Low Country [Abridged, Audiobook] [Audio Cassette]

Anne Rivers Siddons (Author), Debra Monk (Reader)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 7, 2003

Caroline Venable has everything her Southern heritage promised: money, prestige, a rich husband. If she drinks a little too much and her 20-year marriage to successful land developer, Clay, seems a little empty, well, she's doing what she was born to do: be the chatelaine of a magnificent home and hostess to her husband's friends and prospective clients.

Her numbing routine of country-club luncheons, cocktail parties, and increasing isolation is interrupted, however, when Caro finds out that her tycoon husband plans to build a resort on a beautiful untouched island in South Carolina's low country. The island is a quiet haven, rich in lowcountry history and meaningful memories from Caro's youth. But most important to her, his plans will mean the devastation of a band of wild ponies that roam freely across the island. Spurred to action and inspired with new purpose, Caro must confront the life she has been leading and reach deep within herself to save this special place out of her past and, ultimately, make a meaningful life for herself.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A Siddons heroine of a familiar stripe, Caroline Aubrey Venable battles adversity and despair to save her South Carolina island in a somewhat unwieldy novel that again shows us a woman maturing under pressure. The death of her daughter five years earlier still shadows Caroline's life, and her occasional overindulgence in alcohol is something neither she nor her husband of 25 years will discussAso long as Caroline continues dutifully to play "mother superior" to the junior partners of her husband Clay's land-developing empire. When rumor comes to light that Clay's company plans to turn their low country home into a theme parkAthreatening the wild ponies that Caroline loves, not to mention the Gullahs who have lived there for centuriesACaroline is roused from her stupor. The leisurely pace and evocative atmospheric background of Siddons's fiction are in evidence here, and the confiding tone of this first-person narrative of betrayal and redemption offers few surprises. Some readers, however, may find Caroline annoyingly self-absorbed; may question why she doesn't object more strenuously when Luis CassellsAone of the islandersAcharacterizes Clay as "Mengele"; may find Siddons's depiction of Luis as a Cuban-Jewish Don Quixote improbable; may take umbrage at Caroline's patronization of the Gullahs; and may agree that the climax, while surprising, makes for a pat denouement. $250,000 ad/promo; U.K. rights to Little, Brown; first serial and dramatic rights: Virginia Barber; audio rights: HarperAudio; translation rights: HarperCollins; author tour.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Fans will find some familiar elements here: a sympathetic Southern heroine, an unlikely love interest, and a South Carolina low country setting fragrant with salt air. Caro Venable is a captivating mix of beauty queen, drunk, artist, dutiful corporate wife, and mother still grieving her daughter's drowning. Her love of Peacock's Island clashes with her developer husband's plans to subdivide her grandfather's land and turn its native tribal settlement into a "theme park." Caro is also tempted by a wild, rebellious Cuban botanist who shares her love for the unspoiled island. The novel ends with a circle of completeness: a corrupt husband returning to his decent self, a wife returning to her husband's love, an orphaned child filling the void left by a girl's death, and the island saved from development. Readers of Siddons's other books (Up Island, HarperCollins, 1997) will not be disappointed.
-?Carol J. Bissett, Dittlinger Memorial Lib., New Braunfels, TX
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: HarperAudio; Abridged edition (October 7, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060577479
• ISBN-13: 978-0060577476
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 4.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (48 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,124,897 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great book!, September 17, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Low Country (Hardcover)

I was very surprised to see all the negative reviews for "Low Country". I personally thought it was one of Anne Rivers Siddons' best books ever. I agree with the readers that say that her genre is somewhat predictable, but that is what makes her books almost comforting. I, for one, like happy endings. I loved "Colony" and "Fault Lines" and put this one on the same level. She chooses her surroundings carefully, but her characters always seem to be a part of their area. Any woman who has been through a crisis that shakes her marraige to the bone and makes her grow as woman and a partner can relate to her books.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Trite plot with predictable ending, October 3, 1999

By A Customer

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

After enjoying "Colony" so much last year I eagerly looked forward to this latest novel. I found I had to struggle to finish the book and was very disappointed at the lack of imagination at the end. Obviously this book did not inspire me to read anything further by Siddons.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Bland and predictable, June 27, 2000

By 

Manola Sommerfeld (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Low Country (Hardcover)

Too much melodrama in this novel. Too many over-the-top characters. My favorite is the Jewish-Cuban-with-an-Italian-name, who minutes after meeting the wife of his boss, calls him "Mengele" to her face. Come on! Although i read some very nice passages, this book is nothing more than a glorified romance novel from the supermarket shelf.