Cloud Nine [Hardcover]

Luanne Rice (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 5, 1999

Every once in a while a novelist comes along who can illuminate the most secret places of our hearts--who can put into words the feelings we cannot...and sometimes dare not...express.  Luanne Rice is one such novelist and Cloud Nine is her most evocative, emotionally powerful, and compelling work yet.  It is a novel brimming with the beauty and fragility of life whose powerful message will resonate in your own life long after the final page is turned.

Sarah Talbot surely thought she'd never live to see another birthday.  But against all odds, she beat the disease that threatened to take her life and she reopened her bedding shop, Cloud Nine.  It is a new beginning for Sarah--a fresh start at life that few are given.  It is a time to take roads she always passed by, to experience a world she'd all too often watched from the sidelines.  And Sarah is determined to take every advantage of her newfound opportunity.

Her first adventure comes during a special birthday present from her friends: a ride over upstate New York in a small chartered plane.  From there she views the spectacular autumn foliage.  Yet, as so often happens when one takes chances, the unexpected occurs.  For it is on this flight that she meets Will Burke, a former Navy pilot whose strength and confidence attract Sarah as much as the vulnerability he tries hard to conceal.

These two fellow travelers find in each other a kindred spirit and a bond that will give them the courage to confront the past and have faith in the future...no matter how uncertain.

A novel shimmering with emotion, grace, and beauty, Cloud Nine is a work of pure magic by one of our most enchanting storytellers.  It is the kind of novel you will cherish and want to share with the most important people in your life.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Thirty-seven-year-old Sarah Talbot's lengthy battle with cancer forced her to put life on hold. But a clean bill of health has given her a second chance and she's not about to take anything for granted. Intent on living life to the fullest, Sarah reopens her bedding shop, aptly named Cloud 9, and plans a trip to Elk Island, a tiny island off the coast of Maine, where her unfeeling father and runaway son wait. Family reconciliation has long been her heart's desire, and Sarah knows that now is the time to mend familial fences. On the short plane ride to the island, she finds an unexpected confidant in pilot Will Burke, whose own personal demons make him the perfect conversation partner--and so much more. As Sarah struggles to communicate with the father she left behind and a son troubled by his own father's death--and his mother's illness--she takes refuge in the arms of Will and discovers a love she never thought possible, a love that will sustain the two in this life and beyond. Both beautifully written and well plotted, Cloud Nine is a moving testament to the eternal power of love.

From Publishers Weekly

Readers sympathetic to Rice's (Blue Moon) highly sentimental take on the eternal power of love and family will enjoy this skillfully wrought tale of courage on the part of a single mother recovering from a brain tumor. Sarah Talbot, who has built a down-bedding mail-order business ("Cloud Nine") based on the products of her father's farm in Maine, finds new joy in life's simple pleasures, such as celebrating the 37th birthday she thought she'd never see. Her delight proves infectious to others in her small upstate New York community. They include Susan Burke, also known as Secret or Snow, a troubled teenager from a broken home who is still grieving over the accidental death of her brother; and Susan's father, pilot Will Burke, who is trying to cope with his failed marriage and his inability to save his son. In quiet, unassuming prose, Rice fashions a tightly paced story that is hard to put down, delicately constructing the blossoming relationship between Sarah and Will. At the same time, she effectively depicts the impact a loving person can have on an adolescent simply longing for a real connection with a caring adult. The Talbot family's island home, where Sarah's recalcitrant father and her estranged teenage son live together in a complex relationship, is idealized as a healing environment for the Burkes. The plot veers into melodrama at the end, when love and death meet in a heartbreaking scene, but Rice's message remains a powerful one: the strength of precious family ties can ultimately set things right. Author tour.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Bantam; 1 edition (January 5, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553110632
• ISBN-13: 978-0553110630
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (86 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,964,607 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

LUANNE RICE is the New York Times bestselling author of twenty-nine novels, most recently The Silver Boat. Her books, including Cloud Nine and Dream Country, often center on love, family, nature and the sea, and have been translated into twenty-four languages. A number of Rice's novels have been adapted for television, including Crazy in Love for TNT, Blue Moon for CBS, the Hallmark Hall of Fame presentations of Follow the Stars Home and Silver Bells, and Beach Girls as a summer drama series for Lifetime Television. She has contributed a theatrical piece to the new off Broadway play Motherhood Out Loud. Rice loves nature and frequently writes about it. Born in New Britain, Connecticut, Rice divides her time between New York City and Old Lyme, Connecticut, in the house where she spent all her childhood summers.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bittersweet Love Story, November 3, 2000

By 

Judith E. Pavluvcik (Dreaming of the beach in Hawaii, but living in the reality of the desert in Arizona!!) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cloud Nine (Hardcover)

I just finished reading Cloud Nine and could not stop crying, nor could I put the book down until it was finished. Be sure to keep plenty of Kleenex handy, as you will need them for this book!

This was one of the most beautiful love stories I have read and Luann Rice is quickly becoming another favorite author of mine. I just finished reading Home Fires by her the night before and now Cloud Nine - what an emotional ride!!

Rice writes stories that grip your heart and soul and she does not let go until the story is over. Her character portrayal, especially of teen-agers, is so realistic, that you feel that they are your next-door neighbors and closest friends! Cloud Nine embraces all the nuances of family life, which has experienced death and familial loss, and the heartache that that causes. It embodies tragedy in multiple scenarios consisting of divorce, remarriage, cancer, and several deaths, yet, contained within all of these facts, there is a ray of faith and hope that life can and will get better. There is hope of reconciliation and the miracle of love working its magic. The character's live are not portrayed here as "perfect", but are wrought with dysfunction and pain, due to real-life experiences.

I found this story's ending to be bittersweet and wish that it did end differently, but once again, I am reminded that life is not perfect and life sometimes does not play out as we want it to - it is just fe being life. Rice expertly captures that feeling with Cloud Nine and conveys it so beautifully to her readers. You are swept up into the emotions of the drama and you cannot help it.

I absolutely loved this book and once again Rice demonstrates to us that love has a powerful and healing effect, on both the young and the old. Her message is of embracing life each and every day as a gift to yourself and to your loved ones, as one never knows what the next day will bring.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If every book could be this good, I'd never stop reading!, January 5, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Cloud Nine (Mass Market Paperback)

How did I miss this book in hardcover? It's exactly the kind of story I love--full of emotion, beautifully but simply written, totally romantic, and so TRUE in feeling that every single character comes fully alive. This isn't a pretentious story and, yes, it's a tearjerker but of the best possible sort. I felt so good when I finished reading it--despite the fact that I wished it would never end. So, for anyone who loves good women's fiction, who loves a good love story, who loves to read about families and their complex relationships, this is the PERFECT choice. I can't wait to read more by this author.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent!, September 11, 2003

By 

Amisha B. Mehta "amylovesbooks" (Torrance, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cloud Nine (Mass Market Paperback)

I loved the story of Sarah Talbot, who owns a bedding store called "Cloud Nine". When the story begins, Sarah is about to take a special flight to celebrate her cancer being in remission. She enjoys the flight so much that she decides to retain the services of the pilot, Will Burke, to take her to Elk Island. She left her hometown years before, but has decided to make the trip back to see her long lost father and the son she left behind.

Along the way, Sarah ends up bonding with Will and his daughter, Susan, and the trio help each other with all of the issues they are facing. I rated the book 4 stars because I'm not a big fan of romance, but in spite of my tastes, I really found myself enjoying the story and wondering what would happen next. If you are new to Luanne Rice, this is a great book to get your feet wet with. Rice is a wonderful source of comfort reads, and this book is no exception. If you are in the mood for a comforting and inspiring story, read "Cloud Nine."