Eve's Mountain by Marian Coe (review)

useless, and that the staying power of that family and that land is all. Time and hope are longer than Ohio's sorrow-or their own. What a wonderful place this would be for the book to end! Here its main concerns are seen with new wisdom and taken to a deeper level. But Milltown Natural goes on for another fifty pages. This reflects a problem which runs throughout the book. For all its wonderful qualities, it is not as satisfying a book as it could be. The problem lies not in Hague's writing but in the editing. Milltown Natural is divided into two sections, but the strategy behind that division is not clear. And, though individual pieces have moments ofreal power, the book's overall effect is ofa miscellany, which conflicts with its well-crafted contents. The closing essay, "Pool in the Hinterlands," seems especially misplaced, leaning heavily as it does on the revelations of pool and beer. Granted, I am not an initiate, but I think even a pool aficionado might see that "Inventing Ironhead" is a stronger, broader statement of what this collection is about and a better spot from which to take leave ofthe reader. It is a tribute to the depth ofDick Hague's gift that Milltown Natural transcends these problems of shaping. He labors here to give out news, news ofthe necessity ofbeing connected with the Old—the stories ofour ancestors, the wonders of "rocky hollows and recovering woods"—in whose abiding hand the future rests. —George Ella Lyon Marian Coe. Eve's Mountain. N.p.: Southlore Press, 1998. 362 pages. Paperback. $14.95. For many readers ofAppalachian Heritage, Marian Coe's Eve's Mountain will be an excursion into familiar geographical—but unfamiliar literary— territory. Unlike most books reviewed here, Coe's work is not cultural history, or sociology, or economics, or even "serious" literary art. It's a popular mystery with a large dose ofromance, and it would seem to lend itself more to a television miniseries than to a discussion of Appalachian literature. Regardless of literary tastes and principles, however, what recommends the story to Appalachian Heritage readers is the setting, a summer community in the southern Appalachians. Because the setting is dealt with sensitively and seriously-and because it is thoroughly integrated into the plot—the book deserves our attention. And once acclimated to 67 Coe's mountains, readers may well find this well-crafted romance an enjoyable summer indulgence. At the story's center is Alexander Kingston, a jet-setting North Carolina businessman now retired from a long and adventurous career. But he can find neither rest nor peace—and maybe he deserves none. Many believe that forty years earlier he had murdered his young wife in a drunken rage, then, apparendy to escape prosecution, bought the scene ofthe crime, Eve's Mountain. There he built his retreat, Capstone, hired many local people, treated his neighbors generously, and even promised never to develop the mountain. Intensifying the mystery is the fact that Kingston himself doesn't know if he lulled his Eve. In either case, the mountain has become a shrine to his one true love, and hence inviolable; and his relationship with the locals is a happy feudalism. But once Kingston is disabled by a stroke, his children, embittered by their father's ongoing dedication to the dead and his equally persistent neglect of the living, take charge. Under their care, or lack of it, family policy changes, and the mountain—along with the community it has created and sheltered—stands in jeopardy. Although Coe avoids creating an obvious villain, Kingston's manipulative daughter Tory suggests that role plainly enough. Indeed, the only person capable ofkeeping Tory's rancor in check is her elder brother Zack, but his position concerning his father's affairs is simple: avoidance. Thus the stricken senior Kingston would be at the mercy of Tory's vengeance and Zack's indifference were it not for our heroine, Selena Hart. Selena is a nurse-psychologist on the run from problems of her own. She is hiding out in the Blue Ridge to avoid her emotionally abusive husband, the Colorado police, and her own guilt...