Carson Valley: A Novel

by Bill Barich

From one of California’s most celebrated writers comes a generous and deeply absorbing novel, as filled with warmth and the hope of second chances as the land it describes.

Returning from New York to the vineyards of Northern California to be with her dying mother, Anna Torelli never expects that the trip will change her life. But when she meets Arthur Atwater, he father’s vineyard manager—a man as emotionally bruised and as fiercely independent as she is—Anna is pulled back into the rhythms of the growing season, into the radiant landscape of her childhood, and into a love affair that rouses her as nothing has before. Carson Valley is also home to Anna’s aging father, Victor, the son of Italian immigrants who first planted the vineyard in the 1890s, and his foreman, Antonio Lopez, a Mexican immigrant whose marital troubles deepen when his cousin Omar Perez crosses the border illegally to work the vineyard harvest.

Carson Valley is a masterful work of social realism—as insightful about modern love as it is about rural life in the grip of change.

Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade, Yucca, and Good Books imprints, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in fiction—novels, novellas, political and medical thrillers, comedy, satire, historical fiction, romance, erotic and love stories, mystery, classic literature, folklore and mythology, literary classics including Shakespeare, Dumas, Wilde, Cather, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

Genres: Fiction

409 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 11, 1997

Reviews

[Denise · Rating 2 out of 5]

When it comes to describing the Sonoma wine country--the seasons, the wine industry, the connection between the people and the land, the birds, plants, etc.--this author does a good job.

But the characters are not fully developed, drawing from stereotypes, I felt. Also, the plot is sooooooooo predictable.

[Everett Egginton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful captivating novel. A joy to read. Hard to put down. Captures the tangled emotions of love in a touching and believable way. Moreover, his attention to detail is extraordinary, especially, but not exclusively, in his descriptions of the intricate and delicate procedures of growing wine grapes.

[Kathleen Payne · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I was staying at an old 1930's lodge at Lake Tahoe in August 2015, I found this book on the dusty old bookcase and picked it up to read. Perfect! Someone else wrote the review below, so I borrowed their notes on it. It sums it up well.

"A richly drawn novel of love, loss and redemption by the author of Big Dreams. Since 1893, the Torelli clan has owned 100 vineyard acres in Carson Valley, California, but the traditions tying them to the land are now in flux. Returning to her family home, Anna Torelli is filled with an emotional awakening as she embarks upon an affair of the heart."

[Caitlin Mercado · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got this out of impulse. Unfortunately, I put off reading it for quite sometime because that was just how immature of a reader I was back then. But when I did find it in my book collection again, I read it. It was a well-written novel, with all the back stories and emotions well strung together to form such a story. I loved the ending, however, Barich would have done a better job by ending it with a more detailed ending.

[Katharine Ott · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Carson Valley" - written by Bill Barich and published in 1997 by Pantheon. A pleasant wine country romance.