Colony (G K Hall Large Print Book Series) [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Anne Rivers Siddons (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1993 | Series: G K Hall Large Print Book Series

Looking back on her ninety years of life while waiting for the arrival of her children and grandchildren to the family summer home, Maude Chambliss recalls a life of wealth, friendship, love, and loss. 150,000 first printing. $150,000 ad/promo. Tour.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews

If it's gothic, Siddons (Outer Banks, King's Oak, etc.) can do it, or so it would appear in this latest novel destined for commercial success. In it, she takes her gifts for melodrama and tangling family trees up north, to a summer colony for Boston Brahmins on the coast of Maine, called simply ``Retreat.'' But Siddons's heroine is a southerner, and on her she demonstrates one of her best tricks--her deep intimacy with her leading ladies, which the author shares with her readers from the get-go. Anyway, it isn't easy for sweet young Maude Gascoigne, from a moldering plantation near Charleston, to fit in when her new husband, sterling-silver Peter Chambliss (of a Boston banking family, Princeton, and Retreat), takes her to the summer place. For the first few decades Maude battles it out with her insufferable, hypercritical mother-in-law, the drunken and lecherous husband of her best friend, Amy Potter, and even Peter himself--a depressive, hermetic man who just sails away whenever things get rough. Gradually, though, little Maudie gets some starch and learns to endure almost anything, including: the death of her mother-in-law (``my beloved enemy''); Peter's weird coldness to his own two children, which ultimately sends the younger, Happy, to a sanitarium; the death of a grandson; the return of a bad seed, Elizabeth, Amy Potter's girl, who does her best to break up Maude's son's marriage; and whispers that float on the salt spray every summer about how much Elizabeth looks like Peter. Well, it turns out that Elizabeth's connection to Peter is very much an issue--but we're not telling why. Long-suffering Maude may not be everyone's cup of tea, but this time Siddons gets the melodrama balance just right and shows she's as much at home in Maine as she was in Georgia. Fans will be doing cartwheels, and others will queue up. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Anne River Siddons was born in 1936 in Fairburn, Georgia, a small railroad town just south of Atlanta, where her family has lived for six generations. The only child of a prestigious Atlanta lawyer and his wife, Siddons was raised to be a perfect Southern belle. Growing up, she did what was expected of her: getting straight A's, becoming head cheerleader, the homecoming queen, and then Centennial Queen of Fairburn. At Auburn University she studied illustration, joined the Tri-Delt sorority, and "did the things I thought I should. I dated the right guys. I did the right activities," and wound up voted "Loveliest of the Plains."

During her student years at Auburn, the Civil Rights Movement first gained national attention, with the bus boycott in Montgomery and the integration of the University of Alabama. Siddons was a columnist for the Auburn Plainsman at the time, and she wrote, "an innocuous, almost sophomoric column" welcoming integration. The school's administration requested she pull it, and when she refused, they ran it with a disclaimer stating that the university did not share her views. Because she was writing from the deep South, her column gained instant national attention and caused quite "a fracas." When she wrote a second, similarly-minded piece, she was fired. It was her first taste of the power of the written word.

After graduation, she worked in the advertising department of a large bank, doing layout and design. But she soon discovered her real talents lay in writing, as she was frequently required to write copy for the advertisements. "At Auburn, and before that when I wrote local columns for the Fairburn paper, writing came so naturally that I didn't value it. I never even thought that it might be a livelihood, or a source of great satisfaction. Southern girls, remember, were taught to look for security."

She soon left the bank to join the staff of the recently founded Atlanta magazine. Started by renowned mentor, Jim Townsend, the Atlanta came to life in the 1960's, just as the city Atlanta was experiencing a rebirth. As one of the magazine's first senior editors, Siddons remembers the job as being, "one of the most electrifying things I have ever done in terms of sheer joy." Her work at the magazine brought her in direct contact with the Civil Rights Movement, often sitting with Dr. King's people at the then-black restaurant Carrousel, listening to the best jazz the city had to offer. At age 30, she married Heyward Siddons, eleven years her senior, and the father of four sons from a previous marriage.

Her writing career took its next leap when Larry Ashmead, then an editor at Doubleday, noticed an article of hers and wrote to her asking if she would consider doing a book. She assumed the letter was a prank, and that some of her friends had stolen Doubleday stationary. When she didn't respond, Ashmead tracked her down, and Siddons ended up with a two book contract: a collection of essays which became John Chancellor Makes Me Cry, and a novel of her college days, which became Heartbreak Hotel, and was later turned into a film, Heart of Dixie, starring Ally Sheedy.

As Ashmead moved on, from Doubleday to Simon & Shuster, then to Harper & Row, Siddons followed, writing a horror story, The House Next Door, which Stephen King described as a prime example of "the new American Gothic," and then Fox's Earth and Homeplace, about the loss of a beloved home.

It was in 1988, with the publication of her fifth book, the best-selling Peachtree Road, that Siddons graduated to real commercial success. Described by her friend and peer, Pat Conroy, as "the Southern novel for our generation." With almost a million copies in print, Peachtree Road ushered Siddons onto the literary fast track. Since then the novels have been coming steadily, about one each year, with her readership and writer's fees increasing commensurately. In 1992 she received $3.25 million from HarperCollins for a three book deal, and then, in 1994, HarperCollins gave Siddons $13 million for a four book deal.

Now, she and her Heyward shuttle between a sprawling home in Brookhaven, Atlanta, and their summer home in Brooklin, Maine. She finds Down East, "such a relief after the old dark morass of the South. It's like getting a gulp of clean air...I always feel in Maine like I'm walking on the surface of the earth. In the South, I always feel like I'm knee-deep." But she still remains tied to her home in the South, where she does most of her writing. Each morning, Siddons dresses, puts on her makeup and then heads out to the backyard cottage that serves as her office. And each night, she and her husband edit the day's work by reading it aloud over evening cocktails.

Siddons' success has naturally brought comparisons with another great Southern writer, Margaret Mitchell, but Siddons insists that the South she writes about is not the romanticized version found in Gone With the Wind. Instead, her relationship with the South is loving, but realistic. "It's like an old marriage or a long marriage. The commitment is absolute, but the romance has long since worn off...I want to write about it as it really is: I don't want to romanticize it." --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 711 pages
• Publisher: G K Hall & Co (February 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0816156158
• ISBN-13: 978-0816156153
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (59 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,052,406 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Jewel in Siddons Crown., October 29, 2001

By 

Denise Bentley "Kelsana" (The California Redwoods) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Colony (Mass Market Paperback)

That is the way a friend described this book to me and I have to admit it is certainly a diamond among the stones. This is an author who takes you to the place that lies deep between the pages or soul of her book. The main character is reflective and strong with undiminished courage. Maude is one of the most memorable characters I have ever come across.

The book begins as she arrives at Retreat, also know as The Colony, her in-law's summer home in Maine. A staunch and uppity "Blue Blood", the matriarch Mother Hannah, is not quick to take to a southern belle of the French persuasion. Maude with her husband Peter by her side, is going to show these Bostonians her strength for decades to come.

The book covers nearly 70 years of her life along with the family and friends that grow close to her heart as well as yours. There are times where the author's language is shear poetry. I place this book on my best books of all times list. It's not one to be missed. Kelsana 10/29/01

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Colony is an engaging story of women's relationships., November 9, 1998

By 

[e-mail] or Lorelei Harloe (Chantilly, VA (D.C.)) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Colony (Mass Market Paperback)

Colony is the type of book you can't wait to lend to a friend as soon as you've read the last page. That friend, you'll soon discover, cannot return it because it's been passed on to a family member, a colleague, or another friend (you see the cycle). While on vacation last July, I actually sought out the seaside village in Maine where the story takes place. I wanted to find the haven I had visited through Siddons' vibrant description. Her pine trees and salty air couldn't become more vivid by scratching and sniffing the pages.

Siddons' ninth effort details the life of Maude Gascoigne, a Southerner whose story begins upon her wedding engagement to a privileged Bostonian. Maude recounts her passage from a lazy existence in the South Carolina swamplands to a life of summers at Retreat, an old-money colony in Cape Rosier, Maine. The unsophisticated Maude arrives at the blueblood colony as the young fiancee of the socially prominent Peter Chambliss. Peter soon marries the olive-skinned, French- blooded Maude, defying his mother, the venerable Hannah Chambliss.

Maude joins the fair-skinned young brides who spend their vacations serving their mothers-in-law, the pampered matriarchs of the aristocratic enclave. She finds a comrade in Amy Potter, a sister in servitude who educates her in the escapist art of the feigned migraine. As Peter sails, Maude serves -- to fulfill a pre-ordained tradition and sit among the new order of matriarchs, rocking away their payback years on the sun porches.

Through many seasons, Maude faces antagonizing opposition by jealous contemporaries, including a vengeful beauty who failed to capture Peter's heart. In the face of much personal heartache, she eventually earns the hard-won compassion of the friends who see her through children and grandchildren, marital strife, death, separation and renewal. Maude finds an irreplaceable ally in Micah Willis, a salty townie whose similarly humble roots assisted their initial bonding. Micah's rough-hewn strength becomes part of her own backbone, and their deepening affection eventually causes her to explore long-submerged feelings.

Colony is as much about relationships as it is about Maude. As in her earlier Outer Banks, Siddons uses the main character's bird'seye view to breathe life into the supporting characters, infusing dramatic plot turns to enrich Maude's story. Maude and Hannah finally develop a mutual respect, finding common ground through discovering the sturdy stuff of which each is made.

Maude did not spend her summers vying for a seat on the coveted sun porch, but aimed for a peace closer to her soul: the preservation of Retreat's bountiful nature, an enriched family life, and the hard-won respect of the Colony. Upon Hannah's death, Amy acknowledges, "We don't get up for old women any more. We're the ones with porch privileges." "Oh, Amy," a weary Maude responds, "I never wanted to get there."

After a challenging, off-season life in New Hampshire, a widowed Maude eventually finds peace in Retreat, her last oasis of true respite and enduring family tradition. With the help and hindrance of her granddaughter, Darcy, she successfully tugs Retreat from the grasp of an ill-intentioned developer. Siddons leaves us to believe that Darcy will carry on the Retreat tradition, accepting the torch that has been passed to her generation.

I actually found Cape Rosier last summer, after driving as far as the old, Down East roads could take me. I was disappointed that there were no signs for Retreat. The weather-worn cottages dotted the quiet shore, sitting carefully out of site beyond long, winding driveways. I thought how nice it would be to relax on a sun porch, and reread Colony. Then I remembered, I lent it to my sister.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I loved this book so much!, November 29, 2001

By 

Pam from Texas - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Colony (Hardcover)

This is one of my all time favorites. A southern woman marries a
wealthy man and spends her summers at Retreat in Maine.
Her mother-in-law makes no secret of the fact that she finds
Maude totally unacceptable as a wife for her son. At Retreat,
Maude learns the older women rule and they do everything they
can to make Retreat perfect for the men. The book spans
70 years as we watch Maude try to fit in and tolerate her
mother in law. Peter, Maude's husband, is a weak man,
but Maude loves him and carries on the tradition of making
the summers perfect for him. The scenery is as much a
character as Maude and the rest of the blue bloods that
populate it. Anne Rivers Siddons is a master at creating
a setting and making us love the people she has created.
I read this book slowly and savored it because I loved
Maude and didn't want to say good-bye. After I finished it,
I didn't immediately begin another book, as is my usual
custom. I spent several days thinking about it and
accepting the fact that I wouldn't be visiting with Maude
any more. I miss her.