads

Did I enjoy this book: Vile, unbelievable betrayal. Redemption . . . by a long circuitous, hard-won route. Throw in some intriguing, deceiving characters, a sea-soaked southern setting, and, oh yes, I enjoyed Anne Rivers Siddons’ Burnt Mountain. It’s a great beachy read!

This book entwines the reader in the culture of the Lowcountry, in languorous, humid days, in selective elite girls’ schools, in the world of summer camps.  Thayer, the main character, is both victim and actor, preyed upon and making choices that set a dizzy tale spinning.  There’s attraction here, and decency; there’s insufferable prejudice, elitism, and misuse of sexual power. There’s exploration of wonderful and horrendous family relationships. There is lust and there is romance.

There’s a belief that the right-hearted will finally win true.

Would I recommend it: It’s the ideal summer read — satisfying, not too terribly demanding, but compelling. If that’s your idea of an August ‘good read,’ I strongly recommend Burnt Mountain!

~ Pam, guest reviewer & EFC Short Story Contest Winner ~

 

About the book – from Goodreads: From one of our most acclaimed writers comes this dramatic tale of a well-born Southern woman whose life is forever changed by the betrayal of her mother and by the man she loves

Growing up, the only place tomboy Thayer Wentworth felt at home was at her summer camp – Camp Sherwood Forest in the North Carolina Mountains. It was there that she came alive and where she met Nick Abrams, her first love…and first heartbreak.

Years later, Thayer marries Aengus, an Irish professor, and they move into her deceased grandmother’s house in Atlanta, only miles from Camp Edgewood on Burnt Mountain where her father died years ago in a car accident. There, Aengus and Thayer lead quiet and happy lives until Aengus is invited up to the camp to tell old Irish tales to the campers. As Aengus spends less time at home and becomes more distant, Thayer must confront dark secrets-about her mother, her first love, and, most devastating of all, her husband.