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Book Description

On Ursula's secluded mountain farm in Georgia sits an iron sculpture of a bear which used to belong to Quentin Ricconni's father and is worth a fortune. When Quentin arrives to reclaim it, he discovers that when it comes to the heart, to destiny and to fate, price cannot be measured in dollars.

Only the most peculiar fate could link the wealthy Ricconni family of New York with the dirt-poor Powells of the Georgia mountains. But a strange iron sculpture of a bear is about to draw Ursula Powell and Quentin Ricconni together. The two have nothing in common except the power that the Bear has in both their lives. The sculpture, which now sits on Ursula's secluded mountain farm, used to belong to Quentin's father and is worth a fortune. When Quentin arrives in town to reclaim it, he discovers that when it comes to the heart, to destiny, and to fate, price cannot be measured in dollars - no matter how many millions.

From Publishers Weekly

Little did Brooklyn sculptor Richard Ricconi know when he created a strange and abstract bear out of scrap iron for the town of Tiberville, Ga., that his work would be so controversial or so important to others after he was gone. Destined to be torn down decades later, the iron bear is saved by Tommy Powell, who moves it to his backyard on Bear Mountain. After Tommy dies, his only daughter, Ursula, is visited by Quentin Ricconi, Richard's son. His father, who had committed suicide many years before, is now a very collectible artist, and the Iron Bear, which the art world believed to be destroyed, is now worth millions. Quentin comes to buy the work from Ursula, but instead he finds himself smitten with this strong country woman and intrigued by her semi-retarded adult brother, who sees the Iron Bear as the center of his universe. Tension, romance and ethical struggles ensue as Quentin and Ursula discover each other. Hill and Breck expertly and sensitively breathe life into this fine and gentle tale. In particular, listeners will be drawn to their deft handling of the emotionally crippled characters. Simultaneous release with the Little, Brown hardcover (Forecasts, Nov. 27, 2000).

From Booklist

Smith has fashioned a beautifully written and unusual story about two fragile families connected by a sculpture that changes their lives. The Riconnis live in Brooklyn, the Powells in the Georgia mountains. Richard Riconni welds scrap metal into works of art. Tom Powell raises chickens but has a deep appreciation for art and a passionate interest in bears. In 1966, a wealthy cousin of Tom's commissions Richard to create a sculpture of a bear made from local scrap metal. Most are appalled by Richard's abstract creation, but Tom loves it and eventually pays $200 that he can ill afford to save the sculpture from destruction. And that's when the bear begins to exert its strange powers. Tom's young daughter, Ursula, blames the bear for the death of her mother and her newborn brother's autism. Richard, inspired by the commission, quits his job to sculpt full time, but this plunges his wife and son, Quentin, into poverty, and Richard eventually takes his own life. Quentin, a brilliant scholar with a full scholarship to MIT, is devastated, although he later benefits from his father's posthumous fame. Then, when he discovers that the bear sculpture is on Bear Mountain, he travels there in the hope of bringing it home to his ailing mother. But, instead, Quentin finds Ursula caring for her brother, Arthur, in the stunned aftermath of their father's sudden death and realizes that Arthur has a mystical attachment to the bear. Smith, a spellbinding storyteller, weaves a shimmering web of sorrows and joys around these two families, the scrap-metal bear that became their totem, and her enchanted readers.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Diana Tixier Herald

From Library Journal

This is an entertaining, affecting romance about two people brought together by circumstances not entirely of their making. Ursula Powell grew up in the shadow of Bear Mountain in north Georgia, daughter of a tenant farmer with an interest in art. Quentin Riconni grew up in Brooklyn, NY, son of an aspiring sculptor and a fiercely loyal mother. In the mid-1960s Quentin's father received a commission to create a bear sculpture for the Georgia College campus; the result was an avant-garde abstract metal piece not well received by the locals. Ursula's father used all his savings to keep the bear from destruction, which meant that he could not afford to pay the medical bills for his wife, who had died in childbirth. Meanwhile, Quentin's father quit his job to sculpt full time, deserting his wife and son. The book is written from the alternating points of view of Ursula and Quentin. Neither Susie Breck nor Dick Hill handles the Southern or the Brooklyn accents very well, however, the story line is strong enough that you'll want to listen through to the happy ending. For large popular collections.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Nann Blaine Hilyard, Lake Villa Dist. Lib., IL

From AudioFile

Chronicling the parallel tales of two seemingly disparate individuals, ON BEAR MOUNTAIN is the most recent novel by Southern writer Deborah Smith. A bizarre sculpture of a bear is created by an eccentric artist and ends up in rural Georgia. The tale details the lives of the artist's son, who lives in New York City, and the daughter of the sculpture's eventual owner, who lives on rich farmland in the hills of Georgia. The relationship of these two individuals is told largely in the first person. Dick Hill narrates the male voices and thoughts while Susie Breck delivers the female. Although the narrators are polished, the sudden shifts in voice, often in the middle of a passage, are distracting. Both readers use subtle vocal changes to designate the different moods and characters. B.J.L.

Book Dimension

Height (mm) 171 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 Width (mm) 108