On Viney's Mountain

by Joan Donaldson

Overview

Foreign Englishmen have invaded Viney Walker's home in the Cumberland Mountains of Tennessee and she is determined to send them packing. Sixteen-years-old and independent, Viney rebels against the traditional roles for nineteenth century Appalachian women while her older sister, Lizzie seeks a rich husband. In order to satisfy her family, Viney feigns interest in one Englishman, Charlie Breckenridge who takes a fancy to her and slowly wins her heart. On Viney's Mountain won the 2010 Friends of American Writers Award, represented the State of Tennessee at the 2010 National Book Festival, and was a finalist for the 2011 Bronte Prize for Romantic Literature. Viney Walker's story is based on the life of Dicey Fletcher, a famous weaver from Rugby, TN

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781500493745
Publisher:	CreateSpace Publishing
Publication date:	07/03/2014
Series:	Cumberland Mountain , #1
Pages:	246
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.56(d)
Lexile:	670L (what's this?)
Age Range:	12 - 15 Years

About the Author

Joan Donaldson is the author of other four books and for the past fifteen years her essays have appeared in The Christian Science Monitor, Michigan History and Mary Jane's Farm. In 2008, she earned a Master in Fine Arts from Spalding University in creative writing. She also writes and records features from her farm for her local NPR affiliate, WMUK. When not writing or farming, she plays Scottish music on her folk harp, gardens, and quilts.

Editorial Reviews

Gr 7–9—In 1880, in the Cumberland Mountains of Tennessee, Viney Walker, 16, lives on a subsistence farm with her sister and brother. All are accustomed to long days of hard labor, but Viney makes time for her art—weavings that make warm blankets and add beauty to drab mountain cabins. When men from an English utopian settlement begin to tear down the forest to clear land for their new farms and town, Viney is outraged and determined to undermine the settlement. A few tricks, however, cannot stop progress, and the teen despairs of losing not only her way of life, but also her sister to the wiles of an Englishman. Just as she begins to appreciate what the settlement has to offer, and to fall in love with one of the young men who comes to work there, disaster strikes. Based on the life of Dicey Fletcher and the ill-fated Rugby colony, this book offers a glimpse into the lives of women in the mountains during this period. While Viney's disinterest in marriage and family makes her unusual in her time, she is a somewhat drab heroine by today's standards. Offer this novel to fans of historical fiction and light romance who won't be put off by the absence of a happy ending.—Caroline Tesauro, Radford Public Library, VA

School Library Journal

Foreigners are coming to 16-year-old Viney Walker's home in the Cumberland Mountains of Tennessee. Arriving from England in 1880 to establish Rugby, a Christian Social Community where young men hope to buy land and be treated equally, these flatlanders are grading new roads, trampling her wildflowers and luring her pretty sister Lizzie into town. But as much as Viney loves her mountain way of life, especially her weaving, she is drawn to Charlie Breckenridge, a handsome English man with gentian blue eyes. The jacket copy likens this historical romance to Jane Austen, and it is funny, poignant and always centered on whether or not Viney and Charlie will get together. Viney and her mountain ridge are beautifully realized, the prose full of well-researched details of flora and fauna, though a bit heavy handed with similes. The first-person point of view is just right for getting into the mind of this homespun girl with dirt under her fingernails and grit in her spirit. Readers will come to love feisty Viney and cheer her on. (Historical fiction. 10 & up)

Kirkus Reviews