Gilded Mountain, Kate Manning
Gilded Mountain, Kate Manning
List: $29.99 | Sale: $21.00
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Gilded Mountain

Author: Kate Manning

Narrator: Dawn Harvey

Unabridged: 16 hr 5 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/01/2022


Synopsis

“Immersive…awe-inspiring.” —The New York Times “An epic story of love, hope, and perseverance.” — #1 New York Times bestselling author Christina Baker Kline

This “stellar read” (Los Angeles Times) is an exhilarating tale of an unforgettable young woman who bravely exposes the corruption that enriched her father’s employers in early 1900s Colorado.

In a voice infused with sly humor, Sylvie Pelletier recounts leaving her family’s snowbound mountain cabin to work in a manor house for the Padgetts, owners of the marble-mining company that employs her father and dominates the town. Sharp-eyed Sylvie is awed by the luxury around her; fascinated by her employer, the charming “Countess” Inge, and confused by the erratic affections of Jasper, the bookish heir to the family fortune. Her fairy-tale ideas take a dark turn when she realizes the Padgetts’ lofty philosophical talk is at odds with the unfair labor practices that have enriched them. Their servants, the Gradys, formerly enslaved people, have long known this to be true and are making plans to form a utopian community on the Colorado prairie.

Outside the manor walls, the town of Moonstone is roiling with discontent. A handsome union organizer, along with labor leader Mary Harris “Mother” Jones, is stirring up the quarry workers. The editor of the local newspaper—a bold woman who takes Sylvie on as an apprentice—is publishing unflattering accounts of the Padgett Company. Sylvie navigates vastly different worlds and struggles to find her way amid conflicting loyalties. When the harsh winter brings tragedy, Sylvie decides to act.

Drawn from true stories of Colorado history, Gilded Mountain is a tale of a bygone American West seized by robber barons and settled by immigrants, and is a story imbued with longing—for self-expression and equality, freedom and adventure.

About Kate Manning

Kate Manning is the author of the critically acclaimed novels My Notorious Life, Whitegirl, and Gilded Mountain. A former documentary television producer and winner of two Emmy Awards, she has written for The New York TimesThe Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times Book ReviewTimeGlamour, and The Guardian, among other publications. She has taught creative writing at Bard High School Early College in Manhattan, and lives with her family in New York City.


Reviews

This one wasn’t my favorite….. “Hey, Sugar Pie!” That’s all it takes for Sylvie Pelletier to fall in love, one little pet name. Sylvie Pelletier is new to Colorado. Her father is working in the marble mine under hazardous conditions. When the summer arrives, Sylvie has an opportunity to work for the ow......more

Goodreads review by Annette

1907. Sylvie Pelletier is almost seventeen when her family moves to Moonstone in Colorado. Her father works at the Quarrytown where they mine marble. Sylvie is ambitious in writing essays at school, which leads her to getting a job at the local newspaper led by Miss Redmond. Miss Redmond wasn’t welc......more

A family’s treacherous journey from the east to Colorado in hopes of finding safety and a secure life is told in this well researched, well written piece of historical fiction focusing on the labor movement in Colorado in the early 1900’s. Sylvie Pelletier’s coming of age story brings the times and......more


Quotes

"Narrator Dawn Harvey delivers this tale of labor and love, which takes place in a Colorado mining community from 1907 to 1909. Québecois American Sylvie Pelletier’s union-minded father toils in the marble mines of Moonstone. Despite her natural sympathies for the miners, Sylvie’s attracted to the mine owner’s charismatic son — and the tempting opulence of his life, so different from the rigors of her own. The African American servants who work for his family add a complicating counterpoint to the conflict. Sylvie narrates the events from decades later, and Harvey deftly balances distance with immediacy."