Gilded Mountain

A Novel

By: Kate Manning

Narrated by: Dawn Harvey

Length: 16 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

“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.

©2022 Kate Manning (P)2022 Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Enjoyed it a lot

This was an enjoyable listen. I cried at one point and stayed interested the whole time. The portion based on history was very interesting and helped widen my knowledge about the formation of unions in this country. Finished it in 3 days while doing cleaning and cooking. I recommend it for the story and the education.

Did not enjoy the reader

It was hard for me to decide on a reading for this book, because I really felt like the reader interfered with my enjoyment so much. However, even when I tried to separate the reader from the novel, often I just found myself zoning out and did not find myself really looking forward to listening. Some interesting parts but as many that were not. I didn’t really love the main character so that could be part of the problem as well.

Marble Mining

This was a captivating historical fiction, set at the beginning of the 20th century. Fictional Sylvie gets involved with the robber barons and the development of unions as she tries to help her family and community in the marble mining town of Moonstone, CO. I enjoyed listening to this story and the narrator when she was speaking English, but when she spoke with the accent of other languages, such as French, she was hard to understand.

pretty tough to get through

While I was drawn in by the politics of the story, the narrative is too thin a cover for these more historical and philosophical aspects. The characters lack depth, and the accents of the narrators are extremely distracting and irritating. I can't finish this one.

Great story, beautifully written

Loved this book! Narration with caricatured voices for many characters was a distraction from the beautiful writing but I still highly recommend.

Good story

Good story, well written. But character development is lacking. Characters are one-dimensional, stereotypical. But worth reading.
Narrator was okay but her accents, esp. French, were not particularly well done and so were often distracting.

Welcome to the brutal life in a mining town

A wonderful performance of a marvelous story. I love historical fiction because it brings the stories to life. The story of how brave miners extracted blocks of marble from Colorado mountains is important enough. But the story of labour's struggle for safety and living wages is crucial. This book inspires to persevere in spite of tragedy.

The worst reader

The story was interesting. Nothing amazing about it though. The reader was the worst I’ve ever heard, I’ve listened to 200 books in 12 years. The narration was terrible. The voices were monotonous. The French spoken was awful. And the singing was terrible. Don’t bother listening to this book. I recommend that you read it instead. I wish I had done that!

Good historical novel

this novel was well written about the struggles of the working laborers in the early 1900's. the author brought in a little romance, a little violence and painted the picture of quarry life that struggles for survival. The wealthy are portrayed as the oppressors and the union's as the defenders.

Narration is a Complete Joke

This narrator is the worst I’ve ever heard, and I listen to one or two audiobooks a week. You won’t hear how bad the narration is through the sample because the narrator’s natural voice is fine. Except for the main character, all the other characters have accents that are beyond annoying, which is why I said the narration is a joke. It’s a million times worse than nails on a chalkboard. It’s impossible to evaluate the book after listening to and being so offended by this narrator. What a shame.