- Hardcover: 334 pages
- Publisher: Crown (Feb 2 1999)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0609602497
- ISBN-13: 978-0609602492
- Product Dimensions: 23.1 x 15.2 x 2.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 658 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (98 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #885,528 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
What do you do when everything you hold dear, everything you believe yourself to be, proves not to be true? Like Scarlett O'Hara, you go home, if not to Tara, then to the last place that you felt like you. Award-winning author Kristin Hannah makes her hardcover debut by taking readers to just such a place in On Mystic Lake. As her only child leaves to study abroad and her husband admits his love for a younger woman, Annie Colwater feels invisible. Having devoted herself to being the best wife and mother she could be for the last 20 years, Annie no longer knows who she is. She heads home to her father and to Mystic, Washington--where she grew up, where the dreams she barely remembers first blossomed, and where her first love, Nick Delacroix, still lives. Back in Mystic, Annie receives a healthy dose of perspective: Nick's wife has recently committed suicide, leaving Nick to find solace in the bottom of a Scotch bottle while his 6-year-old daughter, Izzie--who hasn't spoken since her mother's death--is doing her best to "disappear" just like Mommy. Annie volunteers to care for Izzie, since Nick cannot understand what his grieving daughter needs. And in the process, Annie recovers herself, the woman she thought gone forever, while Nick realizes that his future lies with Annie and Izzie. Just when the future starts to look bright for the three, Annie is faced with a devastating choice between the life she thought had left her behind, and a new beginning with Nick and Izzie, who helped to unearth her forgotten dreams. Kristin Hannah has produced a treasure of a book, one that will make you cry and will strike a chord in anyone who has ever had to pick up the pieces and start over. --Alison Trinkle
From Publishers Weekly
In her first hardcover after a distinguished career in paperback romance (Home Again), Hannah shows what it takes for an author to make that defining leap. Never one to gush, she is more than ever disciplined in her writing, and the result is a clean, deep thrust into the reader's heart. Annie Colwater knows she's in for a spell of loneliness when her 17-year-old daughter, Natalie, leaves Southern California for a summer in London, but the teary airport farewell is just the beginning of a chaotic time. Blake, Annie's husband, tells her that he wants a divorce so he can start a new life with his sweetheart, a young partner in his law firm. Blake's a cad?a habitual philanderer, and the sort of father who forgets birthdays?but we don't totally blame him for bailing out. Annie is Natalie's doting mother, Blake's dutiful wife and otherwise barely there. In search of the self she must find to survive, Annie goes back to Mystic, Wash., and the home of her father, gruffly loving Hank Borne, who did his best to raise her after the early death of her mother. Maternal loss is a terrain Hannah seems to know to a harrowing fare-thee-well. Annie's redemption begins with her profound kindness to six-year-old Isabella Delacroix, whose mother, Kathy?once Annie's best friend?has recently died. A romance with alcoholic cop Nick, Isabella's father, unfolds tenderly and with suspense, for all its inevitability. When Annie discovers she is pregnant with Blake's child, and then gives birth prematurely to a tiny girl who may not survive, the phrase "page-turner" is redefined. In Hannah's world, nothing can be taken for granted and triumph must be earned, with hard work, truthful reckoning and tears. 100,000 first printing; first serial to Good Housekeeping; Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club selections; film rights optioned by Hearst Entertainment; rights sold in the U.K., Germany, France, Sweden and China.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS!,
By
This review is from: On Mystic Lake: A Novel (Paperback)
Spoilers ahead ... you've been warned:Some people may view Kristin Hannah's books as light, insignificant, 'hausfrau' books, but I personally think she can do wrong. When it comes to crafting stories about human relationships, Hannah is one of the best. However, there are always exceptions when I say stuff like that. On Mystic Lake is the story of Annie, who returns to her childhood home, Mystic, after her husband of 20 years, Blake, cheats on Annie and asks her for a divorce when their only daughter, Natalie, leaves for London. When back in Mystic, Annie meets an old childhood friend, Nick, who has a daughter, Izzy, who became mute after the suicide of her mother, Kathy. Along with spending time with her father, Annie agrees to watch Izzy while Nick is at work. Having led a life where she was the nurturer, caretaker, and supporter, Annie immediately falls in love with Izzy. There are problems with On Mystic Lake'and they're kind of significant. The first problem is that the whole point of the story is for Annie to find herself, but she just moves from playing the 'mother and wife' role to her own family, to immediately playing it for another. I would have liked Annie to find some kind of independence along the way. The second problem is that Annie finds out she's pregnant. With Blake's baby. Even though she wasn't happy with Blake, she gets back together with him and he changes'for a while. After the baby is born, they fall back into their old routine until Blake finally decides that he can't live like this with Annie anymore. Now, after getting rejected TWICE by the same man, does Annie finally decide to go back to Mystic and open her bookstore she's dreamed of, and maybe get back together with Nick (that is, if he isn't already heartbroken'does Annie just assume Nick would wait around and pine over her?). Despite the obvious flaw, On Mystic Lake was an ok read. Not the best Kristin Hannah book out there, but still a good one. Though, if you really feel you need to get some Kristin Hannah in your life, start with Winter Garden, not On Mystic Lake.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
An absolutely beautiful love story,
By
This review is from: On Mystic Lake: A Novel (Mass Market Paperback)
On 11/11, I endured the funeral of a very dear friend. As I approached the church, I noticed the sun breaking through the clouds, beaming down rays of light to shine down on the building where she lay inside, awaiting the eulogy to be given for her final goodbye. I thought my heart would break and I would never stop crying, even though I finally did. After the funeral, I stopped by my favorite bookstore and purchased four novels, two of which were written by Kristin Hannah. That evening, I made the mistake of starting to read ON MYSTIC LAKE. Because my eyelids were still swollen from the many tears I'd cried at the funeral and during the day, and my eyeballs felt like sandpaper was swiping over them every time I blinked, I thought it best to put the book down and finish reading it later. The next morning I found myself picking the novel up again. After I started to read. I couldn't stop until I'd read the rest of story, nor did I stop crying. I have to believe that Kristin Hannah has the finest talent to write the sweetest of love stories that I've ever had the pleasure to read in this novel. I have another one of her novels, but I don't dare start it right away. I need a break from the tears. KH had no trouble from the very beginning to capture of my attention. I felt every moment of Annie's heartache, as the description of the author's plot and characters was most excellent. If you want a genuine, heartfelt/heartbreaking/happy-ending love story, do this one. Just make sure you have a box of Kleen-x sitting close by. You'll need it.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful A++++,
By
This review is from: On Mystic Lake: A Novel (Mass Market Paperback)
This is the 2nd book I've read by Hannah and I am hooked! I love this book. I also went through a divorce and really sympathized with the character Annie. Shows how women gain strength after a terrible time in their life. You will laugh and cry but this book is a MUST read! Enjoy! Also Between Sisters is another GREAT book by Hannah! This is my new favorite author.
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