Home to Big Stone Gap: A Novel (Big Stone Gap Novels) [Paperback]

Adriana Trigiani (Author)

Book Description

Release date: October 30, 2007 | Series: Big Stone Gap Novels

Millions of readers around the world have fallen in love with the novels of the New York Times bestselling author Adriana Trigiani. In Home to Big Stone Gap, she tells her most powerful story yet, full of humor and heart, wisdom and hope.

Nestled in the lush Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, the town of Big Stone Gap has been home for Ave Maria Mulligan Machesney and her family for generations. She’s been married to her beloved Jack for nearly twenty years, raised one child and buried another, and run a business that binds her community together, all while holding her tight circle of family and friends close.

But with her daughter, Etta, having flown the nest to enchanting Italy, Ave Maria has reached a turning point. When a friend’s postcard arrives with the message “It’s time to live your life for you,” Ave Maria realizes that it’s time to go in search of brand-new dreams. But before she can put her foot on the path, her life is turned upside down.

Ave Maria agrees to helm the town musical, a hilarious reunion of local talent past and present. A lifelong friendship collapses when a mysterious stranger comes to town and reveals a long-buried secret. An unexpected health crisis threatens her family. An old heartthrob reappears, challenging her marriage and offering a way out of her troubles. An opportunistic coal company comes to town and threatens to undermine the town’s way of life and the mountain landscape Ave Maria has treasured since she was a girl. Now she has no choice but to reinvent her world, her life, and herself, whether she wants to or not.
Trigiani is at her best in this exquisite page-turner. Home to Big Stone Gap is an emotional and unforgettable journey that reminds us that you can go home again and again.

From BOOKLIST
*STAR* Trigiani, Adriana. Home to Big Stone Gap. Nov. 2006. 301p. Random, $25.95 (1-4000-6008-7).
Tucked in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia is Big Stone Gap, the bucolic backdrop for Trigiani’s popular series. In this fourth entry, Ave Maria Mulligan MacChesney and her husband, Jack, must come to terms with the absence of daughter Etta, newly married and living in Italy. (The country holds a special place in Ave Maria’s heart: her biological father, Mario, whom she learned of and met only after her mother’s death, is Italian). Ave Maria has plenty to keep her mind off missing her only child (the MacChesney’s son, Joe, died of leukemia at age four). She’s a full-time pharmacist and the newly appointed director of the town’s annual musical. Then comes news that her longtime friend, glamorous librarian Iva Lou, has been keeping a startling secret for nearly 20 years. Other developments, including a health scare for Jack and a Christmas visit from a colorful former resident, move the plot along briskly. With her original cast of characters, playwright and television writer Trigiani blends playfulness and pathos in this evocative portrait of a small southern town. Fans of the Big Stone Gap series can look forward to a feature film; Trigiani has written the screenplay and is slated to direct. –Allison Block
"Is there ever trouble for Ave Maria Mulligan MacChesney, heroine of Trigiani's beloved Big Stone Gap novels, starting with her married daughter's move to Italy and leading right up to a stranger's disturbing appearance in town."–Library Journal

Praise for the Big Stone Gap novels:
“Delightfully quirky . . . chock-full of engaging, oddball characters and unexpected plot twists.”
–People (Book of the Week)

“Funny, charming, and original.”
–Fannie Flagg

“Satisfying reading . . . As skillfully as Ms. Trigiani makes us laugh, she makes us cry.”
–Richmond Times-Dispatch

“Heartwarming . . . Everything that really matters is here: humor, romance, wisdom, and drama.”
–The Dallas Morning News


From the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

As a narrator, Trigiani slips into the roles of the characters she created as naturally and comfortably as she would a well-worn pair of slippers. As the creator of protagonist Ave Maria, Trigiani has a deep understanding of the character and is able to express all her emotional nuances: her trepidation at all the sweeping changes in her life (her daughter has gotten married and moved overseas to Italy; her husband's health takes a frightening turn for the worse; she discovers that her best friend has been keeping a life-shattering secret from her); her deep love for her family, friends and town; and most of all, her ability to embrace all the lessons life has to offer, good and bad. Trigiani's narration makes all of the colorful characters feel real. They all have a Virginia "country" accent, but she deepens her voice here, adds an emphasized "twang" there to create distinctive voices for each character. Fans of this warm, homey series will find added dimension by listening to their favorite characters brought so perfectly to life. Simultaneous release with the Random House hardcover (Reviews, Sept. 4).
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Tucked in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia is Big Stone Gap, the bucolic backdrop for Trigiani's popular series. In this fourth entry, Ave Maria Mulligan MacChesney and her husband, Jack, must come to terms with the absence of daughter Etta, newly married and living in Italy. (The country holds a special place in Ave Maria's heart: her biological father, Mario, whom she learned of and met only after her mother's death, is Italian.) Ave Maria has plenty to keep her mind off missing her only child (the MacChesney's son, Joe, died of leukemia at age four). She's a full-time pharmacist and the newly appointed director of the town's annual musical. Then comes news that her longtime friend, glamorous librarian Iva Lou, has been keeping a startling secret for nearly 20 years. Other developments, including a health scare for Jack and a Christmas visit from a colorful former resident, move the plot along briskly. With her original cast of characters, playwright and television writer Trigiani blends playfulness and pathos in this evocative portrait of a small southern town. Fans of the Big Stone Gap series can look forward to a feature film; Trigiani has written the screenplay and is slated to direct. Allison Block
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 317 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books; Reprint edition (October 30, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812967828
• ISBN-13: 978-0812967821
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.8 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (62 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #60,531 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Bestselling author Adriana Trigiani is beloved by millions of readers around the world for her hilarious and heartwarming novels. Adriana was raised in a small coal-mining town in southwest Virginia in a big Italian family. She chose her hometown for the setting and title of her debut novel, the critically acclaimed bestseller Big Stone Gap. The heartwarming story continues in the novel's sequels Big Cherry Holler, Milk Glass Moon, and Home to Big Stone Gap. Stand-alone novels Lucia, Lucia; The Queen of the Big Time; and Rococo, all topped the bestseller lists, as did Trigiani's 2009 Very Valentine and its 2010 sequel Brava, Valentine.

Trigiani teamed up with her family for Cooking with My Sisters, a cookbook coauthored by her sister Mary, with contributions from their sisters and mother. The cookbook-memoir features recipes and stories dating back a hundred years from both sides of their Italian-American family.

Adriana's novels have been translated and sold in more than 35 countries around the world. Trigiani's latest blockbuster Brava, Valentine (Very Valentine's sequel) debuted at number seven on the New York Times bestseller list following its February 2010 debut. Valentine Roncalli juggles her long-distance romance, as she works to better the family's struggling business. A once-in-a-lifetime business opportunity takes Val from the winding streets of Greenwich Village to the sun-kissed cobblestones of Buenos Aires, where she finds a long-buried secret hidden deep within a family scandal.

Trigiani's first young adult novel, Viola in Reel Life--the first in a series--debuted in September 2009. Fans fell in love with fourteen-year-old filmmaker Viola Chesterton, who moves from Brooklyn to a South Bend, Indiana, boarding school. In Spring 2011, readers will delight in Trigiani's follow-up novel Viola in the Spotlight, as Viola and friends spend an adventure-filled summer vacation in Brooklyn.

Readers will take a peek into the lives of the women who shaped Adriana, with her November 2010 nonfiction debut: Don't Sing at the Table: Life Lessons from my Grandmothers. The book makes a lovely gift for family (or yourself!), as Trigiani shares a treasure trove of insight and guidance from her two grandmothers: time-tested common sense advice on the most important aspects of a woman's life, from childhood to old age.

Fans everywhere will soon see Adriana's work on the big and small screens! She wrote the screenplay for and will direct the big screen version of her novel Big Stone Gap. Adriana has also written the film adaptations of Lucia, Lucia and Very Valentine--which will be made into a Lifetime Original Movie in 2011!

Critics from the Washington Post to the New York Times to People have described Adriana's novels as "tiramisu for the soul," "sophisticated and wise," and "dazzling." They agree that "her characters are so lively they bounce off the page," and that "...her novels are full bodied and elegantly written."

Trigiani's novels have been chosen for the USA Today Book Club, the Target Bookmarked series, and she's now officially a regular with Barnes & Noble Book Clubs, where she has conducted three online book clubs. Adriana speaks to book clubs from her home three to four nights a week.

Her books are so popular around the world that Lucia, Lucia was selected as the best read of 2004 in England by Richard and Judy.

After graduating from Saint Mary's College in South Bend, Indiana, Adriana moved to New York City to become a playwright. She founded the all-female comedy troupe "The Outcasts," which performed on the cabaret circuit for seven years. She made her off-Broadway debut at the Manhattan Theatre Club and was produced in regional theatres of note around the country.

Among her many television credits, Adriana was a writer/producer on The Cosby Show, A Different World, and executive producer/head writer for City Kids for Jim Henson Productions. Her Lifetime television special, Growing Up Funny, garnered an Emmy Award nomination for Lily Tomlin. In 1996, she wrote and directed the documentary film Queens of the Big Time. It won the Audience Award at the Hamptons Film Festival and toured the international film festival circuit from Hong Kong to London.

Adriana then wrote a screenplay called Big Stone Gap, which became the novel that began the series. Adriana spent a year and a half waking up at three in the morning to write the novel before going into work on a television show.

Adriana is married to Tim Stephenson, the Emmy Award-winning lighting designer of The Late Show with David Letterman. They live in Greenwich Village with their daughter, Lucia.

Perhaps one popular book critic said it best: "Trigiani defies categorization. She is more than a one-hit wonder, more than a Southern writer, more than a woman's novelist. She is an amazing young talent

Amazon Author Rankbeta 

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#21 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Historical

#25 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Historical

#54 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Contemporary

#91 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Contemporary Fiction

#21 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Historical

#25 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Historical

#54 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Contemporary

#91 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Contemporary Fiction

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding!!! October 31, 2006

By Sienacrazy

Format:Hardcover

This is Adriana's best novel to date. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has enjoyed the Big Stone Gap series or for anyone who is looking for a wonderful story about good people, family relationships and the day to day challanges we all face. All of your favorites are back for new adventures and heartwarming tales with Ave and Jack. Reading this book is like having a nice visit with old friends! I look forward to more books in this series and other novels by Adriana. Her stories are always beautifully told and a joy to read.

28 of 31 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Catch up with old friends November 12, 2006

By Corinne H. Smith TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

Most of us last spent time with the MacChesneys four years ago, when "Milk Glass Moon' was released. "Home to Big Stone Gap" gives us a chance to catch up with our old friends in southwestern Virginia. Now that her daughter Etta is married and living in Italy, Ave Maria experiences all manner of mid-life empty-nest worries: about health, about mortality, about marriage, about family, about friends. At the same time that she thinks she's lost her daughter, a dear friend discovers hers. And who knew that Jack Mac dreamed of visiting Scotland? This is another satisfying read from Ms. Trigiani, one that's sure to provoke readers into reconsidering some of their own views of Life. Though it can be read as a stand-alone title, those new to the series may want to go back and read the first three: "Big Stone Gap," "Big Cherry Holler," and "Milk Glass Moon." Then they will know "the rest of the story."

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars You Can Go Home Again~ November 6, 2006

By Sandra Mitchell

Format:Hardcover

Fans of Big Stone Gap, Big Cherry Holler & Milk Glass Moon won't be disappointed in the 4th installment of the series. Home to Big Stone Gap is like going home again, to beloved friends and family members. Adriana Trigiani continues the story with her wonderful knack of storytelling that is charming, cozy and real. Once again, the last page will leave you wanting more.