The historical fiction story about the building of the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, North Carolina, had a romantic element that was bigger than I was anticipating, but I enjoyed Callaway's storytelling on building logistics, the power of class and society, complications of widespread TB infection, visionaries shaping the future, as well as the love story that for much of the book seems destined for failure.
I love a North-Carolina-set story, and Joy Callaway's historical fiction What the Mountains Remember had me hooked: the novel traces the building of the famous Grove Park Inn in Asheville, North Carolina.
It's 1913, and Belle Newbold hasn't been into the mountains since her father died in a tragic West Virginia mining accident. In the seven years since, Belle's mother has reinvented herself as a society woman and has remarried, while Belle has learned to keep the family's past poverty, hunger, and struggles a secret.
Belle is set up to marry an eligible (and wealthy) bachelor who's a stranger to her, Worth Delafield, and since she and Worth have each sworn off love, they're sure to keep their heads on straight as partners, without drama or heartbreak.
But when they meet, sparks fly. Belle is fearful--particularly for her mother's sake--that her father's true origins may be uncovered and be their undoing. All of this, along with her pain at the loss of her beloved father, keeps her closed off emotionally. For Worth, his tragic family past and complicated present seem to be stumbling blocks that can't be overcome.
Belle is determined to write the stories of the extraordinary everyday men who are building the Grove Park Inn, and her unwelcome, growing affection for Worth is distracting her. Meanwhile, he's finding himself overwhelmed by the magic of Belle and rethinking his own desire to stay distant.
The Asheville of the novel is on the verge of becoming a city of tuberculosis sanatoriums; those behind the Grove Park Inn project are working furiously to shift the city's focus into tourism and, they hope, a brighter and stronger future. The tuberculosis situation is a tricky one: bosses are worried about the Grove Park Inn timeline and potential slowdown due to worker illnesses; Belle is set on protecting the workers' jobs by keeping their illnesses a secret from supervisors; and having men go to work sick is likely to infect others with the potentially deadly disease. The complex moral and practical aspects of the TB raging through the area are not fully resolved.
The ins and outs of the Grove Park Inn's design and logistics of building were fascinating; Belle's research serves as an avenue for sharing this information, which feels thoroughly researched by the author herself.
The romance aspect of the story became more of a focus than I was anticipating, and I enjoyed Callaway's realistically tangled obstacles that persistently thwarted the easy path to love.
The meddlesome, shallow, foolish character who repeatedly threatens to undo all of the good things that are being built in the book is a source of tension for the story, and one whose comeuppance felt welcome when it came.
I'd love to hear your thoughts about this book!
For more North Carolina stories, check out the books on this Bossy list.
I listened to What the Mountains Remember as an audiobook.
Joy Callaway is also the author of The Grand Design, The Fifth Avenue Artists Society, All the Pretty Places, and Secret Sisters.
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