Amazon.com
David Baldacci has made a name for himself crafting big, burly legal thrillers with larger-than-life plots. However, Wish You Well, set in his native Virginia, is a tale of hope and wonder and "something of a miracle" just itching to happen. This shift from contentious urbanites to homespun hill families may come as a surprise to some of Baldacci's fans--but they can rest assured: the author's sense of pacing and exuberant prose have made the leap as well.

The year is 1940. After a car accident kills 12-year-old Lou's and 7-year-old Oz's father and leaves their mother Amanda in a catatonic trance, the children find themselves sent from New York City to their great-grandmother Louisa's farm in Virginia. Louisa's hardscrabble existence comes as a profound shock to precocious Lou and her shy brother. Still struggling to absorb their abandonment, they enter gamely into a life that tests them at every turn--and offers unimaginable rewards. For Lou, who dreams of following in her father's literary footsteps, the misty, craggy Appalachians and the equally rugged individuals who make the mountains their home quickly become invested with an almost mythic significance:
They took metal cups from nails on the wall and dipped them in the water, and then sat outside and drank. Louisa picked up the green leaves of a mountain spurge growing next to the springhouse, which revealed beautiful purple blossoms completely hidden underneath. "One of God's little secrets," she explained. Lou sat there, cup cradled between her dimpled knees, watching and listening to her great-grandmother in the pleasant shade...
Baldacci switches deftly between lovingly detailed character description (an area in which his debt to Laura Ingalls Wilder and Harper Lee seems evident) and patient development of the novel's central plot. If that plot is a trifle transparent--no one will be surprised by Amanda's miraculous recovery or by the children's eventual battle with the nefarious forces of industry in an attempt to save their great-grandmother's farm--neither reader nor character is the worse for it. After all, nostalgia is about remembering things one already knows. --Kelly Flynn

Thank you CandyDarling for this book! I love David Baldacci and this one I have not yet read.

Though I had read CandyDarlings comment before reading this book, I still was surprised by this story.

If you've read only Baldaccis thrillers, you will be surprised by the style and writing in this book. Terrible things do happen also in this story, but the "athmosphere" in the story is totally different. I still loved the stong characters and the good descriptions on people and places. And the story that progresses nicely.

Absolutely a great book and not too happy ending, which would have totally ruined this book.

I put This book on two challenges; Tarnas "TBR-vuoren louhintahaaste" in which this is book one on my fourth pile and doveilibris "Reduce my TBR Mountain 2008" in which this book is my number #38.

I'm raying this book forward to next reader, but first I have put plastic on covers, starts to look crumpy.

Thanks a lot, lottuli, for this book, which I took with me from the Finnish Summer BC-Convention in Suomenlinna this weekend.

I really liked this book! It was the first Baldacci for me, and I was totally surprised to read it, because all I knew about this author was thrillers. I would have guessed this text was written by a female, if I didn't know, who the writer was.

The story was warmhearted and beautiful as well as really sad. I liked most of the characters, although the main characters were almost too good to be credible - Lou taking care of her little brother, Louisa taking care of everybody, Cotton being so nice with the children and Louisa... The 'bad' people were also even too bad, I was almost scared of George Davis :) My favourite character was the wise old Louisa.

I throughly enjoyed reading this story, however, and I agree with lottuli, that the description of places was also brilliant. I almost spent a couple of days in the mountains! Thanks for sharing this book, CandyDarling and lottuli.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

The next reader for this book is Annimanni, who accepted it in the Book Relay of the Finnish BC-forum. Enjoy!

The book has arrived in Sörkka, thank you very much! Thanks also for the wonderful postcard, which goes straight into my postcard collection :)

I originally picked this book to read mainly because it's set in Virginia, my home state in US (I spent a year there as an exchance student back in the late 1980s). But wow, what a pleasant surprise it turned out to be! I've only read one Baldacci before, a light Xmas mystery, and had liked that one well enough, but this book I truly enjoyed. I loved the characters and the atmosphere, the vivid way in which the mountain environment was brought to life, and the story too, even though there weren't any real surprises at the end. All in all, a great read! Thank you for sharing!

Congratulations on winning the European Multi-Winner RABCK Contest! I hope you'll enjoy this feel-good book :)

It arrived along with Finland chocolate bunnies anouncing the Easter!! :D
The book sounds as a good read! Thank you!

Where did you found the book? Did you liked it? What do you think of it?
Share with us its journey!

I left it in Saschiz Fortrress up the hill.

Read it and share it forward like we did! :)

Hello,
I work in Bucharest and on my first day of holiday I found this book in Saschiz while going home for a couple of days. I have passed by the ruins of Saschiz and never stopped to look around except that day. Thank you for releasing this wonderful book in that very nice setting. It was such a great surprise to find the book in that Fortress left there for anyone to find it. I really liked the book and the fact that the story wasn't predictable.
I will release this book in Ireland, Cork city and will provide the exact location soon.
Thanks again for this wonderful surprise :)
Estera

Hot this book from Romania. My sister Estyke sent it via my mom. I didn't even know I was a member o this website apparently 8 years ago I had caught and released another book - I will release this one in either Las Vegas at the end of the month or An Asian country --- I am going on a 6 country trip in October.
Please email me if you find this
[email protected]