基本信息出版社：HarperCollins Publishers Inc
页码：480 页
出版日期：2006年12月
ISBN：0060837012
条形码：9780060837013
版本：2006-12-26
装帧：简装
开本：32开 Pages Per Sheet
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Book Description
In her most emotionally compelling novel since "Up Island", Anne Rivers Siddons explores the bonds of female friendship.
Book Dimension
length: (cm)18.5 width:(cm)10.4
作者简介
Anne Rivers Siddons bestselling novels include Sweetwater Creek, Nora, Nora, Low Country, Up Island, Fault Lines, Downtown, Hill Towns, Colony, Outer Banks, King's Oak, Peachtree Road, Homeplace, Fox's Earth, The House Next Door, and Heartbreak Hotel. She is also the author of a work of nonfiction, John Chancellor Makes Me Cry. She and her husband Heyward split their time between their home in Charleston, SC and Brooklin, ME.
媒体推荐 书评
From Publishers Weekly
Veteran novelist Siddons (Islands; Nora, Nora) returns to South Carolina''s low country for her latest, a capable but uninspired story of a young girl''s coming-of-age on the family plantation. Emily Parmenter is a lonely 12-year-old whose life revolves around the Boykin spaniels her family raises as hunting dogs. Her mother ran off; her beloved disabled brother, Buddy, who introduced her to literature, blew his head off with a shotgun (although Emily has conversations with him in her head); and her father, Walter, withholds all praise and attention. Her solace is her dog, Elvis, and Cleta, the wise black housekeeper. When 20-year-old LuLu Foxworth of the blueblood Foxworths arrives to spend time at the Parmenter plantation and work with the dogs, Emily is reluctant to welcome her, while social-climbing Walter is thrilled, hoping LuLu can teach Emily "to be a lady." The two emotionally neglected girls bond, and Lulu confides her dirty little secret: her addiction to alcohol and the smarmy Yancey Byrd, with whom Lulu has a 9½ Weeks–style love affair. The plot follows formula and the ends tie up happily for everyone but poor LuLu, the bad rich girl with the heart of gold. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From School Library Journal
Adult/High School–Siddons''s strength is in describing locale, and in Sweetwater Creek she takes readers to the South Carolina Lowcountry, imbuing it with an almost magical aura. The mystical landscape of oak groves and tidal rivers where dolphins play is home to 12-year-old Emily Parmenter, daughter of a struggling plantation owner whose only claim to success is his line of legendary Boykin hunting spaniels. Emily grieves the death of her cherished older brother while also coming to terms with her mother''s desertion. She forges a bond with her own spaniel and proceeds to find her place on the plantation when her innate ability to train the hunting dogs is discovered. Life is beginning to settle into a comfortable rhythm when a young debutante, Lulu Foxworth, exhausted from her whirlwind social season, takes up residence at Sweetwater Plantation for a summer of rest and retreat from the pressures of her demanding life. Lulu craves the peace of Sweetwater, and Emily, though curious, is not anxious to let the outside world in. This coming-of-age tale appeals on many levels as it explores loneliness and loss, friendship and betrayal, and the comfort of a beloved pet or favorite place in nature. Despite the sadness that pervades, there is peace, beauty, and escape in Sweetwater Creek.–Gari Plehal, Pohick Regional Library, Fairfax County, VA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From AudioFile
Anna Fields crafts an unforgettable voice in 11-year-old Emily Parmenter, who inhabits a beautiful but isolated world on her father''s spaniel-breeding plantation. When Lulu Foxworth, a troubled Carolina debutante who craves the plantation''s isolation for mysterious reasons, arrives for a summer stay, the tempo of Emily''s world falters, and unease becomes palpable. Fields''s characters are all fully fleshed. In particular, the family cook, Cleta, is a joy; her gravelly world-weary mutterings are a counterpoint to the drawling bellow of Emily''s father and the bittersweet shifts of Emily''s own voice as it travels from youthful bewilderment, to awakening awareness, to clear-eyed understanding of an adult world. A superior read of a memorable book. A.M.D. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Booklist
Since her mother left and her dear brother died, Emily Parmenter, 12, walks around Sweetwater Farm on eggshells, unnoticed by what''s left of her family. Her only friend is her dog, Elvis, one of the Boykin spaniels her family raises. Her older twin brothers are mindless teens, and her father dreams of being accepted into society using the sale of his hunting dogs as entree. Highly intuitive, especially with animals, Emily trains the puppies, aching, as only a preteen can, for attention and acceptance even as she fears the world beyond Sweetwater. This fateful summer, a couple with good connections visits Sweetwater to purchase a dog, bringing along their college-age daughter, Lulu. Slim as a willow but brittle as glass, Lulu is enchanted with the dogs and the farm and Emily''s father invites her to live with them as a favor to her parents. Emily knows Lulu will bring change, and she resists it, and sure enough, Lulu has her demons. Just as the Parmenters, with Lulu''s help, seemingly reach their goal of being accepted into South Carolina society, Lulu succumbs to the darkness inside her, leaving Emily devastated and the family high and dry. Filled with the lushness of the Low Country, this coming-of-age story, with its haunting, lyrical prose and complex characters who inspire emotions ranging from anger to empathy, will captivate any reader. Maria Hatton
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Booklist
"This story, with its haunting, lyrical prose and complex characters...will captivate any reader." --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Washington Post
"Fans of Southern novels in the vein of FRIED GREEN TOMATOES will relish this one’s rich atmosphere." --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Charlotte News & Observer
"Themes of love and loss are intertwined throughout, as the reader rides on a tide of Siddons’ lush, lyrical prose." --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
USA Today
"A page-turner. The setting and the isolated life will remind readers of Sue Monk Kidd’s THE MERMAID CHAIR." --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Richmond Times-Dispatch
"Rises above…by the sheer beauty and power of its prose. A story that refuses to be put down." --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
St. Petersburg Times
"A powerful narrative that should satiate Siddons’ many fans and captivate new ones." --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
The State (Columbia, SC)
"This is Siddons’ best work." --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Bangor Daily News
"Lush, lyrical prose and loving detail." --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.