A Road Through the Mountains [Kindle Edition]

Elizabeth Mcgregor (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

McGregor's lyrical novel is a poignant tribute to the tenacity of love. Lingering in a coma after a car accident, gifted painter Anna Russell subconsciously fights for survival to reclaim a life and a love she thought were lost to her. Fearing that her daughter might not regain consciousness, Grace Russell contacts David Mortimer, Anna's onetime lover, informing him that he is the father of Anna's 10-year-old daughter. Taken unawares, David, an introverted English botanist who never quite recovered from Anna's abrupt abandonment, flies to Boston ill-prepared to meet the daughter he never knew existed. Caught up in a vortex of conflicting emotions, David learns that Rachel suffers from a rare form of autism known as Asperger's syndrome. Determined to protect both Anna and Rachel from Anna's smoothly manipulative lover-agent, David finds a way to bridge the metaphorical distance between a comatose Anna, an emotionally isolated Rachel,^B and himself. Meandering back^B and forth through time, the narrative analyzes^B the fragile^B yet resolute nature of true love in a^B variety of emotional, spiritual, and physical relationships. Margaret Flanagan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"Lyrical  ... a poignant tribute to the tenacity of love."
--Booklist

“I really loved the book. A Road Through the Mountains is a powerfully moving novel, vivid and passionate. The characters are so real and the story so poignant...I never wanted the novel to end. I read it straight through and couldn't stop crying. Elizabeth McGregor is a wonderful writer.”
—New York Times bestselling author Luanne Rice


From the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 372 KB
• Publisher: Bantam (June 8, 2004)
• Sold by: Random House Digital, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B000FC1QR4
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Brit in Boston, July 7, 2004

By 

Haley Parnham (NJ) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: A Road Through the Mountains (Paperback)

David and Anna meet during her year in England while they're in college. And then she's gone, back home to Ogunquit, leaving him behind without telling him she's pregnant. Ten years later she and their daughter Rachel are in a traffic accident leaving Anna in a coma. Her mother calls David who has been meandering meaninglessly through his life since college, and tells him about Anna and that he's a father. And so the story begins.

Except for the occasional intensive pages with horticulture terms, I enjoyed this book. The story moved smoothly and the end results, although predictable, are what we want. The interesting sidebar of this story is that Rachel, David & Anna's daughter, has Asperger's Syndrome which is on the autistic spectrum. This adds a different flavor to the story and makes the artistic side of things as well as the trip through the mountains that David guides Anna through as she sleeps, a bit more believable and understandable.

This story has no great surprises though. Nothing that excites you or causes you to wish it would continue when you finish it, but it's definitely worth the exploration.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Left wanting more..., August 8, 2005

By 

Jennifer Shields (Baltimore, MD) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Road Through the Mountains (Paperback)

Overall, I did enjoy reading this book. I'm not sure though that I would recommend it to a friend. I didn't feel a deep connection with any of the characters for the most part. I was intrigued to see what would end up happening, so I found it to be a page-turner. There was a lot of botany involved in which plants were referred to by their genus-species name. I don't feel that was a necessity to the main plot.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars character driven poignant love story, April 29, 2004

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Road Through the Mountains (Paperback)

Artist Anna Russell raises her ten years old autistic daughter Rachel by herself with only assistance from her own mom. In fact she never told her daughter's father David Mortimer that he sired a child. However, everything changes for Anna when a car accident leaves her in a comatose state. Anna's mother Grace decides it is time for Englishman David Mortimer to learn he is a father. The call shakes the school teacher, who has sublimated his heart and needs into loneliness ever since Anna abruptly left him without a word to return to the States.

David resigns though his students are taking their exams because he knows he must go to Boston to awaken his two women, one the adult he always loved and the other the child he never knew lived. As she remains in a coma, David wonders why she left him and if she awakens will she dispatch him back across the Atlantic? As he and Rachel hit it off in some lovingly father-daughter relationship, he remembers a potential key to waking up Sleeping Beauty, Anna's passion for rare flowers.

A ROAD THROUGH THE MOUNTAINS is a character driven poignant love story starring three delightful protagonists. Anna is an enigma as the audience will ponder along with David why she left him. Hearts will go out to Rachel suffering from autism with little hope to communicate yet David finds way to reach her. David loves his two ladies, but must overcome his fears of intimacy caused by his beloved leaving him. Readers will weep as this poignant tale reaches deep inside the soul of the audience.

Harriet Klausner