Lights on the Mountain
A Novel
By (author) Cheryl Anne Tuggle
- ISBN: 9781640601666
- Trim size: 5.5 x 8.5 inches
- Weight: 8 ounces.
- Pages: 224
- Publication Date: 13 Nov 2018
- Product ID: 1666
- Format: Paperback
Barely old enough to vote when he loses his parents in an accident and inherits the family farm, Jess Hazel struggles to find meaning in the life he has always loved. Unable to shake the memory of a strange light he has seen hovering on the mountain peak above his valley home, he embarks on a pilgrimage, a halting inner odyssey riddled with fits and false starts.
Like the creek which cuts through the Allegheny foothills of its Western Pennsylvania setting, hope runs through every chapter of this novel. The beauty of the story lies in the unlikely people Jess encounters along the way, transmitters of a grace which at first hounds, then quietly eludes. Through events both tragic and joyous, Jess is led on a journey of self-discovery through ancestral sin, unexpected love, loss, holiness, compassion, forgiveness and redemption.
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“It is a great satisfaction to read this book and feel how deeply I may ponder it and find no effort lacking. All the threads are fully spun, all woven together. It is a well-made whole.” —Melinda Johnson, author of Shepherding Sam
“Tuggle has a wonderfully poetic voice that makes this story as deep and rich as the ancient ground beneath the characters’ feet. It is a delight to the senses in the way she grounds us in the sights, sounds, and scents of the Pennsylvania mountains, and a refreshment for the spirit in the way she shows us the spiritual reality existing within and around the physical world.” —Bev Cooke, author of Royal Monastic and Keeper of the Light
“A wise and warm exploration of the bonds of farm life, faith, and the saving grace of family.” —Michael Heaton, author of the Minister of Culture column, The Plain Dealer
“Jess leads a quiet country life, but one interrupted by catastrophe. An early experience of the divine marks him, but he spends years learning to appreciate it, years in which those he loves, faithful and otherwise, shape his way of being in the world. Being with him is at once comfortable and challenging, but the rhythms of a farm life and the warmth of the men and women who live it, beautifully imagined, allow us a certain refreshment and even, perhaps, moments of light.” —M.D. Berry, Missouri State University
“Lights on the Mountain has no unnecessary or trite characters. All, especially Jess, are given the time needed to discover and enter into the deep peace that comes from finding the solid ground chosen for them by their Lord. Truly the sign of a good book. I was quite disappointed to reach the end.” —Rev. Mother Magdalena
“This novel glows with a quiet beauty. The characters live. The love stories transcend any romance novel I’ve ever read, while remaining rooted in Pennsylvania soil. Gorgeously written, the very turns of phrase help readers see the world in new ways. Tuggle may well have birthed a new genre, a decidedly American Eastern Orthodox literary fiction.” —Leslie Baynes, Associate Professor of New Testament, Missouri State University
“Like a Russian nesting doll, except every layer is richer, the deeper you go. Gorgeous prose, complicated characterization, and a barely-evident sense of provident grace combine to make this a book that forces you to stop, listen to the silences between words, and glory in the beauty hidden there. A book to return to again and again.” —Nicholas Kotar, author of The Song of the Sirin, and the Raven Son series