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Angel's Rest [Hardcover]

Charles Davis (Author)
4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)


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Book Description

September 1, 2006
The mountain always looked dark, but the older I got that year, the darker it got. I tried to listen for the music of life that Lacy said is always there if your heart's ready to hear it, but all I heard was quiet.

Growing up in Virginia's Allegheny Mountains, eleven-year-old Charlie York lives at the foot of an endless peak called Angel's Rest, a place his momma told him angels rested before coming down to help folks. In 1967 his town was a poor boy's paradise . . . until a shotgun blast killed Charlie's father and put his mother on trial for murder.

For mysterious reasons, his mother entrusts his care to an old black man named Lacy Albert Coe. Lacy tells simple stories about the good and the bad that compose life's sweetest music. But when Hollis Thrasher, a reclusive Korean War veteran, is linked to his father's death and Lacy is victimized by hate crimes, Charlie hears only silence. It's not until Charlie embarks on a dangerous midnight journey pitting him against his darkest fears that he finally hears his own song playing out.

In this remarkable debut, Charles Davis weaves together an unforgettable melody of a mother's love, a hero's return to the living, and a boy who discovers angels do exist.


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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. At the start of Davis's beautifully written debut, 11-year-old Charlie York leads an idyllic life in the shadow of Angel's Rest, a mountain in the Virginia Alleghenies "so high the earth's caretakers took breaks on the peaks before they came down to help those in need of God's assistance." Then, one late afternoon in 1967, Charlie's father is killed by a shotgun blast and his mother is arrested for murder. Put in the care of Lacy Albert Coe, an old black man, Charlie hears the music of Coe's many stories as he tries to understand the hate that fills the people of rural Sunnyside, Va. Charlie vacillates between wanting to escape on a raft like Huck Finn and wanting to know the truth behind the tragedy. Was it an accident? Or was his mother guilty of murder? Or was the killer really the reclusive Korean War veteran, Hollis Thrasher, who had been seen walking from their house that afternoon? In his painful search for answers, Charlie leaves childhood behind and gains an unparalleled understanding of courage and love. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

". . . a glorious mountain tale of love, hope and redemption. I highly recommend this beautiful story." -- Adriana Trigiani, bestselling author of Big Stone Gap

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 336 pages
  • Publisher: Mira (September 1, 2006)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0778323048
  • ISBN-13: 978-0778323044
  • Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5 x 1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #526,905 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

19 Reviews
5 star:
 (15)
4 star:
 (3)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.7 out of 5 stars (19 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars terrific historical mystery, September 2, 2006
This review is from: Angel's Rest (Hardcover)
In 1967 eleven-years old Charlie York loves living in aptly named Sunnyside, Virginia near Angel's Rest in the Allegheny Mountains. However, the sunshine turns torrential in a nanosecond when his mom Hadley apparently kills his father John. Though she insists her spouse John accidentally shot himself while cleaning his shotgun, she is arrested for the homicide, her preadolescent son moves in with an elderly black man Lacy Albert Coe, who "worked" for his dad at the TV and radio repair shop instead of her white in-laws who live nearby.

Lacy, known as the "Storyteller", tells his young white charge lyrical tales of the good and the bad in people even as Charlie fears he lied in court when he affirmed his mom's tale under oath though he feels he saw something else. However, law enforcement has found a tie between Hadley's former high school boyfriend crazy Korean Veteran Hollis Thrasher and John that is a strong motive for murder and witnesses claim the former was near the latter's home. At the same time the white folks are fuming and humiliated that Hadley left her white son with a black man; they take out their rage on the octogenarian Storyteller and any other black who is available.

ANGEL'S REST is a terrific historical mystery and character study that grips the reader as narrator Charlie tells his tale of lost childhood when his mom supposedly killed his dad near where the angels took respites while building the mountain range. The cast is fully developed so that the racial tension of 1967 is vivid with hate crimes being acceptable by pious folks. The mystery of John's death is cleverly tied together with another mystery that reveals plenty about the relationships between the key players. Charles Davis provides a strong tale of growing up overnight as Charlie finds allies in the intrepid, caring and loving Storyteller at a time he needs nurturing.

Harriet Klausner
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Angel's Rest, October 24, 2006
By 
This review is from: Angel's Rest (Hardcover)
I really enjoyed this first novel by Charles Davis. I was hooked right from the beginning. The book was easy to read, the characters were fully developed and kept me in suspense until the end. I anxiously await Mr. Davis' next book.

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars In the spirit of "To Kill a Mockingbird", January 10, 2007
This review is from: Angel's Rest (Hardcover)
Charles Davis pulls off a nearly impossible feat in his first effort -- to tell a story as compelling, mysterious, charming, and moving as Harper Lee's classic.

I was entirely captivated throughout the book, and wept openly on my commuter train as the story closed. It would be hard to improve upon it, and I sincerely hope a director with Robert Mulligan's skill and sensitivity is selected to direct the film so likely to be derived from this wonderous work.
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