Dirt-poor, sensitive as poets, and proud as kings, the Powell family has lived on a Georgia mountaintop for generations. Then, during the 1960’s, young Ursula Powell’s father convinces the Tiber family, owners everything in nearby Tiberville, to commission a huge iron sculpture of a bear for the town. Decades later the strange sculpture – rejected by the townspeople and left to rust on the Powell farm – symbolizes a family’s failure and thwarted dreams. But, unknown to Ursula, it is now worth such a huge fortune that the artist’s embittered son, Quentin Ricconni, is coming to reclaim it . . . and to change everything Ursula believes about the past, the choices that break a heart, and the redeeming powers of art and love.
.......................................................................................................................................
Editorial Review
From Publishers Weekly
A hillbilly girl from Georgia and a rebellious Brooklyn boy find out the hard way that some family ties bind tighter than others in this highly readable novel by the author of A Place to Call Home. Ursula Powell lives in the shadow of the Iron Bear, a sculpture commissioned by a distant relative for a local college campus as a tribute to the ursine presence in Bear Creek, Ga. Fashioned by a New York artist from scrap metal donated by local families, the Bear sparks a smoldering feud between the poor, chicken-farming Powells and their wealthier chicken-processing-plant cousins, the Tibers. When the Tibers threaten to trash the Bear, Ursula's father scrapes together money the family can ill afford to install the sculpture in the Powell pasture. Resenting her father for the hardship she believes he has brought on the family, scrappy Ursula grows up fighting class oppression and backwoods superstitions. Meanwhile, Quentin Riconni, son of the artist who created the Bear, also grows up resenting his father. Quentin and his mother live in poverty in Brooklyn, while the senior Riconni devotes himself to his unprofitable art upstate. Not until 20 years after Quentin's father's death are his sculptures applauded, earning millions of dollars for his widow and son. When Quentin discovers that the Bear is owned by the Powells, he sets out on a journey of self-discoveryDone fated to include Ursula. A few too many crowd-pleasing elements are packed into this romantic weeper, but Smith practices her craft adroitly and tells a genuinely moving story. (Feb. 7) Forecast: Regional appearances in Georgia will stir interest in this novel, which may find a larger readership with fans of Anne Rivers Siddons and other Southern authors. Rights have been sold in the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy and Norway.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
This is an entertaining, affecting romance about two people brought together by circumstances not entirely of their making. Ursula Powell grew up in the shadow of Bear Mountain in north Georgia, daughter of a tenant farmer with an interest in art. Quentin Riconni grew up in Brooklyn, NY, son of an aspiring sculptor and a fiercely loyal mother. In the mid-1960s Quentin's father received a commission to create a bear sculpture for the Georgia College campus; the result was an avant-garde abstract metal piece not well received by the locals. Ursula's father used all his savings to keep the bear from destruction, which meant that he could not afford to pay the medical bills for his wife, who had died in childbirth. Meanwhile, Quentin's father quit his job to sculpt full time, deserting his wife and son. The book is written from the alternating points of view of Ursula and Quentin. Neither Susie Breck nor Dick Hill handles the Southern or the Brooklyn accents very well, however, the story line is strong enough that you'll want to listen through to the happy ending. For large popular collections. Nann Blaine Hilyard, Lake Villa Dist. Lib., IL
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Smith has fashioned a beautifully written and unusual story about two fragile families connected by a sculpture that changes their lives. The Riconnis live in Brooklyn, the Powells in the Georgia mountains. Richard Riconni welds scrap metal into works of art. Tom Powell raises chickens but has a deep appreciation for art and a passionate interest in bears. In 1966, a wealthy cousin of Tom's commissions Richard to create a sculpture of a bear made from local scrap metal. Most are appalled by Richard's abstract creation, but Tom loves it and eventually pays $200 that he can ill afford to save the sculpture from destruction. And that's when the bear begins to exert its strange powers. Tom's young daughter, Ursula, blames the bear for the death of her mother and her newborn brother's autism. Richard, inspired by the commission, quits his job to sculpt full time, but this plunges his wife and son, Quentin, into poverty, and Richard eventually takes his own life. Quentin, a brilliant scholar with a full scholarship to MIT, is devastated, although he later benefits from his father's posthumous fame. Then, when he discovers that the bear sculpture is on Bear Mountain, he travels there in the hope of bringing it home to his ailing mother. But, instead, Quentin finds Ursula caring for her brother, Arthur, in the stunned aftermath of their father's sudden death and realizes that Arthur has a mystical attachment to the bear. Smith, a spellbinding storyteller, weaves a shimmering web of sorrows and joys around these two families, the scrap-metal bear that became their totem, and her enchanted readers. Diana Tixier Herald
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
.......................................................................................................................................
About the Author
.......................................................................................................................................
Book
| Tittle | : | On Bear Mountain |
| Author | : | Deborah Smith |
| Language | : | English |
| Buy the Book | : | On Bear Mountain by Deborah Smith |
| KINDLE | : | FREE KINDLE BOOK FROM AMAZON |
| Free ebook | : |
0 comments: on "On Bear Mountain by Deborah Smith"
Post a Comment