Search - Hill Towns

Anne Rivers Siddons writes deeply into relationships--primarily the one between Catherine Gaillard (thrust into Italy after a phobia prevents her from leaving her mountain-top home in Tennessee for years)and husband Joe, and the nature of their love. Lovely picture of Tuscany along the way.

Awesome story telling!

Light read; I always like a Siddons book for the beach.

One single event changed the life of Catherine Gaillard when she was a child makes her unable to leave the protected mountaintop village in Tennesee for the next thirty years. Siddon's fans will like this one.

Cat Gaillard's life was irrevocably marred at age five when a truck plowed into her hedonistic parents, who were making love on a bridge. Raised in a small, southern hill town at the foot of the Blue Ridge mountains, Cat found safety within the rarified confines of its resident college and refused ever after to leave. Her agoraphobia entrances her husband Joe, a pedantic dean of English who revels in being Cat's strength and feels threatened when therapy frees her somewhat for a holiday abroad; they will roam across Italy as the unlikely companions of Joe's protege Colin and his new bride Maria. Other fellow travelers include Yolanda, a hilariously bitchy, oversexed Martha Stewart knockoff; Sam, a bluff, sweat-scented painter mesmerized by Cat; and his Machiavellian wife Ada, who will do anything to jumpstart Sam's creative motor. As a gritty, hot wind blows the group through Venice and into Tuscany, the hypocrisies cementing Cat's marriage are exposed. Siddons artfully conjures a violently seductive, sensual world peopled by characters boiling with elemental emotions: fear, lust, aching love.

I always enjoy her books, and this one is no exception.

Not really my type of book. Thought I would enjoy it more but I couldn't get into it.

Located in Tennessee and Italy, this is a novel of emotions, fear and love. A great Anne Rivers Siddons novel. If you haven't discovered her, try this one.

A great book to read on the beach (which is where I read it).

Her best!

This is a good book that appeals to the heart of most women.

Back Cover:
As a small child a single event irrevocably changed the life of Catherine Gaillard-and rendered her unable to leave her cloistered mountain top town in Tennessee for the next thirty years. Her devotion to her husband, Joe, and her desire to forever put this incident behind her propel Cat on a life changing voyage to Italy.
Making her way across the Tuscany countryside in the company of newly married friends and an exuberant painter and his enigmatic wife, Cat and Joe feel the fabric that holds their marriage together-so carefully woven together at home-begin to unravel. The once carefree trip turns into a journey to the very heart of their relationship..and the ultimate test of their love.

I love all of Anne Rivers Siddons books.