Books with title East of the Mountains

Heart has to find a safe haven for her beloved unicorns. With Lord Dunraven looking for them -- and Heart's friends aware that helping her will bring Dunraven's anger -- she has nowhere to turn. If only she knew where her family was -- or who they were. In a mysterious bundle of paper in Dunraven's castle Heart finds a drawing that looks like the design on her baby blanket. The paper is covered with tiny symbols. If she can find out what they mean will they unlock the secrets of the dreams that have been haunting her?

Ben Givens is a retired heart surgeon who has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Deciding to take charge of his own demise, Ben travels into the wild country of Washington state with his two dogs and his father's Winchester, to hunt one last time and then to end his life on his own terms. But, as with all quests, the Fates intervene. A car wreck introduces him to various helpers and hindrances, and gradually Ben undertakes a journey back through his own past. As he nears the apple-growing country in which he grew up, he recalls the signal events of his youth and manhood-especially his wartime experiences and his profound love for his wife of fifty years. Ben is transformed into an American Odysseus as he confronts the many sides of his own nature in a novel that radiates with the glories of the natural world and the mysterious permutations of the human heart.

A novel by the author of the best-selling novel Snow Falling on Cedars. This story takes place in mid-Octoberfict 1997, harvest time in the Columbia Basin of central Washington state. Ben Givens is a retired heart surgeon. He has terminal colon cancer. While Ben does not readily accept defeat, he is determined to avoid suffering rather than engage it. And so, accompanied by his two hunting dogs, he sets out through the mythic American West on his last hunt. On his journey, just when he thinks there is no turning back, his power of intervention is called upon & his very identity tested. Full of humanity, passion, & moral honesty.

It is mid-October, 1997, harvest time in the Columbia Basin of central Washington state, a rich apple- and pear-growing region. Ben Givens, recently widowed, is a retired heart surgeon, once admired for his steadiness of hand, his precision, his endurance. He has terminal colon cancer. While Ben does not readily accept defeat, he is determined to avoid suffering rather than engage it. And so, accompanied by his two hunting dogs, he sets out through the mythic American West-sage deserts, yawning canyons, dusty ranches, vast orchards-on his last hunt.The main issues for Ben as a doctor had been tactical and so it would be with his death. But he hadn't considered the persuasiveness of memory-the promise he made to his wife Rachel, the love of his life, during World War II. Or life's mystery. On his journey he meets a young couple who are "forever," a drifter offering left-handed advice that might lessen the pain, a veterinarian with a touch only a heart surgeon would recognize, a rancher bent on destruction, a migrant worker who tests Ben's ability to understand. And just when he thinks there is no turning back, nothing to lose that wasn't lost, his power of interventions is called upon and his very identity tested.Full of humanity, passion, and moral honesty, East of the Mountains is a bold and beautiful novel of personal discovery.

It is mid-October, 1997, harvest time in the Columbia Basin of central Washington state, a rich apple- and pear-growing region. Ben Givens, recently widowed, is a retired heart surgeon, once admired for his steadiness of hand, his precision, his endurance. He has terminal colon cancer. While Ben does not readily accept defeat, he is determined to avoid suffering rather than engage it. And so, accompanied by his two hunting dogs, he sets out through the mythic American West-sage deserts, yawning canyons, dusty ranches, vast orchards-on his last hunt.The main issues for Ben as a doctor had been tactical and so it would be with his death. But he hadn't considered the persuasiveness of memory-the promise he made to his wife Rachel, the love of his life, during World War II. Or life's mystery. On his journey he meets a young couple who are "forever," a drifter offering left-handed advice that might lessen the pain, a veterinarian with a touch only a heart surgeon would recognize, a rancher bent on destruction, a migrant worker who tests Ben's ability to understand. And just when he thinks there is no turning back, nothing to lose that wasn't lost, his power of interventions is called upon and his very identity tested.Full of humanity, passion, and moral honesty, East of the Mountains is a bold and beautiful novel of personal discovery.

Russo had everything once: a loving wife, a great son, a decent job working at a scrap yard, and a secluded cabin nestled deep within the woods of Mascot, Tennessee. But all that changed when the beast came; it lurked in the shadows, ever watchful, and waiting for the right time to strike when Russo was away at work. Locked away in an asylum for years, Russo is released and vows revenge on the beast and will stop at nothing until he gets it.

From the author of Snow Falling on Cedars comes this bestselling novel about a dying man's final journey through a landscape that has always sustained him and provided him with hope and challenges. When he discovers that he has terminal cancer, retired heart surgeon Ben Givens refuses to simply sit back and wait. Instead he takes his two beloved dogs and goes on a last hunt, determined to end his life on his own terms. But as the people he meets and the memories over which he lingers remind him of the mystery of life's endurance, his trek into the American West becomes much more than a final journey.

"Unfolds in pitch-perfect regional dialect. . . . For fans of Ruth White's and Kerry Madden's Appalachian-inspired fiction."--Kirkus ReviewsIt's about keeping the faith.Growing up poor in 1953 in the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia doesn't bother Lydia Hawkins. She treasures her tight-knit family. There's her loving mama, now widowed; her whip-smart younger brother, BJ, who has cystic fibrosis; and wise old Gran. But everything falls apart after Gran and BJ die and mama is jailed unjustly. Suddenly Lydia has lost all those dearest to her. Moving to a coal camp to live with her uncle William and aunt Ethel Mae only makes Lydia feel more alone. She is ridiculed at her new school for her outgrown homemade clothes and the way she talks, and for what the kids believe her mama did. And to make matters worse, she discovers that her uncle has been keeping a family secret—about her.If only Lydia, with her resilient spirit and determination, could find a way to clear her mother's name. . . .

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