Status
Available
Call number
Call number
F Sid
Genres
Collection
Publication
Grand Central Publishing (2015), Edition: Reprint, 336 pages
Description
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.… (more)
Media reviews
Summer camps play a pivotal role in the life of a young Atlanta heiress.
Original publication date
2011-07-01
User reviews
LibraryThing member marient7
Good fast read about Thayer Wentworth, Her summers at camp in the North Carolina mountains, her first heartbreak and marriage to an unusual Irishman.
LibraryThing member silva_44
Not nearly as good as my favorite Siddons novel, Colony. Thayer Wentworth survives grief and loss, marries an insane Irishman, and finally re-discovers her first love. Full of the typical Siddons elements: the south, summer camp, love, loss, and tragedy.
LibraryThing member njmom3
A hundred pages into the book, I was not developing any interest in the characters. The book was still building a back story about the main character and her mother. I skipped forward to the ending and decided that I did not really want to find out what happened in the middle.
I have enjoyed several
I have enjoyed several
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other books by Anne River Siddons, but unfortunately not this one. Show Less
LibraryThing member tututhefirst
Anne Rivers Siddons is one of my favorite authors. Her writing is some of the best in southern fiction today. Audio is one of my favorite formats for fiction, so when Hachette Audio offered me the chance to review this one in audio, I jumped at it.
The story took a while to develop. Reminiscent of
Now here's the only part I personally had trouble with. If you're into Irish mythology and poetry, you will love this book. If dark handsome studs wallowing in magic spells is your cuppa tea, you will love this book. The rest of us have to suspend our disbelief a bit and continue on. In the end, Siddons gives us an exceptionally written character study with an ending that had two different paths she could have taken. Some will like the way it ends, others I'm sure would have preferred the second option. Either way, it's a good solid romance that will add to the author's stature.
The story took a while to develop. Reminiscent of
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some of her others, and of Pat Conroy's southern angst, Siddons defines her characters by their relationships to family, and by their adherence to that ancient Southern code of manners, high society, and propriety. We see our protagonist, Thayer Wentworth, as she struggles with tom-boy-ism to thwart her mother's attempts to turn her into the Southern Belle she (mom) never had the chance to be. And although it took awhile to get going, along the way we watch as Thayer finds her first love at summer camp, is betrayed by people she trusts, endures loneliness upon leaving home, and ultimately finds love in the arms of a charming Irishman.Now here's the only part I personally had trouble with. If you're into Irish mythology and poetry, you will love this book. If dark handsome studs wallowing in magic spells is your cuppa tea, you will love this book. The rest of us have to suspend our disbelief a bit and continue on. In the end, Siddons gives us an exceptionally written character study with an ending that had two different paths she could have taken. Some will like the way it ends, others I'm sure would have preferred the second option. Either way, it's a good solid romance that will add to the author's stature.
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LibraryThing member Kikoa
I love Anne Rivers Siddons.
I have read her for years.
I guess this was predictably the same as her others...It was a good read, as it took turns that the reader does not expect and some they do..
This was the first thing I have read on the Kindle I was lucky enough to win. It is a different
.But I have to say I love it...
And Thanks Anne for another good one.
I have read her for years.
I guess this was predictably the same as her others...It was a good read, as it took turns that the reader does not expect and some they do..
This was the first thing I have read on the Kindle I was lucky enough to win. It is a different
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experience. I kinda don't feel like I read a book...But I have to say I love it...
And Thanks Anne for another good one.
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LibraryThing member Beamis12
I enjoyed this book, liked Thayer's close relationship with her paternal grandfather and her conflicted relationship with her dysfuctional mother. Set against a backdrop of fables, and Celtic tales, love lost and family relationships this book is a good southern read.
LibraryThing member nyiper
I was so happy to find another new book by Anne Siddons! I have loved her work for years but I hadn't thought of her in a while and yet suddenly there was another book of hers to read. When i like the main character right away on the first page I know I'm in for a great story and Siddons does not
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disappoint with this one! Show Less
LibraryThing member jo-jo
This novel made an interesting audiobook that takes us through the life journey of Thayer. We see the inside workings of her relationship with her parents and are able to watch her blossom into a young lady. Thayer hasn't had much romance in her life, but we get an up close look into her heart as
The beginning of this novel was very confusing for me as I thought I was listening to Thayer's story. The story begins by Thayer giving a detailed account of how her parents met and fell in love. This did not make sense to me since Thayer obviously was not even alive at this point. This was my main complaint about the novel and once the story got to the point of focusing on Thayer, I found it enjoyable.
Thayer was closer with her father than she was with her mother. So when her father passed away suddenly in a car accident on Burnt Mountain, life changes too quickly for her. Solace is found quickly for her when her grandmother moves into their home, helping to fill some of the absence left by her father. Thayer has an honest and heartfelt relationship with her grandmother and this woman probably provides realistic guidance when her mother wouldn't.
The summer that Thayer is a counselor at Camp Sherwood Forest is a life-changing summer for her. This is where she meets and falls in love with Nick Abrams. One would think that this would create fond memories of young and innocent love, but when Thayer thinks on those days she only recalls heartbreak and deceit.
After dealing with the events of that summer Thayer finds her life on a new path. She goes to a college that she wasn't even considering and starts a relationship with an Irish professor. Their relationship grows and blossoms, leading up to their marriage. But will Thayer be happy married to Aengus for the rest of her life, rather than Nick?
This book was full of a few surprises, once I got past the beginning with the confusing narration. I found myself being quite angry at one point, so obviously the novel and reader were able to keep my attention. With themes of true love, deceit, and life changes, you may be interested in this book also.
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she becomes emotionally captured by young Nick.The beginning of this novel was very confusing for me as I thought I was listening to Thayer's story. The story begins by Thayer giving a detailed account of how her parents met and fell in love. This did not make sense to me since Thayer obviously was not even alive at this point. This was my main complaint about the novel and once the story got to the point of focusing on Thayer, I found it enjoyable.
Thayer was closer with her father than she was with her mother. So when her father passed away suddenly in a car accident on Burnt Mountain, life changes too quickly for her. Solace is found quickly for her when her grandmother moves into their home, helping to fill some of the absence left by her father. Thayer has an honest and heartfelt relationship with her grandmother and this woman probably provides realistic guidance when her mother wouldn't.
The summer that Thayer is a counselor at Camp Sherwood Forest is a life-changing summer for her. This is where she meets and falls in love with Nick Abrams. One would think that this would create fond memories of young and innocent love, but when Thayer thinks on those days she only recalls heartbreak and deceit.
After dealing with the events of that summer Thayer finds her life on a new path. She goes to a college that she wasn't even considering and starts a relationship with an Irish professor. Their relationship grows and blossoms, leading up to their marriage. But will Thayer be happy married to Aengus for the rest of her life, rather than Nick?
This book was full of a few surprises, once I got past the beginning with the confusing narration. I found myself being quite angry at one point, so obviously the novel and reader were able to keep my attention. With themes of true love, deceit, and life changes, you may be interested in this book also.
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LibraryThing member mojomomma
it takes Siddons 250 pages to set the scene and 75 pages to spring the trap, such as it is. It was a promising build-up with our heroine Thayer and the relationship she has with her mother and Grandmother and Nick and Aengus, the love interests. After that it just got weird and something of a
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disappointment. Show Less
LibraryThing member countrylife
Southern fiction that starts with a slow southern drawl, setting the stage with a girl from a small town near Atlanta, beloved of father and grandmother, and under the domineering thumb of her mother. At summer camp in the mountains of North Carolina, Thayer comes into her own, and lives each year
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for the summer, eventually meeting there her first love. Her mother’s actions change the trajectory of Thayer’s life, and like the dangerous roads in those North Carolina mountains that took her father’s life, her life itself begins to feel as though it is careening out of control. Celtic mythology plays a big role in the second half of the story, taking an eerie turn that didn’t seem to fit with the rest. Still and all – a decent beach read. Show Less
LibraryThing member GrannyNanny
Didn't read the book, listened to the cd. Had a hard time keeping up, did not like the narrator's voice. The story was interesting, had a surprising ending.
LibraryThing member bdouglas97
The best part about this book for me were the references to Atlanta since I live here. Other than those, I found the book to be long and disconjointed.
LibraryThing member LivelyLady
Love Siddons writing and character portrayal. She is one of those "wrap me in a blanket" authors, who's books just envelope me. This fell short in that I thought the plot not quite believeable nor as well developed as past books. To make a long story short, the heroine has a dark secret in her
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past, which she leaves behind. She moves on, meet a man, kind of a "out there" type story teller who seems too good to be true. The part that did not seem developed to me is how he went off the deep end. There was no explanation for his behavior. I just found that strange. Maybe there are Irish characters or traits with which I am not familiar. I am not sorry I read it, just sorry it didn't meet her past standards. Show Less
LibraryThing member mmignano11
Summary-Thayer Wentworth is a tomboy, growing up in a family that depends on feminine wiles, appearances and making a "good marriage". Her relationship with her mother is strained, so she relies on her relationship with her grandmother, "Grand" to help her through the tough times we all face
Burnt Mountain is written in Rivers Siddons customary eloquent style, urging the reader along with irresistible prose, creating characters we care about. Her characters lives evolve into the stories that are guaranteed to haunt us long after we are done reading, a hallmark of an excellent writer, IMHO.
One factor that makes her novels stand out is in the development of the plot.While the first part of the novel relates the background of the characters lives, Siddon's special ability lies in throwing a twist into the plot of an otherwise well-told but not unconventional story. Suddenly, we find ourselves not only wondering just when it all changed but how the author managed to pull the different facets of the story together to accomplish this gradual but decisive move. Now, the characters are faced with a dilemma.
I enjoy Rivers Siddons' skill and style but mostly I like that the climax of her books grab the reader without ringing false. A lesser writer would fall short at the attempt. Reaching for an exciting climax can appear stilted. Our lives don't play out that way. If they did we wouldn't have to read. Rivers Siddons gives us characters whose lives while believable conspire to intrigue us, managing to create a story and ending that defies the banal by being unusual and suspenseful.
Having said all of this about Anne Rivers Siddons writing, I do feel that Burnt Mountain is not one of her best novels, to date, but she has more than made up for that in her prior books, any of which I would recommend.
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growing up. As a young girl, at summer camp, Thayer meets, Nick Abrams, whom she considers the love of her life. However, they are soon parted after entangling themselves in circumstances that come back to haunt Thayer later in life. Eventually, at a local college,Thayer meets and subsequently marries Aengus O'Neill, a professor and himself a student of Irish and Celtic Folklore. At this point Rivers Siddons does some of the best writing in the book, and some of the worst. Much of her character building, while interesting is not believable, unusual for her. So while I was intrigued by the possibilities the characters had before them, it was with a sense of disbelief that I approached the CD player. And I think the fact that I listened to the book, rather than read it, kept me listening till the end. Rivers Siddons has proved again and again that she can turn out a good book, so I persisted even when there were obvious editorial errors, in timing of the plot specifically. Having said that I did enjoy the suspense that begins to develop around Thayer's relationship with Aengus. Summer camp again begins to play an important part in Thayer's life, and that eerie feeling the reader has when Thayer talks about Burnt Mountain begins to make sense. Nick Abrams makes another appearance and there is a climactic ending that comes across especially well in audio book form.Burnt Mountain is written in Rivers Siddons customary eloquent style, urging the reader along with irresistible prose, creating characters we care about. Her characters lives evolve into the stories that are guaranteed to haunt us long after we are done reading, a hallmark of an excellent writer, IMHO.
One factor that makes her novels stand out is in the development of the plot.While the first part of the novel relates the background of the characters lives, Siddon's special ability lies in throwing a twist into the plot of an otherwise well-told but not unconventional story. Suddenly, we find ourselves not only wondering just when it all changed but how the author managed to pull the different facets of the story together to accomplish this gradual but decisive move. Now, the characters are faced with a dilemma.
I enjoy Rivers Siddons' skill and style but mostly I like that the climax of her books grab the reader without ringing false. A lesser writer would fall short at the attempt. Reaching for an exciting climax can appear stilted. Our lives don't play out that way. If they did we wouldn't have to read. Rivers Siddons gives us characters whose lives while believable conspire to intrigue us, managing to create a story and ending that defies the banal by being unusual and suspenseful.
Having said all of this about Anne Rivers Siddons writing, I do feel that Burnt Mountain is not one of her best novels, to date, but she has more than made up for that in her prior books, any of which I would recommend.
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LibraryThing member moonshineandrosefire
Born into an affluent family in Middletown, Georgia, the only place that tomboy Thayer Wentworth ever truly felt at home as a child was at her summer camp 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
As Aengus begins to spend less and less time at home - and becomes increasingly distant towards her - Thayer begins to realize that something is not quite right at Camp Forever. Thayer must eventually confront several dark secrets - about her own mother, her first love, and, most devastating of all, her husband - she must come to terms with the knowledge that the man she married is not the man she thought she knew.
I must say that, while I enjoyed reading this book for the most part, there were certain parts of the story that were slightly confusing to me. I found that the story was a little slow to get into - although it was definitely intriguing once I did - and the story held my attention through until the end. I absolutely needed to know how the story ended. However, in my opinion, the plot was more convoluted than I expected - elements of the story didn't quite mesh together all that well - at least for me.
Overall, I give Burnt Mountain: A Novel by Anne Rivers Siddons a B+! It was perhaps not Ms. Siddons' best book, but still quite interesting to read.
Years
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later, much to her family's dismay, Thayer marries Aengus O'Neill, an Irish professor. The couple moves into her deceased grandmother's house in Atlanta, only miles from Camp Edgewood on Burnt Mountain - where Thayer's father had died in a car accident. There, in the shadow of Burnt Mountain, Aengus and Thayer lead quiet and happy lives until the day Aengus is invited up to the boys' camp - Camp Forever - to tell old Irish tales to the campers.As Aengus begins to spend less and less time at home - and becomes increasingly distant towards her - Thayer begins to realize that something is not quite right at Camp Forever. Thayer must eventually confront several dark secrets - about her own mother, her first love, and, most devastating of all, her husband - she must come to terms with the knowledge that the man she married is not the man she thought she knew.
I must say that, while I enjoyed reading this book for the most part, there were certain parts of the story that were slightly confusing to me. I found that the story was a little slow to get into - although it was definitely intriguing once I did - and the story held my attention through until the end. I absolutely needed to know how the story ended. However, in my opinion, the plot was more convoluted than I expected - elements of the story didn't quite mesh together all that well - at least for me.
Overall, I give Burnt Mountain: A Novel by Anne Rivers Siddons a B+! It was perhaps not Ms. Siddons' best book, but still quite interesting to read.
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LibraryThing member Joanne53
My first Siddons novel. I'm glad to read that others felt it was not her best effort. Disappointed with ending. But will try another.
LibraryThing member judithrs
Burnt Mountain. Anne Rivers Siddons. 2012. I cannot remember the last Siddons novel I read and now I wonder why I haven’t read more of them. Her books are southern to the nth degree. The characters are interesting and they move the plot along. Love is always a main character. Her last summer as a
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camp counselor, Thayer Wentworth fell deeply in love with Nick Adams and he with her, but Thayer’s mother had other plans with tragic results. Thayer’s grandmother arranged for Thayer to escape from her mother by going to the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. There she meets and falls in love with Aengus, an Irish folklore professor. Grandmother approves of Aengnus but warns Thayer not to let him become too deeply involved with his Irish legends. Of course he does! Show Less
LibraryThing member quirkylibrarian
Well written women's fiction...complicated relationships
LibraryThing member suzyblack
I have liked most Anne Rivers Siddons books. I feel a little stupid, since there were sooo many bad reviews for this book and I liked it. (rather like when I was the only person in the western hemisphere who thought that Forrest Gump was the stupidest book I had ever read-and was a stupid movie as
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well) Back to Burnt Mountain - I remember that several people said that there were too many loose ends and the ending didn't tie things together. I don't agree - while I thought the end was a little different than most, I don't think that every thing in a book needs to be tied in a bundle. The main complaint was that Thayer didn't ever confront or handle the issues she had with her mother. I felt that the entire mother thing was used to get a sense of why her mother made the choice for her that changed everything and how it impacted Thayer. He mother was never really mentioned again except toward the end. I don't think a confrontation or even putting the mother back in the picture would have made the story better or worse. I think I am one of only a handful who liked the book. Was it my favorite book, no. Did I like it, yes. Show Less
LibraryThing member LeslieHurd
Maybe I've outgrown Siddons. I listened to Burnt Mountain. I found the beginning of this book overwrought and silly. I did finally get caught up in the story and the author's descriptions of Thayer's famly were well done: kind father, ambitious selfish mother, and the supportive, loving
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grandmother. Eventually, as the heroine, Thayer Wentworth, grows into her teens she meets her first love, Nick Abrams, while away at summer camp. That first relationship doesn't last and Thayer ends up marrying an Irish teacher and storyteller, Aengus O'Neill. At this point the story is a nicely wrought southern tale and I look forward to each installment of her life in the lovely forested home she inherits from her grandmother, her loving marriage with her interesting and supportive husband, and her relationship with her new friend Carol from next door. But then the tale takes a completely bizarre turn and leaves a host of loose ends while tying up merely one. Ultimately, I enjoyed the bulk of the middle of this book and was stunned at the strange ending. At the end there's a tidy epilogue of happy ending while I sat wondering what happened to many of the characters. There was also a thread I thought would develop into a major point of drama, but it just disappeared. I've said it before about at least one other author, but if this had been the first of her books, I would not choose to read a second. Show Less
LibraryThing member Bookmarque
Very much in the ARS vein. As a matter of fact I kept a list of the ARS-isms I noticed throughout and it was pretty long. Not only does she have pet phrases like “new money on a bear’s behind”, descriptors like “bone deep”, but she also has pet places and names. Slattery and Abrams (also
Overall the story reminded me a lot of Outer Banks. The way our heroine is raised, her brush with an intense first love and how she faces crisis in later life. But that’s where the similarities end. Thayer has a really narcissistic mother who only gets more evil as the book goes on. I liked Grand though, as I was supposed to. I wish she’d left Thayer more independent, but she turns out ok in the end.
It’s what comes before that is weird and I didn’t quite buy it.Not just the situation with Aengus going more and more crazy, but with Nick’s return and undying love. It seemed over the top and not realistic. Too dreamy by far. I think she should have either given more harrowing examples of Aengus’s degeneration. As it was it was treated too lightly and seemed to come out of nowhere despite Grand’s warning. Also, Thayer should have stood on her own not fallen into the arms of her first love. It was too smarmy and made-for-TV-movie. Once Nick was gone he should have stayed that way.
That said I did enjoy the book because of its lazy familiarity, but it should have been more precise (timeline, too, which was all over).
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an architect) come up again. Do do stores like J.P. Allen and Rich’s. There’s Sea Island, the Piedmont Driving Club and houses on sand dunes. It’s like sinking into your favorite arm chair. Comfortable and totally familiar.Overall the story reminded me a lot of Outer Banks. The way our heroine is raised, her brush with an intense first love and how she faces crisis in later life. But that’s where the similarities end. Thayer has a really narcissistic mother who only gets more evil as the book goes on. I liked Grand though, as I was supposed to. I wish she’d left Thayer more independent, but she turns out ok in the end.
It’s what comes before that is weird and I didn’t quite buy it.
That said I did enjoy the book because of its lazy familiarity, but it should have been more precise (timeline, too, which was all over).
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LibraryThing member Whisper1
I very much like the writing style of his author. It is descriptive and beautiful.
This is a story of southern gentility and snobbishness. The story is told by the main character, Thayer, whose life is changed when her beloved father and grandfather are killed in a car accident. Thayer's mother is
The first daughter, more beautiful like her mother, whereas Thayer is criticized, Lilly is loved. When Thayer attends summer camp, she falls in love with a young man whose camp is across the lake. She becomes pregnant and it is the loving grandmother who shows extreme love. The baby is lost, leaving Thayer lost and confused.
The story is filled with beautiful detail, until the end when it gets a bit weird, but still it is a lovely book worth the time spent reading.
This is a story of southern gentility and snobbishness. The story is told by the main character, Thayer, whose life is changed when her beloved father and grandfather are killed in a car accident. Thayer's mother is
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cold and very nasty. Thayer is the second daughter. Her grandmother comes to live with the family, and Thayer is able to have a different perspective from the one implanted by her mother. It is her grandmother that brings love and joy.The first daughter, more beautiful like her mother, whereas Thayer is criticized, Lilly is loved. When Thayer attends summer camp, she falls in love with a young man whose camp is across the lake. She becomes pregnant and it is the loving grandmother who shows extreme love. The baby is lost, leaving Thayer lost and confused.
The story is filled with beautiful detail, until the end when it gets a bit weird, but still it is a lovely book worth the time spent reading.
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LibraryThing member KAlberts
Enjoyed it very much until towards the end -- unexpected twist that includes a touch of fantasy that didn't seem to fit.
LibraryThing member suesbooks
This is supposed to be a book portraying a strong southern woman, but the protagonist is neitrher strong nor believable. She also has no life of her own and just does what is expected of her and what she feels like. She is a nice person who experiences much abuse from her first husband who turns
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evil as the book progresses. I am glad she found someone to care for her, but their meeting after years apart is another incredible experience presented. Learning about the social structure of Atlanta was moderately interesting. The timing of many events presented was inaccurate, but that hardly mattered. Show Less
Pages
323