Final Impressions : On Agate Hill

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I guess this is just a day of discussion for me. This Discussion may be long. I wasn't sure if I was going to finish it today or not. I've done a lot of housework in between today, some I wasn't planning to do (thanks clumsy me). The book starts off with a letter from a girl named Tuscany to a professor. Her letters pop up around four times in the novel, and no they do not distract from it. I am really glad they don't. You can tell that Tuscany is similar to the main character of the book, Molly. Molly lived in the late 1800's and early 1900's. She was a child for so long of her life and then suddenly thrust into adulthood. She never wanted to leave her home, she never wanted to leave her childhood. You hear from two of her friends, one from her childhood, another that was there when she was thrust into respectability and responsibility. You hear from a man she calls her best friend, and you hear from her benefactor. The book itself? I can't explain to you how it ended without giving too much away. I can say that it made me cry, and that it made me long to reach across the divide of reality and fiction and hug Molly to me. The author did a great amount of research with the assistance of others and made the book feel... real. For those of you who live in NC (of which there are several), pick this book up. It's by Lee Smith. It will thrust you into another time and place. What are you reading?