Big Stone Gap

April 3, 2000
Trigiani's story of a middle-aged spinster finding love and a sense of self in a small Virginia coal town is a lot like a cold soda on a hot summer day: light and refreshing, if just a little too sweet. Trigiani, a playwright, filmmaker and former writer for The Cosby Show, has a Southern voice that perfectly embodies her main character, the embattled Ave Maria Mulligan. Ave Maria, who's satisfied if not exactly happy in her role as the town pharmacist, begins questioning her quiet, country life after a posthumous letter from her mother reveals a jarring secret. Ave Maria soon faces a crisis of identity, the advances of a surprising suitor and the threat of her acerbic, money-grubbing Aunt Alice. From the suitor, who points out his brand-new pickup truck during a marriage proposal, to the town temptress, who dispenses romantic advice from her bookmobile, Trigiani brings the story alive with her flexible vocal inventions. Fans of true love stories and happy endings certainly won't be disappointed. Based on the Random hardcover (Forecasts, Jan. 31).

In Big Stone Gap, a hamlet in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, pharmacist Ave Maria Mulligan, a student of ancient Chinese face-reading, learns that at the age of 35 something significant will change her life. Grace Bennett's earthy and rich narration takes the listener on Ave Maria's journey during this discovery. With charm and gutsy charisma, Bennett describes this woman's deepest fears, longings, disappointments, and the rocky path to a woman's final destination. When Jack comes into Ave's life, Bennett turns up the sexual tension, and listeners will fall in love with love along the way. Bennett perfectly delivers a cozy and charming story. B.J.P. (c) AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine