BIG CHERRY HOLLER

In the sequel to BIG STONE GAP, Ava Maria Mulligan has been married to Jack MacChesney for eight years. They have a daughter and have lost a son to disease. Ava Maria feels distance growing between herself and her husband, and she doesn't know how to bring closeness back to their marriage. A summer trip to her father's home in Italy will bring further challenges and fresh visions into what she wants her life to be. Trigiani reads in a relaxed, easy manner and with genuine Virginia speech. Her emotional shadings fit the prose, and her renderings of Ava Maria's family and friends are natural and effective. The story stands alone without the earlier novel as the author inexorably draws the listener into the life of Ava Maria and her community. This is engrossing throughout. M.A.M. (c) AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC/ JAN 02]