I love this tetralogy! I fell in love with these characters after the first reading and have read it many times over. The characters are zany and wholesome; it most definitely is a feel good book! All of them are great, easy reads that you will want to share with your friends and family!

A great novel for women (and for men willing to try a little harder to understand women). First of a popular series. There is a lot of comedy and romance and deep emotion, combined with true insight on what makes a family fit together.

Ave Maria Mulligan has lived in Big Stone Gap, Virginia all her life, but still feels like an outsider – because her mother was an outsider. Her mother Fiametta was from Italy but married her very non-Italian father when she came to America. Her father died several years ago and her mother has just died. Ave Maria runs her father’s old pharmacy, is the head of the local rescue squad, and is the director of the local summer play which celebrates the history of the area. But she is 35 years old, unmarried, and restless. A letter from her mother, left with the attorney handling the estate, throws her life into confusion and overturns everything she thought she was.

Big Stone Gap is a real town, where Adriana Trigiani grew up. This novel has a place and characters so real you feel like you grew up there, too. You feel you could move there and know just where to go for the best views and the best food. Ave Maria’s best friends are the brilliant high school band director and the sexy, life-and-man-enjoying bookmobile librarian. But every maintenance man and clothing salesman and car repairman and secretary comes alive as Trigiani describes them.

I think I liked it most because of the reader in the audio version. The story was a bit silly and predictable but it was a good commuting book and I'll likely check out the rest of the series.

this was ok - some parts were very engaging, and others not so much.

Well done. There is a certain mysticism relating to Appalachia. I guess I am subject to this romanticized folklore. Enjoyable -

Big Stone Gap is one of those novels that makes you feel like you actually live in the blue mountains of Virginia and all of the residents are your friends and family. Humor, romance, family secrets and even a visit from Elizabeth Taylor (based on a real life visit to Big Stone Gap where she choked on a chicken bone while campaigning with then husband John Warner) make this novel a memorable one. This is the first in a series of 4 books - I highly recommend it!

This is such a sweet enjoyable read, chalk full of great humour and wonderfully eccentric characters. The main one, Ave Maria Mulligan is okay but I prefer the supporting cast. Her best friend Iva Lou, a bookmobile driver & God's gift to men for one. Another is Fleeta, the chain-smoking pharmacy cashier who loves pro wrestling, such a hoot. The author’s choice of locale adds the perfect ambiance.

Quite lively, but predictable plot. Why is it listed as "teen" category book. Ms. Trigiani is wearing entirely too much lipstick in her author photo.

May 2006

This is a really good series of books - they deal with life and love - and are just a good cozy read.