"A compelling slice-of-life story, told from two points of view in different time periods."
–Kirkus Reviews
Elizabeth's Mountain
Out Now
Available from your favorite bookseller in Paperback, Ebook, and Audiobook Formats
Elizabeth, a feisty ninety-year-old widow, is keeping a secret. Developers have tendered a lucrative offer for her beloved Blue Ridge mountain home in Asheville, North Carolina. She knows how her children will pressure her to sell it against her own wishes. But any hope of protecting it clashes with her gnawing awareness of the time she has left.
As Elizabeth agonizes over what to do, her granddaughter, Amanda, ends an unhappy relationship and yearns for a fresh start. She moves into the farmhouse with her grandmother, not far from the hospital where she works. Heartened by an exciting new relationship, Amanda examines her desires and intends not to repeat a history of foregoing her dream. She wants forever, but her unwillingness to compromise could mean losing out on a chance at true love.
Part 1950s historical romance and part contemporary romance, grandmother and granddaughter's stories unfold and interlace, connecting past with present. As Elizabeth begins to see her younger self reflected in her granddaughter, she wonders if Amanda could hold the key to her legacy.
An emotional, heartwarming tale of resilience and hope, Elizabeth's Mountain will charm and immerse readers in a dual time-line of interweaving romances.
Praise for Elizabeth's Mountain
A compelling slice-of-life story, told from two points of view in two different time periods.
– Kirkus Reviews
Suspenseful and balanced, Elizabeth's Mountain grips the edges of the heart in inscrutable ways.
– The Book Commentary
Elizabeth’s Mountain is a wonderful, moving story about love and loss, focusing on two generations: grandmother and granddaughter. Guarino’s prose is engaging, effortlessly transporting you to another time and place. The story had enough twists and turns to keep me totally engaged. Well worth the read. You will not be disappointed.
– MARIE W. WATTS, author of the award-winning trilogy, Warriors for Equal Rights
Elizabeth’s Mountain is an artfully crafted dual timeline story that turns out to be two romances in one book. Both parts are love stories with a surprising depth of character that weave in and out of present day and the past before finally merging the stories together. From the first few pages I knew this would be a book I wouldn’t want to put down and author Lucille Guarino didn’t disappoint. Her mastery of everything 1950s was evident in her writing with her attention to the smallest of details bringing the era to life for readers. Author Guarino is one to watch in the future and if you love an easy to read, captivating, two for one love story, this is the book for you.
– BARBARA A. LUKER, author of I Carry Your Heart and The Right One
Elizabeth’s Mountain is told in the alternating voices of Elizabeth and her granddaughter, Amanda, capturing generations of change with their delightful tales more similar than either could imagine, enchanting you long past the last page.
– IRIS GLAZNER LEIGH, author of Liza's Secrets
Elizabeth’s Mountain is a beautifully written uplifting story of overcoming loss and hardship and finding love. Despite the decades between them, Guarino masterfully interweaves the lives of two strong, resilient women whose stories share so much more than genetics.
– GAIL DWYER, author of The Roof Above
At its core Elizabeth's Mountain is a story about falling in love and looking back on it, and it's a credit to Guarino that she sidesteps many of the genre's syrupy dangers as she navigates disparate timelines. There's no sap-weeping dialogue or mind-numbing contrivance. It's also one of those increasingly rare novels that treat people in the latter years as though their feelings were just as intense and their needs just as valid as those of people half their age.
When you turn the last page of Elizabeth's Mountain, you're not thinking, "My, what a lovely story!" When you turn the last page of Elizabeth's Mountain, you think, "I'm really going to miss these folks," because they feel so authentic.
– Editorial Review with Book Viral
Elizabeth’s Mountain by Lucille Guarino cleverly interweaves Elizabeth's twilight years with the new adult blossoming of her granddaughter Amanda. Commencing with Elizabeth’s ninetieth birthday party, it explores her memories of childhood and the tragic death of her first love, Robbie. A mourning period is followed by an emotional revival through friendship and courtship by her husband, Joseph. Amanda has left an unsatisfying relationship and moved into the house to provide Elizabeth with companionship. The young nurse attends a workplace training where she meets lawyer Jesse Taylor. The development of her relationship is pleasingly paced to match Elizabeth’s reminiscences.
Elizabeth’s Mountain by Lucille Guarino is a thoughtful and poignant novel that fulfills the reader's expectations of women’s literature. I liked that the story had two heroines from different generations. Elizabeth’s memories evoked the glamour and nostalgia of historical literature, while Amanda’s life contained the sparkle of contemporary romance. The two women seemed compatible because of temperament, family ties, and the mutual choice of nursing as their vocation. The house on the mountain formed the perfect background for multigenerational living. I enjoyed the exploration of aging, which was adroitly tempered with the sense that the older heroine, Elizabeth, had remained young at heart. Joseph was a solid and slightly damaged hero, providing the appropriate match for Elizabeth. Jesse was charming and mysterious, creating interest as Amanda’s romantic partner. The style was smooth and the dialogue flowed naturally, creating a relaxing reading experience. Elizabeth’s Mountain by Lucille Guarino presents a variety of interactions with family and friends and reflects the variability of life.
– CECELIA HOPKINS, Editorial Review with Readers' Favorite
Book Tour Photos
You've got to live your best life for you, so that one day, when the stars align, you'll be ready to open your heart.
Sample Chapter
Much to my almost ninety-year-old grandmother’s gladness, I moved in with her in the big farmhouse on the mountain. It was an easy choice since it was also close to the hospital and doctor’s office where I worked in Asheville. When I first pulled into her long winding driveway, my car packed with my choice possessions, I let out a long sigh, a final respite from my recent unhappiness. I stepped outside my car, the surrounding mountains in all their serenity welcoming and comforting me, and I knew then that I was in the perfect place to begin my fresh start.
Nana is one of my favorite people in the whole world and she still demonstrates a certain level of independence despite the increasing challenges of turning ninety. But as proven during the isolating months of the pandemic, I provide her with sorely needed companionship and helpfulness. For me, she is a beacon of light; her positivity always uplifting.
Nana once told me that sometimes things happen for reasons we can’t understand while we are living it. Only time can give us perspective. I guess my nana is qualified to say that. My understanding of time is how much of it I have already wasted on a relationship that was going nowhere fast. To pour salt in the wound, I learned that Tom got engaged to one of his co-workers three months after I moved out. Was she the reason for his increased disinterest? Were there signs? I was too busy in my own world to notice.
When two people drift apart, must blame be at its core? I don’t think so. I was just as disheartened and unfulfilled as he was.
“Have faith,” I hear Nana say. “One day someone will come along and sweep you off your feet. Just like your grandfather did to me.”
To which I grumble, “Maybe that’s how things were in your day, but guys like Grampa don’t exist anymore.” I sounded the way I felt - particularly disparaging. “Chivalry is most assuredly dead.” Sometimes I think I was born in the wrong era. An old soul in modern times, a traditionalist in a progressive age.
Nana tsk-tsked. Forever the romantic optimist, she maintains that my person is out there somewhere. I just haven’t found him yet.
Since I was twelve, I loved spending time at my grandparents’ house, where I felt warm and safe. It’s uncanny that I should find myself back there again, unmarried at the age of thirty-four. Life is as unpredictable as it is serendipitous.