The Girl Who Chased the Moon: A Novel [Kindle Edition]

Sarah Addison Allen (Author)

Book Description

BONUS: This edition contains a The Girl Who Chased the Moon discussion guide and an excerpt from Sarah Addison Allen's The Peach Keeper.

Emily Benedict has come to Mullaby, North Carolina, hoping to solve at least some of the riddles surrounding her mother’s life. But the moment Emily enters the house where her mother grew up and meets the grandfather she never knew, she realizes that mysteries aren’t solved in Mullaby, they’re a way of life: Here are rooms where the wallpaper changes to suit your mood. Unexplained lights skip across the yard at midnight. And a neighbor, Julia Winterson, bakes hope in the form of cakes, not only wishing to satisfy the town’s sweet tooth but also dreaming of rekindling the love she fears might be lost forever. Can a hummingbird cake really bring back a lost love? Is there really a ghost dancing in Emily’s backyard? The answers are never what you expect. But in this town of lovable misfits, the unexpected fits right in.

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Sarah Addison Allen on The Girl Who Chased the Moon

"How tall is he?" she asked, her voice hushed, as if he might hear.
"Tall enough to see into tomorrow."--Chapter Two, The Girl Who Chased the Moon

Every book I’ve written has had some element of fairytale to it. The sentient apple tree in Garden Spells. The Rapunzel references in The Sugar Queen. And The Girl Who Chased the Moon is no different. I actually ended up with a giant in this story.

I remember when I first wrote elderly Vance Shelby into The Girl Who Chased the Moon. He walked into a room and had to duck under the doorframe. I knew then that this was no ordinary man. This was a giant. But how tall was too tall? When would real become unreal? It’s a fine line. I began to research gigantism and discovered the tallest man in history for whom there is irrefutable medical proof: Robert Pershing Wadlow, the Giant of Illinois. At the time of his death at the young age of 22, Wadlow was almost nine feet tall. It’s a stunning number, isn’t it? Nine feet tall. I pored over old film and audio interviews from the 1930s, trying to get a feel for what his life was like, so I could present with veracity this magically tall man in my story. What I discovered was a soft-spoken gentle giant whose legs were so long he walked like he was on stilts, whose body listed to the side like a skyscraper made of soft wood instead of concrete. But he was always smiling, accepting the stares and the requests for photos good-naturedly as he toured with Ringling Brothers and the International Shoe Company. He never hid himself away. He mingled among regular-sized people like he knew he had to savor every moment. And maybe he did know. Maybe he was tall enough to see into tomorrow.

In honor of Wadlow, I took all that I thought a young giant might wish for--a long life, a wife, a family, a place that accepted him as he was, where he was just another town oddity--and I gave it to elderly Vance Shelby in The Girl Who Chased the Moon. And as an old giant, Vance looks back on a life he always wanted to be extraordinarily small, and finds that it was exactly the size it needed to be. Which I think might be truth for us all. --Sarah Addison Allen

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From Publishers Weekly

Allen's latest (after The Sugar Queen) takes the familiar setup of a young protagonist returning to the small town where her elusive mother was raised, and subverts it by sprinkling just enough magic into the narrative to keep things lively but short of saccharine. Seventeen-year-old Emily Benedict, intent on learning more about her mother, Dulcie, moves in with her grandfather, but is disappointed to find that her grandfather doesn't want to talk much about Dulcie. She soon discovers, though, that many still hold a grudge against Dulcie for the way she treated an old sweetheart before dumping him and disappearing. Luckily, Dulcie's high school adversary, Julia Winterson, back in town to pay down her deceased father's debt, takes a shine to Emily. She's working another quest as well: baking cakes every day with the hope that they'll somehow attract the daughter she gave up for adoption years ago. There are love interests, big family secrets, and magical happenings (color-changing wallpaper, mysterious lights) aplenty as Allen charts the spiraling inter-generational stories, bringing everything together in an unexpected way. (Mar.)
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Product Details

• File Size: 1893 KB
• Print Length: 306 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0553385593
• Publisher: Bantam (March 16, 2010)
• Sold by: Random House Digital, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B001NLL784
• Text-to-Speech: Not enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Not Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #34,463 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

99 of 101 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars You may suddenly feel compelled to bake a cake February 6, 2010

By Shiloh True TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

If you've managed to beat your sweet tooth into submission, be warned, it's about to be reanimated. Ah yes, Allen must be a 'foodie' because she, once again, develops her characters around food, guaranteed to make you hungry, while feelin' right-at-home. You'll forget you're not sitting at the kitchen table partaking with them. Halfway through, I truly HAD to have some cake, and, a southern style, pull-pork-sandwich, sure didn't sound bad, either. Who knew, a novel could have you gain a couple of pounds?

Allen's books are magical, comforting fiction; a sweet indulgence. The type of read where you need to shoo everyone from the house, put on your flannel pajamas, funky socks with toes, grab a glass of wine (if you're legal) and your favorite chocolates. Cheetos might work! Then relax in your most comfortable spot, for a girl's-night-in, with characters typical of Allen---folks' down-home enough to be just like us, regardless of how quirky they may initially appear.

You'll enjoy your trip to Mullaby, N. Carolina, with all its southern charm, magic and secrets abounding. Where the local town-folk gossip aplenty, the fragrance of fresh baked pastry wafts through the air, wallpaper suddenly changes patterns, and ghostly lights drift through backyards under the moonlight---with the trailing sound of footsteps. Where the town oddity, a giant of a man over eight feet tall, keeps the town's secrets close to heart, until the day his granddaughter, Emily, materializes on his doorstep after the death of her mother, Dulcie. You'll discover why everyone in Mullaby loathed Dulcie. Can Emily win them over, or will she bear the burden of her mother's evil deeds?

Emily will meet and be befriended by, Julia Winterson; the girl with a pink stripe in her hair and, very telling external scars, to match her internal ones. Julia's own dark secret drives her to protect and nurture Emily. She rather obsessively bakes cakes, believing they will bring those lost back home to her. But she needs to share her secret with someone, first. Can she ever trust again?

I had to suspend disbelief more with this book than Allen's previous work, and there was a lot of predictability, but who cares. I enjoyed it for what it is---a light, feel-good read, offering a moment in time for a magical escape. I know I felt somehow lighter, after reading it, in spite of that piece of cake---well, actually two pieces, but who's counting. Enjoy!

45 of 48 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Over the moon about this novel! February 7, 2010

By Gayla M. Collins VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

I love the magical, fanciful worlds in which Sarah Addison Allen's characters reside. All of her books are like this and I anticipate them like a child awaiting her promised night at a fair; dazzling rides, sweet, sugary apples and cotton candy, barker's trying to lure her into the games of chance.

This atmosphere is alight in Mullaby, N. C. Seventeen year old Emily is sent to live with her 8 foot tall grandpa when her mother tragically dies. Her mother left Mullaby with a bad reputation, never looking back, but raised her daughter to work hard for cause after cause. It is difficult for Emily to reconcile her hard working, driven mother with the spoiled, bratty girl the town recollects.

Other souls that are hoarding secrets of pain aid in slowly acclimating Emily into their fantastical lives. Her wall paper changes itself at will; lights flash in the woods which seem haunted. Cake smells waft long distances to entice a child back into the fold.

Wonderfully written with characters you instantly fall in love with; I highly recommend this book. I loved her first two and Allen didn't let me down with this gorgeous read.

I can barely wait for her next offering.....this author has become a must buy as soon as her books are released.....the covers are so intricately beautiful they compliment the novel within.

A special, dreamy read.

69 of 78 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Sweet Book February 15, 2010

By J. Dassaro VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

The Girl Who Chased The Moon is a "sweet" book. It is a light and quick read with a magical touch, just as Ms. Allen's other books. I enjoyed reading this book, and looked forward to it, but in the end, I don't think I got much out of it. I dreaded writing this review because I really loved her first novel, Garden Spells. But, after thinking about it long and hard, I am just a different reader now than I was then. This was a nice story, but for most of it I felt like I was reading an episode of Wizards of Waverly Place. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but I don't think I am the target audience. This would make a great young adult read (although there is some romantic scenes in there towards the end).

I know that this is a wishy washy review..... I liked it but I didn't love it, even though I felt I should love it and I wanted to love it. However, I would recommend it to those of you who want a light and sweet, feel-good read.

More About the Author

Sarah Addison Allen is the New York Times Bestselling author of Garden Spells (2007) The Sugar Queen (2008) The Girl Who Chased the Moon (2010) and The Peach Keeper (2011). She was born and raised in Asheville, North Carolina.