Tied to the Tracks [Mass Market Paperback]

Rosina Lippi (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 3, 2007

Angie Mangiamele runs a film company in Hoboken, New Jersey-a long way (in more ways than one) from Ogilvie, Georgia. But a new project has brought her to this small Southern town, where she stands out like a fire truck in a flower garden.

She's been invited to Ogilvie by Miss Zula Bragg, the intensely private literary legend who's agreed to appear in a documentary made by Angie's highly unconventional crew. And there's someone else in own Angie looks forward to seeing: John Grant, a descendant of Ogilvie's founders with whom she had a long-ago summer romance. But John's wedding-to the daughter of a prominent local family-is just days away, and promises to be the sleepy town's social event of the year.

What could possibly go right?

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Despite earnest attempts to tweak modern romance clichés, historical novelist Lippi (1999 Pen/Hemingway winner for Homestead) falls victim to the predictable plotting of contemporary chick lit in her first present-day excursion, a story of love in a small Southern town. When a struggling New Jersey film company, Tied to the Tracks, gets invited to Ogilvie, Ga., to make a documentary about renowned writer-in-residence Zula Bragg, Tied to the Tracks' owner, Angie Mangiamele, is thrilled to get the work—but not so thrilled to see old flame John Grant, chair of Ogilvie College's English department. John is brilliant, handsome, well-connected and about to marry Caroline Rose, youngest daughter of a prominent local family. Angie and John, under the gaze of prying Ogilvie eyes, try, and fail, to convince themselves there is nothing left between them. The more interesting story of Zula's secret past plays second fiddle to the ho-hum reunion of the star-crossed lovers. Several amusing secondary characters, including Angie's wisecracking business partners and the oh-so-Southern Ogilvie denizens, add to the story's charm, but the novel makes no real emotional demands. (June)
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

Writing under the name Sara Donati, Lippi has authored the acclaimed Wilderness historical fiction series. With her newest novel, however, she turns her buoyant creative talents to the romantic comedy genre with an effervescent tale of a trio of offbeat Yankee filmmakers plunked down deep in the heart of Dixie to produce a controversial documentary about Miss Zula Bragg, literary doyenne of Georgia's Ogilvie College. While on campus, partners Angie Mangiamele, Rivera Rosenblum, and Tony Russo must work under the auspices of the English department, chaired by Ogilvie's fair-haired favorite son, John Grant, whose upcoming wedding to the town's equally fair-haired favorite daughter, Caroline Rose, may be derailed once news of John and Angie's previous love affair gets out. As the former lovers tap-dance around their still obvious mutual attraction, their friends choose up sides to ensure the wedding either does, or does not, take place. Lippi handles the prenuptial disruption and a dazzling array of hot-button social issues (racism and homosexuality among them) with cool aplomb. Carol Haggas
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 338 pages
• Publisher: Berkley Trade (July 3, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425215326
• ISBN-13: 978-0425215326
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,099,934 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable in all the right ways..., August 4, 2006

By 

Leslie Butler (Hattiesburg, MS) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tied to the Tracks (Hardcover)

I am so excited to write this book review because I absolutely loved Tied to the Tracks. The synopsis of the story doesn't really sound all that exciting: documentary company (Tied to the Tracks of the title) from New Jersey is selected to do the documentary of a famous southern writer, Ms. Zula May Bragg, in Ogilvie, GA. The catch is that the head of the documentary company, Angie, and the department chair of the college where the famous writer is a teacher, John, were once lovers, and John is engaged to be married to the youngest sister of the other rich family in the town.

That said, the story was very exciting, fun to read, and enjoyable in all the right ways. The tension between John and Angie is so tight that the book fairly tingles with it.

What I absolutely love about Lippi/Donati's work is her sense of language. She captures the cadence and rhythm of language in a way that makes the conversations and thoughts of the characters "sound" in your head. The telephone conversation between Tony Russo (one of the filmmakers) and his mother in New Jersey was a delight to read. I was also excited to see that Lippi accurately placed the origin of Frito Pie in East Texas. It's little details like this that make the world she built in Ogilvie, GA, feel as hot, humid, and muggy as it would be if it were a real town just an hour outside of Savannah.

I know that a book I am reading strikes a chord with me when I start to have conversations with the characters and imagine what they would do in my world. The characters in TTTT came to life for me, and I had imaginary conversations with them all week. I am going to miss them now that I've read the book and have to place it back on my bookshelf.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't put it down - wonderful!, August 2, 2008

By 

Ers Consulting "Susan Petre" (Atlanta, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tied to the Tracks (Mass Market Paperback)

First, I take exception to Publisher's Weekly who calls is a "humdrum" romance, and also, another reviewer classifying this book as "chick lit romance." Yes, the romantic elements are important, but the book far transcends the typical romance novel. The characters are fascinating, fallible, real three dimensional human beings whose stories you're totally drawn into. For example, one of the main characters (the male romantic lead), while handsome, rich, etc. he is also kind and unjudgmental. There is a scene where he (as the head of the English Department) is interviewing a new undergraduate, who is obviously overweight, and he offers her a cinnamon roll. "Lydia studied his face closely, but found no trace of mockery. She had the idea - and very strange it was, too - that she could sit here and devour a couple thousand calories and he wouldn't take any real note of it." And when his catty administrative assistant comments, "I saw Lydia Montgomery leaving just a minute ago. Isn't it a pity?" he replies "I don't see any cause for pity. She's here on a full merit scholarship, her writing samples are stellar, she's got excellent plans for her education."

Often when I read books I do some skipping simply to see how the plot unfolds. But because this author is so gifted in the richness of her language combined with the fascinating personality of the characters, I enjoyed every step of the journey. While there was some predictability (caution: spoiler) in that the main characters were going to wind up with each other, there was enough tension and unpredictability in other elements of the plot to engage you to the end.

This author writes under another pen name, Sara Donati. Don't miss her "Into the Wilderness" series.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nicely done, July 27, 2006

By 

Chris - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tied to the Tracks (Hardcover)

If you are looking for a book to change your life, this is not it. However, if you are looking for more of a romantic comedy, not quite chicklit, definitely not a romance (little sex) then this could be for you. Recommended for someone who likes light fiction. The romance is predictable enough (that's not necessarily bad), but the secondary characters, especially the power hungry secretary and the iconic member of the English department are more interesting or nuanced than usual. Also, it gets into to the whys and wherefores of character motivation, which is a little more engaging than the genre's typical: mistakes, leading to romantic breakups, with the charcter then realizing, "Oh if I had only known...." This story has a bit more complexity than that and I recommend it. I gave this book 5 stars, not that it is the best book ever, but it does what it does very well.