num_pages: 304
description: In the town of Big Stone Gap, Virginia, not much happens. The highlight of 35-year-old Ave Maria Mulligan's week comes on Friday, with the arrival of the Bookmobile, the sight of which sends her into raptures. Her favorite book concerns the ancient Chinese art of reading faces. Through her face-readings, we come to understand the hostilities simmering within her her father whose small eyes are the clear "sign of a deceptive nature." Her aunt who "has a small head and thin lips. (That's a terrible combination.)" Adriana Trigiani's first novel concerns the family scandals that befall Ave Maria in this seemingly uneventful town. Greed, lust, envy--all the ancient emotional elements--manifest themselves even in this hamlet of "ordinary folk." Fans of Fannie Flagg or Rebecca Wells will enjoy this down-home tale, full of small, everyday details and colloquial revelations. The writing is often awkward, but so too are the characters who inhabit this the Bookmobile lady who thinks of herself as the sexiest woman alive; the amateur actors in the local Outdoor Drama who bristle with ambition when they hear that Elizabeth Taylor is coming to visit. In Big Stone Gap, her visit is so anticipated, it's like she's an angel sent from heaven. --Ellen Williams
language: English
title: Big Stone Gap
titlecomplete: Big Stone Gap
characters: Elmo Gaspar, Elizabeth Taylor, Meoli Vilminore, Gala Nuccio, Iva Lou Wade, Spec, Otto, Theodore Tipton, Lyle Makin, Nan MacChesney, Ave Maria Mulligan, Jack "Jack Mac" MacChesney, Tayloe Slagle, Aunt Cecelia, Nellie Goodloe, Fleeta Mullins, Mario Barbari, Inez Eisenberg, Zia Antonietta, Lew Eisenberg, Aunt Alice, Worley, Uncle Wayne, Pearl Grimes, John Warner, Betty Slagle
genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Southern, Audiobook, Chick Lit, Adult, Book Club, Romance, Adult Fiction, Historical Fiction
ratings_count: 45872
places: Virginia, Big Stone Gap, Virginia
series: Big Stone Gap
publisher: Pan Australia