A beautifully lyrical tale of restoration, courage, new beginnings, and the power of friendship.
My rating: ★★★★★
Another beautiful story from Amanda Dykes. She’s become an auto-buy author for me, but I made myself wait instead of preordering Born of Gilded Mountains so I could buy it in person at an author event and have it signed. It was lovely to meet Amanda in person and chat a bit about writing. She’s as sweet and gracious as her books are.
What you may enjoy about Born of Gilded Mountains
This book is another sweet and gracious read, with wonderful friendships that push through heartache to restoration. One of my best friends started out as a pen pal, so that aspect of the story was special to me. (Although we did meet in person before we started writing.) Rusty’s letter-writing style was hilarious but sneakily profound. I loved seeing the principle of “iron sharpening iron,” with each friend strengthening the other when it was most needed.
I wanted to be friends with these characters and all the other, ahem, characters that made up the town of Mercy Peak. (Speaking of characters, I need more of Holden Huxley.) In some ways it reminded me of Mitford in Jan Karon’s beloved Mitford series. Amanda Dykes’s writing reminds me of Karon’s in other ways too. There may be hard things along the way, but I know that at the end it will be okay.
The gentle romances Amanda writes are some of my favorites. So slow and sweet and affectionate, based on friendship and shared experience rather than instant physical attraction. At the same time, it was nice to read a Christian novel where singleness was valued, and not in a “who needs a man” kind of way.
It’s not what you think.
When I saw Hollywood and scandal in the book description, I had a preconceived idea of what that probably meant, although I hoped it wasn’t so. I need not have feared. No spoilers, but I found it fascinating how the story weaved together historical details like mining life and the volatility of early film materials to create a unique situation that these specific characters would have had to deal with. Nothing generic or predictable. I guessed a few plot points, but that’s the other thing about Amanda’s books—I never mind being right, and I always sort of wonder if I was intended to figure it out all along.
It was also fun to learn the unusual history of how the mail got to the Colorado mountains in the 1940s. The contents of the lost mailbag, slowly unfolding for the reader, gave so much depth to “minor” characters who might otherwise be easily overlooked. So many stories, all woven into one.
Deliberate Attention Required
I will say that this story requires some focus. The weaving in of newspaper articles and letters and lists and telegrams, and the way part of the backstory is told as a movie screenplay, really add a different dimension to the story. (Easier to read in paperback, I think.) It meant I had to pay closer attention than I otherwise might, but that’s not a bad thing. I look forward to these books partly for that tension of needing to know what’s going to happen but wanting to slow down and savor the lyrical storytelling.
Treasure hunts always give me a twinge of “would anyone really figure out that clue?” Yet I didn’t mind suspending my disbelief through those moments. I had trouble fitting a few pieces of the puzzle into place. But it’s quite possible those are the places I gave in to curiosity and read too fast. This is a story to be savored as much as possible while holding your breath to find out what’s really going on.
Is this book for you?
If you want a beautifully lyrical tale of restoration, courage, new beginnings, and the power of friendship, Born of Gilded Mountains is for you. It’s not a loudly Christian story. Yet strands of quiet faith wend their way through the characters’ decisions to turn to the Maker of the mountains when nothing else can fill that void.
“Water is not in charge of its own thawing. But . . . It’ll never thaw if it hides away in the shadows.”
“Puddles don’t have feet.”
“But you do. You get to choose how close you get to the sun.”
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If you enjoyed this book review of Born of Gilded Mountains by Amanda Dykes, you might also enjoy my book review of Set the Stars Alight by the same author. Read here on Goodreads, or join my newsletter list for book recommendations, a free short story, author updates, and more.
Happy reading!
Jayna Baas is the author of Preacher on the Run and director of The Christian PEN: Proofreaders and Editors Network. Learn more about Jayna here or join her email list for more recommendations.