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
Half Moon
I step around the barn in the twilight and see the half moon shimmering above the barn’s back corner, like a surprise. I empty the ash bucket and set it on the cement step, waiting for my daughters and our … Continue reading
Starting Stick Season
At the end of our dead-end road, my neighbor and I call to each other, checking in, seeking news. Their 5-year-old loves kindergarten, cut his own hair, lost his first tooth, and is learning to read. My neighbor laughs at … Continue reading
A few words
In the middle of a rainy morning, I was at the muddy dead-end of a road, listening to a passionate young man who’s taken over the family farm, as he explained an argument he’s had with the road crew and … Continue reading
The Obvious
In a terrible mood on Friday afternoon, I’m driving too fast through town when I round a corner and see a rainbow spread over Hardwick. The arc shines so brilliantly and near I imagine I can reach out and touch … Continue reading
Goodness
This morning, hearing news of the Trumps’ positive test results, I think of where I was just a few hours ago, on a hillside in Greensboro. The Nature Conservancy owns pieces of land all around where we live, some unmarked, … Continue reading
Pastimes
I wake before dawn thinking of shuffleboard and listen to the rain pattering. It’s Wednesday, and my high school daughter is home today. With high school in session two days a week, she’s patched together a strange schedule. Yesterday, she … Continue reading
Crushed Leaves
A colleague tells me her brother contracted Covid in January. A professional chef, he opened an oven and wondered what was wrong with the meatloaf — it had no smell. He survived after an intense illness. So this week, I … Continue reading
Small Victories
Like so many places, I’ve limited occupancy in my one room library, and, for the most part, that’s worked. This afternoon, just before the after school program started for the first time in months, the adults stood around in our … Continue 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
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
