Peachtree Road, by Anne Rivers Siddons

Read, reviewed, and released in December, 2013

A sad, dark novel of family dysfunction, domestic violence, and insanity in a well-bred Southern family of the Buckhead neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia spanning from the early 1950s to the 1970s and 80s.

Shep, a middle aged man who describes himself as a recluse and a hermit reflects on his childhood at the burial of his cousin Lucy. He and Lucy bonded as friends and confidants from the moment she moved into his family home when she was five years old and he was seven. The novel carries us through the adventures of their childhood, the risks of adolescence, and the angst of early adulthood, along with that of their families and close friends.
The fact that Lucy died is no spoiler, as the Prologue opens with her funeral. How she died is the surprise, and Shep's fate remains a mystery.

Hill Towns, by Anne Rivers Siddons

Read and reviewed in November, 2012, released later

This novel is a complicated story about a group of people traveling in Italy with a newly-wed couple, combining travelogue with romantic tension.

Off Season, by Anne Rivers Siddons

Read and reviewed in January, 2011. Given away later.


Just finished this book this morning. It was a strange book, a fictional memoir of a woman's childhood and teen years, her family and her loves. It became a sort of ghost story, but not a scary one. Just strange, weird!

Islands, by Anne Rivers Siddons

Book image courtesy of Ebay image

Read, reviewed, and released in May, 2007

It was a fascinating and well written story of a group of friends who stuck together through good times and tragedies for many decades. It ended rather abruptly, with a dark and twisted element of surprise, which was only very subtly hinted at earlier. The rich, evocative descriptions of the beach, marshes, and rivers near Charleston were beautifully done.

Other Bookcrossers' reviews can be found here .