Nestled in the lush Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, the town of Big Stone Gap has been home to Ave Maria Mulligan MacChesney and her family for generations. She's been married to her beloved Jack for nearly twenty years, raised one child and buried another, and run a business that binds her community together, all while holding close her tight circle of family and friends. But with her daughter Etta, having flown the nest to Italy, Ave Maria has...

In this sequel to Big Stone Gap (LJ 4/1/00), it's now the late 1980s, and Ave Maria and Jack MacChesney have been married 11 years. They have a ten-year-old daughter, Etta, but lost their younger child, Joe, a few years earlier. This loss and other marital stresses have tested their relationship, but the summer brings on the biggest trial yet. As Jack tries to launch a new construction business in Big Stone Gap, VA, Ave Maria and Etta take off for...

Ave Maria Mulligan has lived her whole life in tiny Big Stone Gap, a picturesque coal-mining town nestled in the hollers of southwestern Virginia. When she's not making deliveries from her family's pharmacy to far-flung neighbors, Ave Maria directs the annual outdoor drama festival, keeps chaste company with her longtime beau, Theodore, and exchanges good-natured barbs with local hunk Jack MacChesney.