Dream Country [Hardcover]

Luanne Rice (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 30, 2001

No one understands the heart of a family better than Luanne Rice. Her luminous novels capture the mystery and miracle of love in all its guises. Now, on the heels of her triumphant New York Times bestseller Cloud Nine, Luanne Rice draws us into the sweeping, unforgettable story of a family's search for hope, faith, and love to bridge the years that have held them apart.

Jewelry maker Daisy Tucker's remarkable talent has earned her a devoted, growing clientele. Her necklaces and bracelets are fashioned of polished stone and delicately etched bone, crafted into pieces inspired by family stories, myths, and Native American lore. But it is not just because of its unique beauty that her jewelry is prized -- word has spread that Daisy's creations bring love into the lives of those who wear them.

Once, years ago, Daisy's work had brought love into her own life. Just out of college, she had traveled to the wilderness of Wyoming's Wind River Mountains in search of inspiration for her art. What she found was rancher James Tucker, a man with the wilderness inside him. Their life together was as close to paradise as a family could get -- until the day their three-year-old son, Jake, disappeared without a trace in the wild country they both had loved. Her heart broken, her marriage in tatters, Daisy returned home to Connecticut with Jake's twin sister, Sage. Wyoming had taken everything from her but her livelihood.

Now, thirteen years later, Wyoming wants more. Sixteen-year-old Sage, whose bedroom walls are covered with posters of the West, is on a dangerous pilgrimage across a vast continent to a father she has longed for but lived without for most of her life. Sage's thirst to see the land and father of her dreams, and learn more about her lost twin, is driving her westward on freight trains and farm roads. Daisy, terrified, flies out to where it all began, to where James Tucker now rides the range with a heart turned to stone, still scouring the canyons for Jake.

Still wary of each other, Daisy and James wait and pray for Sage's safe arrival. As Daisy pours her sorrow and hope into new talismans of love's magic and healing, she will need all the strength and wisdom she can find to learn that you cannot close the door on the past, but sometimes, if you step through it, it can lead you home.

Played out against a timeless landscape of transcendent beauty, Dream Country is Luanne Rice's greatest achievement yet. At once a haunting love story, a gripping mystery, and a mesmerizing family saga, it will break your heart and mend it again

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In Dream Country, Luanne Rice describes the reverberations that tragedy can have on a family. Before Daisy and James Tucker lost their 3-year-old son, Jake, in the mountains of Wyoming, they thought nothing could shake their marriage. Daisy had moved west looking for adventure and discovered a man and a landscape that nourished the deepest parts of her soul. With James and their twins, Jake and Sage, Daisy found courage and inspiration for her artwork. Soon after Jake disappeared, Daisy returned to Connecticut with Sage, determined to live a life of comforting reserve. Thirteen years later, a pregnant and isolated Sage feels Wyoming calling. After arguing with Daisy, she embarks on a cross-country trip to discover her father and her family's past.

Rice has a talent for describing people's complex and conflicting emotions. As Sage travels across the country, her love for her unborn child grows, while her first love unravels. Tragedy both unites and separates Daisy and James, and age and infirmity begin to eat away at the love of James's father and his girlfriend. Though the underlying premise feels a bit contrived, Rice's realistic dialogue and exquisite descriptions are completely convincing. --Nancy R.E. O'Brien

From Publishers Weekly

A compelling plot and nuanced character portrayals contribute to the emotional impact of Rice's ninth novel, a transcendent story about the power of hope and family love. Daisy Tucker has built a comfortable life with her 16-year-old daughter, Sage, in Silver Bay, Conn., where she has gained a reputation for designing jewelry that seems to have inspirational powers. Combining artistry with her knowledge of Native American myths and legends, Daisy creates pieces that bring people together, heal wounds and serve as talismans. But no combination of gemstones and carved animal bones can assuage the pain in Daisy's life. Sage's twin brother, Jake, disappeared in the wild country of Wyoming during a cattle roundup 13 years ago, when he was three. Fleeing the scene of tragedy with her daughter, Daisy left her husband, James, behind at his family cattle ranch and moved to New England to be close to her sister, Hathaway. Now Daisy faces another crisis when a pregnant Sage runs away with her boyfriend, Ben, intent on a new life with her father at the ranch. Ben has second thoughts and decides to return home, so Sage heads on alone. Hitchhiking leads to danger, and a mysterious, tattooed teenager rescues Sage and agrees to drive her to Wyoming. Daisy joins James in Wyoming, where another teenager, calling himself "The Guardian," is stalking the ranch. Rice (Cloud Nine) creates believable dramatic tension about Jake's true fate, though the suspense lies mainly in whether the other characters will realize what has become of him. Though she overdoes the sentimentality, her fans always welcome the family values her stories celebrate. Author tour. (Jan. 30) Forecast: Among writers of women's fiction, Rice has a loyal following based on her ability to place realistic characters in atmospheric backgrounds and crisis situations. Cloud Nine became a bestseller in paperback, and its popularity could carry over to sales of this novel, which will enjoy national TV advertising on the Lifetime network and print advertising in a variety of venues.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Bantam; 1 edition (January 30, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553801198
• ISBN-13: 978-0553801194
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (43 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,218,617 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

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars From A Devoted Luanne Rice Fan, November 2, 2004

By 

Nancy R. Katz "NancyK18" (NJ) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dream Country (Mass Market Paperback)

It is no surprise to friends from online book groups or readers of my reviews for Luanne Rice's books, that this talented writer is one of my favorite authors. I buy all of her books as soon as they are published and place them on my keeper shelves after I read them. As much as I would like to save her new books for rainy days, I find myself gulping each book down too quickly, always regretting when the book is finished. For some reason, though, I never read Dream Country and found it calling out to me recently saying, "Read me, read me!" While I may never regard this book as one of my very favorite Rice read, I do think that any any Rice book is worhtwhile and this is no exception. And like most of Luanne Rice's books, Dream Country, is filled with a haunting tragedy, regrets for past actions but most of all the abiding love of parents for their children.

Daisy, a jeweler lives in Connecticut with her 16 old daughter, Sage. While she is content with her life and the freidnship and deotion of her sister, there is a deep void in her life which she can never replace. As Daisy create one of a likd pices of art which represnte the strenght of realtionships, she remembers back to the raly days when she visited Wyoming. Seeking the solitude and speactacular sights of thsi arewa, Daisy founds herself meeting and then marrying James Tucker, a rancher with a passion for the land that rivals Daisys. family. The beautiful Wyoming land is also wonderful for Daisy's artistice bent while her love for James has few limits. In time Daisy and James are blessed with twins, Sage and Jake. But then tragedy strikes when the twins are 3 and while James turned his back for a fwe minutes, Jake is nowhere to be seen. And while search parties and family and friends combed the area for months, nwo 13 years later he has never been seen or found dead. Grief stricken Daisy eventually leaves James and the ranch with Sage for her roots on the Connecticut shore. And it is to this area that she continues living, working and raising Sage alone.

Time has passed and Sage is a bright girl who feels as though she is only half of a whole. Although quite young when her brother was found missing and then lost, she still remember the feeling of a family sand a sibling. She also misses her father who refuses to leave the ranch even for a visit with Sage in case Jake is found. Then tragdy strikes again when Daisy finds that Sage has run away from home. Wondering how she could bear it if something happened to Sage, Daisy is besides herself. But It doesn't ake too long before she realizes that Sage is with her boyfriend and most likely they are making their way to her Wyoming and her father. Unfortunately, though, Daisy doesn't know all there is to know about Sage and when her boyfriend returns and Sage continues alone, Daisy knows its time for her to stay at the ranch and wait for her arrival. Daisy's reunion with James, his family and finally Sage and a stanger who picked Sage up on the road will forever change their family and begin healing their difficult past. While the book is rather straight forward there is one element of surprise which even if you figure it out while reading, still has you cheering for these people at the end.

While most of Rice's books are set in the East, this area was a new place for her and I found some of her descriptions intersting. I also know that some reviewers complained that she didn't get things right about ranch life or Wyoming but I am in no position to comment about this since I knwo very little about either. I do know that I really enjoy when her books are set on the Connecticut shore which feels liek home to me too. And I also know that I continue to enjoy Luanne Rice's characters, wisdom and the satisfying resolutions of their lives at the end of her novels.

I continue to look forward to this author's new books as well as rereading favorites like Blue Moon, Home Fires, the Firefly Beach trilogy and The Perfect Summer. This is one reader who has and will always be a most devoted fan of Luanne Rice.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Intense and Emotional, January 15, 2002

By 

Nicole Miale - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dream Country (Mass Market Paperback)

I liked Dream Country. It's a pretty intense and emotional rollercoaster ride that hinges on some fairly unique plot points and takes some interesting side roads along the way. For that alone, I give Ms. Rice credit. I've read lots of books, and this particular plot is a new one to me.

It isn' t the best book I've ever read, and I enjoyed Firefly Beach (the other Luanne Rice novel I've read) more, but there was something almost hypnotic about the way this story unfolded that kept me riveted right from the beginning.

The main characters in this novel are very well developed, and the constantly changing POV is interesting, if a little over-used. I agree with some other reviewers that said the mystery wasn't much of a mystery, but I think that was the point. I think we were supposed to figure it out before the characters did and wait with bated breath to see how it would unfold. I certainly did.

I was a little disappointed with the ending, which felt rushed and didn't do justice to the well-drawn characters we'd spent so much time getting to know. I was rooting for Daisy and James, and for Sage and David, so it was a bummer to not see more of them together in the end.

If you're in the market for a dense, well-written novel that has an "epic" feel to it, then give this a try. If you're looking for something light to pass the hours, this will not suit.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not One of Her Best Pieces!, February 14, 2001

By 

JJ Stark (Cicero, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Dream Country (Hardcover)

I've read Luanne Rice's last two books (Cloud Nine & Follow the Stars Home) so I anxiously awaited the release of Ms. Rice's newest novel. I heard about it back in October, and as the day got closer, I began to get excited. Boy, was I disappointed. The story carries a bit of a mystery (which I'm not a huge fan of any way), but believe me when I tell you - NO SUSPENSE WHATSOEVER!!!! I figured out the ending less than 100 pages into the story. I only continued reading because I was curious how long it would take the characters to figure out what I already knew - It took until about the last 2-3 chapters - then the story was rushed forward to wrap it up nicely leaving no loose ends whatsoever. She took all this time dragging out the story - following the characters around & basically getting to know them (which was one of the pluses of this book & why I gave it three stars - good character development), only to have the ending rushed through way too quickly. I also found it senseless to have new characters, never mentioned at all earlier, introduceed in the final chapters of the book. They made brief appearances apparently in an effort to fill up pages - How else can it be explained? I don't want to give it away - there may be others who find this story interesting & would like to figure it out for themselves, I just felt totally let down and disappointed way before I finished reading this book, and for once, was glad when I finished reading it so I could go on to my next book!