In a High Place — Joanne Meschery

Joanne Meschery has written a generous novel that takes the full measure of some people who, at first glance, strike us as the most ordinary of men and women. It is her triumph that the result is nothing short of extraordinary.Raymond Carver, author of What We Talk About When We Talk About LoveThis is an exceptional debut. There is a real voice in this book, funny, ironic, humane and controlled.David Halberstam, author of The Best and the BrightestTerrific comic energy and an extraordinary picture of life in mountain society. Joanne Meschery gives us the voice of an American woman in beautiful sentences and long passages that fly with feeling.Leonard Michaels, author of The Men's ClubIn a High Place is a wonderful book. Its treatment of children and mothers and lovers is truly outstanding. Joanne Meschery is a storyteller.James Welch, author of The Death of Jim LoneyWarm, reckless, humorous, intelligent--Lily Baldwin is determined to get a grip on life. She's left her husband in San Francisco and taken her three children to live in the Sierra town of Tullease. It's hardly home--they're not natives--nor do they belong to the invasion of Disney nature-lovers come to taste the 'alpine experience.'One autumn afternoon Lily and the children go hiking on the mountainside. A sudden early storm blows off the summit, slamming tragedy into the family's struggle for belonging and love. 'Fast, mysterious', 'tirelessly inventive', 'as lyrical as it is funny', this novel explodes with a formidable writing talent--and an unforgettable contemporary heroine. In a High Place marks the debut of a consum­mately talented storyteller, Joanne Meschery, whose first novel is an inspired tale about the twin miracles of love and redemption and the tenacity of the American Dream.