"Life is a matter of moments, strung together like rain. To try to touch just one drop at a time, to try to count them or order them or reckon their worth - each by each - was impossible. To stand in the rain was the thing. To be in it. Which I would do. Which I would do to make my father well ... "
Ellie's family have moved Echo Mountain following the stock market crash we know as The Great Depression. Father was a tailor but mother explains "people who have no money don't pay a tailor to make their clothes, and they don't buy new ones when the ones they have will do." Mother had been a music teacher but with less children at school, less teachers were needed. The shop is closed, the house is sold and the family move to a remote forest location near Echo Mountain. Life is hard for the whole family but they work together to build a cabin and find ways to trade with neighbors. Then comes the terrible accident. Father is badly hurt and lies in a coma. Mother, older sister Esther, little brother Samuel and Ellie try to keep going. Tending to their own needs and keeping father comfortable and quiet. But it is this quiet that is frustrating Ellie. She is sure her father needs noise, action and discomfort - anything that might make him wake up. Ellie, herself, carries a huge personal burden. She is sure the horrific accident is her fault and it seems her sister thinks so too.
There are tiny moments of happiness for Ellie in spite of all this sadness and guilt. Their dog Maisie has pups. One pup appears "dead" but Ellie does not bury the pup as her mother has instructed, instead she plunges him deep into a bucket of cold water and brings him "back to life". It is the first time, as a reader, we see Ellie has a gift of healing. An instinct or inner voice that will become so important over the coming weeks. Ellie loves her pup and she decides to name him Quiet. "I like that (said Samuel) ... It's a heartbeat name."
Other moments of happiness for Ellie come in the form of tiny wooden carvings which appear as precious gifts hidden in places around the forest, their home and even in her jacket pocket.
The mystery of these little treasures is connected with an old woman who lives on the top of the mountain. People call her the "hag" but Ellie needs to learn the truth about this old woman. Making the journey up the mountain, meeting the carver, a young boy called Larkin, with his own sadness, and finding the old woman along with the discovery of her own talents, will have consequences which almost feel miraculous.
I adore Ellie. She has a deep emotional intelligence and a love of nature and her mountain. "I myself was two opposite things at the same time. One: I was now an excellent woods-girl who could hunt and trap and fish and harvest as if I'd been born to it. Two: I was an echo-girl. When I clubbed a fish to death, my own head ached and shuddered. when I snared a rabbit, I knew what it meant to be trapped. And when I pulled a carrot from the earth, I, too, missed the darkness."
Every word in this book is liquid gold. I read huge numbers of books each year and mostly I can read a novel quite quickly especially if the story is good. With Echo Mountain I did not want to read quickly. I did not want to miss any of the exquisite words. I did not want this story to end. I did not want to miss any story fragments. As I read Echo Mountain I filled the pages with little book tab stickers so I could go back and savour each precious passage. There is a beautiful truth and raw honesty to the writing of Lauren Wolk which at times left me breathless.
Here are a few text quotes to give you a flavour of this writing:
"Those gifts had been meant for me. I was sure of it. Which meant that whoever was making them knew me and understood that I was the kind of girl who would love finding them tucked in the corners of my world, all of them carved from good hardwood, all just short of alive."
"Being a middle child made me good at turning the other cheek, But being good at something didn't make it easy."
"Then I left the shed and walked up the path and, after a bit, into the woods, through the hemlock grove so full of shadows that almost nothing grew between the trunks of the old trees, the deep layer of dead needles underfoot like the soft coat of a great, sprawling animal that didn't mind the weight of me."
"... the little cabin was filled with other things as well. On one wall: shelves of books in all colors and sizes, like the keys of a new instrument I badly wanted to play."
"She was right - it wasn't much of a spring. But when I pushed the jar flat in the moss where the water bubbled out of the rock, a pool rose and flowed into its mouth as if the jar were the thirsty one. The water was cold and clear and, as I sampled it, delicious. Like poured winter. Fresh, Perfect."
"We have done our best ... But I fear that Esther and I are not meant for this kind of life.' She met my eye. 'Not like you seem to be.' Which was both praise and accusation. Enough bitterness to spoil the sweet."
"I turned back to my father. I hated the way his skin pulled hard across the bones of his face, as if someone were making him into a drum. As if he were hollow. As if someone was supposed to hit him to make any music at all."
I also need to mention the bees in this story. I so appreciated that Lauren Wolk did not alter their natural responses. There are no magic moments with these bees. Ellie does need their honey but taking the honey means she is stung and stung badly. I felt every hurt and every sting.
Now take a look at the two covers. Which do you like? The top one is from the UK edition and the lower one is from the US. I much prefer the US cover because it hints at all the story elements - bees, stars, bottles of healing plants and the little pup called Quiet.
I hope you can find Echo Mountain in a library or bookshop. This is a book to treasure. The Wall Street Journal said this is a book for our uncertain times that will soothe young readers like a healing balm. Here are some other wonderful books by Lauren Wolk which I have mentioned previously:
I would follow Echo Mountain with Black-Eyed Susan by Jennifer Armstrong; Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor; and Shine Mountain by Julie Hunt.
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