My Book
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“With vivid and richly textured prose, Brett Ann Stanciu offers unsparing portraits of northern New England life well beyond sight of the ski lodges and postcard views. The work the land demands, the blood ties of family to the land, and to each other, the profound solitude that such hard-bitten lives thrusts upon the people, are here in true measure. A moving and evocative tale that will stay with you, Hidden View also provides one of the most compelling and honest rural woman’s viewpoint to come along in years. A novel of singular accomplishment.” – Jeffrey Lent
“Early in the book, I was swept by a certainty of truths in Hidden View: that Stanciu knew the bizarre and fragile construction that people’s self-deceptions can frame. And that she was telling, out in public, against all the rules, the heartbreaking story of far too many women I’ve known, at one time or another, who struggled to make their dreams come to reality in situations…. …(In Hidden View) the questions of loyalty to person, commitment to dreams, and betrayal of the helpless are as vivid as the flames in the sugarhouse, as sweet and dangerous as the hot boiling maple sap on its way to becoming valuable syrup. There’s so much truth in this book that at some point, it stops being “fiction” and stands instead as a portrait, layered, complex, and wise. The Vermont that we love, the farms that we treasure, the children we nurture are fully present.” – Kingdom Books, Beth Kanell
“Stanciu is a Vermonter’s writer. Anyone who loves the landscape and language of Vermont will be drawn into this story, but her writing holds a universal appeal, too, and rings true with the language and landscape of the human heart and mind as well. The characters in Hidden View are people you’re going to think about, and care about, long after the book is read.” – Natalie Kinsey-Warnock, AS LONG AS THERE ARE MOUNTAINS
Tag Archives: #reading
Butterscotch Lifesavers
In the evening, as dusk settles in, my daughter and I walk downtown to the corner store. I’m looking for Lifesavers, a rare treat in our house. She asked if I would mind buying her Lifesavers on my way home … Continue reading
Posted in writing
Tagged #adolescence, #chinesepoetry, #cooking, #homesteading, #hope, #lifesavors, #reading, #Vermont
9 Comments
Homework
In the evening, with the windows open to the crickets’ songs, my daughters sit on the couch, doing homework together, while I read about the 1918 pandemic and knit. Half-listening, I hear my daughters figure out the answer to a … Continue reading
Posted in Vermont
Tagged #change, #divorce, #friendship, #gardening, #hope, #parenting, #reading, #vermontliving, #writing
6 Comments
Evening Out — Of Sorts
A friend and I stand in the high school parking lot, watching our daughters finish soccer practice on the field. At least, I say as the girls walk towards us, laughing and talking, they’ve had one practice. That’s where we … Continue reading
Posted in poetry
Tagged #familylife, #hope, #literature, #love, #reading, #StephenKiernan, #UniverseofTwo, #vermontliving, #whywrite
3 Comments
