The Mountain

The Valley Trilogy, Book 2

By: Helen Bryan

Narrated by: Kate Reading

From Helen Bryan, bestselling author of War Brides, The Sisterhood, and The Valley, comes the second book in an epic trilogy told from multiple viewpoints - a story about the resilience, bravery, love, and unity that formed the foundation of the New World.

The frontier of the Commonwealth of Virginia, 1783. In the years since the first settlers arrived, looking to build new lives, the township of Grafton has flourished. Together, European immigrants, Native Americans, indentured servants, and former slaves have established a tight-knit community.

As time passes and America becomes a nation, Grafton is swept up in the tumult of the outside world. The Cherokees are rounded up and driven west. The Civil War leaves a long shadow. Newcomers make their mark, fortunes are won and lost, and loyalties are tested in the march of history.

©2018 Helen Bryan (P)2018 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Great story that leaves us wanting more

Compelling story that leaves us wanting to know more about each of the many characters

Read The Valley first!

As this is the second book of a trilogy it is best you read the first book to have a good context of characters and differing families. However, I found it difficult to follow the many family lines as it moved along through generations. Some main characters endings were not clear. That said I will listen to the final book of this trilogy, although maybe reading this series might make it easier to follow the characters, families and time line.

Very vivid and historic

I felt as I was in the pages along with the characters. It was like reading someone’s diary over many centuries excellent book on a woman’s perspective of all the trials and errors to get to where we are today.

Rich and Tragic History of America

Though there is so much sadness and tragedy, I so appreciate how this country developed and how it evolved with Europeans, Indians and Slaves interacting together. In Grafton despite all the challenges from within and the outside world it was an example of how all people can come together for the common good. As always, the narrator Kate Reading, is the best of all that I have experienced after listening to many audiobooks. She brings all the characters to life.

Too many time hops!

Being book 2 of The Valley, this book continued the families of Grafton's life. I love reading historical fictions of America during this time. The time period would take huge leaps at a time cutting out significant story lines. By the last few chapters, I found myself trying to figure out who the characters were more than focusing on the story. It was very frustrating to finally figure out a character's identity and then have to skip back 10 chapters and re-read so I could apply the character's background. This happened quite a bit in Book 2 where as Book 1 was not nearly as "time-hopping". So much could have been written about during the time skips. Overall I was disappointed with this one.