From Kirkus Reviews
Hannahs sequel to On Mystic Lake (1999) is yet another tear-jerker set in northwest Washington State. Perfect mother Mikaela (Mike) Campbell takes a hard fall off a horse, hits her head, and sinks into a coma. In order to help bring her out of it, perfect husband-doctor Liam sits at her bedside and begins to talk to her about their life together. He brings her favorite music, scented potpourri, and, to place across her inert body, sweaters that may smell like home. He also tries to keep life as normal as possible for their two kids: Bret, nine years old, and Jacey, Mikes teenaged daughter by her previous husband. Going through Mikes closet to find a prom dress for Jacey, Liam stumbles on souvenirs of her first marriage and a picture of her exnot just any old, anonymous first husband, but Julian True, a gorgeous superstar actor, the hero of womens fantasies all over America. Liam has always known that he got Mikaela on the rebound; she was honest about the fact that he was not the love of her life. But she is the love of his life, and when she doesn't respond to the sound of his voice, he contacts Julian in hopes that the actor can save Mikaela. Julian travels up to Last Bend, a cutesy town founded by Liams larger-than-life father and filled with homey shops like the Emperors New Clothes store and Zekes Feed and Seed. When Mike finally comes out of unconsciousness and into her familys emotional upheaval, she apologizes to Liam and bids goodbye to Julian. Yes, shes discovered that its that gentle guy who stays with you through years of cramps and decorating the Christmas tree who defines what love really is. The heartfelt soap appears to be Hannahs chosen romance niche, and she mines it skillfully. (First printing of 125,000)-- Copyright © 2000 Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Review
“A tearjerker . . . about the triumphs of family.”—Detroit Free Press
“An all-night reading affair—you won’t be able to put it down. . . . [Angel Falls will] make you laugh and cry.”—New York Post
“A jewel . . . Hannah has executed her premise perfectly and plumbed its implications for every ounce of feeling.”—San Jose Mercury News
“Hannah writes of love with compassion and conviction.”—Luanne Rice
“An all-night reading affair—you won’t be able to put it down. . . . [Angel Falls will] make you laugh and cry.”—New York Post
“A jewel . . . Hannah has executed her premise perfectly and plumbed its implications for every ounce of feeling.”—San Jose Mercury News
“Hannah writes of love with compassion and conviction.”—Luanne Rice
From the Inside Flap
When Mikaela Campbell, beloved wife and mother of two, falls into a coma, it is up to her husband, Liam, to hold the family together, to care for their grieving, frightened children. Day after day, he sits by her bedside, telling stories of the precious life they have built, hoping, always hoping, that she will wake up. Then he discovers evidence of her secret past: a hidden first marriage to Julian True, a man no woman could resist . . . or forget. Desperate to bring Mikaela back at any cost, Liam turns to the one person who could make her respond and who could take her out of his arms forever.
ANGEL FALLS is a moving portrayal of marriage and commitment, and of an ordinary man who risks everything in the name of love.
From the Back Cover
"Hannah is superb at delving
into her main characters' psyches and delineating nuances of feeling."
-- The Washington Post
About the Author
Kristin Hannah is the bestselling author of many acclaimed novels, including On Mystic Lake, Between Sisters, The Things We Do for Love, Comfort & Joy, and Magic Hour. She lives in the Pacific Northwest and on Kauai with her husband and son.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
What might have been and what has been
Point to one end, which is always present.
Footfalls echo in the memory
Down the passage which we did not take
Towards the door we never opened . . .
T. S. Eliot, from "Burnt Norton"
Chapter One
In northwest Washington state, jagged granite mountains reach for the misty sky, their peaks inaccessible even in this age of helicopters and high-tech adventurers. The trees in this part of the country grow thick as an old man's beard and block out all but the hardiest rays of the sun. Only in the brightest months of summer can hikers find their way back to the cars they park along the sides of the road.
Deep in the black-and-green darkness of this old-growth forest lies the tiny town of Last Bend. To visitors -- there are no strangers here -- it is the kind of place they'd thought to encounter only in the winding tracks of their own imaginations. When they first walk down the streets, folks swear they hear a noise that can only be described as laughter. Then come the memories, some real, some manufactured images from old movies and Life magazine. They recall how their grandmother's lemonade tasted . . . or the creaky sound of a porch swing gliding quietly back and forth, back and forth, on the tail end of a muggy summer's night.
Last Bend was founded fifty years ago, when a big, broad-shouldered Scotsman named Ian Campbell gave up his crumbling ancestral home in Edinburgh and set off in search of adventure. Somewhere along the way -- family legend attributed it to Wyoming -- he took up rock climbing, and spent the next ten years wandering from mountain to mountain, looking for two things: the ultimate climb and a place to leave his mark.
He found what he was looking for in Washington's North Cascade mountain range. In this place where Sasquatches were more than a campfire myth and glaciers flowed year round in ice-blue rivers, he staked his claim. He drove as close to the mighty Mt. Baker as he could and bought a hundred acres of prime pastureland, then he bought a corner lot on a gravel road that would someday mature into the Mount Baker Highway. He built his town along the pebbly, pristine shores of Angel Lake and christened it Last Bend, because he thought the only home worth having was worth searching for, and he'd found his at the last turn in the road.
It took him some time to find a woman willing to live in a moss-chinked log cabin without electricity or running water, but find her he did -- a fiery Irish lass with dreams that matched his own. Together they fashioned the town of their combined imagination; she planted Japanese maple saplings along Main Street and started a dozen traditions-Glacier Days, the Sasquatch race, and the Halloween haunted house on the corner of Cascade and Main.
In the same year the Righteous Brothers lost that lovin' feeling, Ian and Fiona began to build their dream home, a huge, semicircular log house that sat on a small rise in the middle of their property. On some days, when the sky was steel blue, the glaciered mountain peaks seemed close enough to touch. Towering Douglas firs and cedars rimmed the carefully mowed lawn, protected the orchard from winter's frozen breath. Bordering the west end of their land was Angel Creek, a torrent in the still gloaming of the year, a quiet gurgling creek when the sun shone high and hot in the summer months. In the wintertime, they could step onto their front porch and hear the echo of Angel Falls, only a few miles away.
Now the third generation of Campbells lived in that house. Tucked tightly under the sharply sloped roofline was a young boy's bedroom.
It was not unlike other little boys' rooms in this media-driven age -- Corvette bed, Batman posters tacked to the uneven log walls, Goosebumps books strewn across the shag-carpeted floor, piles of plastic dinosaurs and fake snakes and Star Wars action figures.
Nine-year-old Bret Campbell lay quietly in his bed, watching the digital clock by his bed flick red numbers into the darkness. Five-thirty. Five thirty-one. Five thirty-two.
Halloween morning.
He had wanted to set the alarm for this special Saturday morning, but he didn't know how, and if he'd asked for help, his surprise would have been ruined. And so he snuggled under the Mr. Freeze comforter, waiting.
At precisely 5:45, he flipped the covers back and climbed out of bed. Careful not to make any noise, he pulled the grocery sack from underneath his bed and unpacked it.
There was no light on, but he didn't need one. He'd stared at these clothes every night for a week. His Halloween costume. A sparkly pair of hand-me-down cowboy boots that they'd picked up at the Emperor's New Clothes used-clothing shop, a fake leather vest from the Dollar-Saver thrift shop, a pair of felt chaps his mom had made, a plaid flannel shirt and brand-new Wrangler jeans from Zeke's Feed and Seed, and best of all, a shiny sheriff's star and gun belt from the toy store. His daddy had even made him a kid-sized lariat that could be strapped to the gun belt.
He stripped off his pj's and slipped into the outfit, leaving behind the gun belt, guns, chaps, lariat, and ten-gallon hat. Those he wouldn't need now.
He felt like a real cowboy. He grabbed the index card with the instructions on it -- just in case -- and went to his bedroom door, peeking out into the shadowy hallway.
He peered down at the other two bedrooms. Both doors were closed and no light slid out from underneath. Of course his sixteen-year-old sister, Jacey, was asleep. It was Saturday, and on the day after a high-school football game, she always slept until noon. Dad had been at the hospital all night with a patient, so he'd be tired this morning, too. Only Mom would be getting up early-and she'd be in the barn, ready to go, at six o'clock.
From the Hardcover edition.
The measure of a man comes down to moments, spread out like dots of paint on the canvas of a life. Everything you were, everything you’ll someday be, resides in the small, seemingly ordinary choices of everyday life.Highlighted by 776 Kindle readers
