My mother’s very first book, Escape to the Mountain, is back in print, 30 years after the crash-and-burn of its original publisher, the once-venerable A.S. Barnes, led to the speedy remaindering of the first edition. It’s in the country-nature genre (think Gladys Taber and Noel Perrin), and describes our first six years in Plummer’s Hollow, when I was between the ages of five and ten. From the publisher’s blurb:
During their first year at the farm, Marcia and her family survived a blizzard, a flood, and a drought. Her book is a hymn of joy to sledding on moonlit nights in winter, to the arrival of the birds in spring, and to harvesting garden crops in the autumn. She relates the discovery of a family of wild puppies in the barn, a porcupine in the apple tree, a shrew in the laundry bucket, mudpuppies in the well, and opossums on the back porch.
See my mom’s post about it here.
This looks like a great title for the “Back to the Land” collection I’ve begun. Thanks.
This is great. So great.
Oh. wow. How cool to have a book about your childhood.
John – Yeah, we were part of the Back to the Land movement, for sure. We had a country place in Maine, too, where we lived for five years before moving here — in a red VW microbus. We read the Whole Earth Catalogue and subscribed to Mother Earth News from its inception. Otherwise, though, my parents had no hippie tendencies (my dad has never worn jeans in his life), and were actually a few years too old to qualify as baby boomers.
Dana and Jo – You bet. I’m looking forward to re-reading it — should be a total nostalgia trip. There are a couple of embarassing photos of me in it, though.
Dave–Was Escape to the Mountain available at the Tyrone-Snyder Library?
Some of the stories described in the post sound so familiar. I think I may have read it.
Glad to see it back in print, regardless.
Hi Sven – I’d be surprised if it weren’t in the library. Back in the early 80s, when my mom still had her column in the Mirror, I suppose it was as close to a local bestseller as a book could get in an area without many book-readers.
I was going to ask if there were any embarrassing pics of or anecdotes about you…
Congratulations to your mum, it must be nice.
Thanks, Lucy. Well, there is a pretty adorable photo of me in pyjamas feeding an orphaned baby bunny with a medicine dropper. And plenty of anecdotes, of course, though it was all too long ago for me to be embarrassed by them now.