Name: Gilded Mountain
Rating: 5 (3 reviews)
Author: Kate Manning

About this book

Summary
Book Club Questions

Book Summary

Set in early 1900s Colorado, the unforgettable tale of a young woman who bravely faces the consequences of speaking out against injustice.

In a voice spiked with sly humor, Sylvie Pelletier recounts leaving her family's snowbound mountain cabin to work in a manor house for the Padgetts, owners of the marble-mining company that employs her father and dominates the town. Sharp-eyed Sylvie is awed by the luxury around her; fascinated by her employer, the charming "Countess" Inge, and confused by the erratic affections of Jasper, the bookish heir to the family fortune. Her fairy-tale ideas of romance take a dark turn when she realizes the Padgetts' lofty philosophical talk is at odds with the unfair labor practices that have enriched them. Their servants, the Gradys, formerly enslaved people, have long known this to be true and are making plans to form a utopian community on the Colorado prairie.

Outside the manor walls, the town of Moonstone is roiling with discontent. A handsome union organizer, along with labor leader Mary Harris "Mother" Jones, is stirring up the quarry workers. The editor of the local newspaper—a bold woman who takes Sylvie on as an apprentice—is publishing unflattering accounts of the Padgett Company. Sylvie navigates vastly different worlds and struggles to find her way amid conflicting loyalties. When the harsh winter brings tragedy, Sylvie must choose between silence and revenge.

Drawn from true stories of Colorado history, Gilded Mountain is a tale of a bygone American West seized by robber barons and settled by immigrants, and is a story infused with longing—for self-expression and equality, freedom and adventure.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

Sylvie frequently mentions that she feels restrained, tongue-tied, squelched, and silenced, but seldom expresses resentment or anger aloud. What are the causes of her silence? Who else in the book is silent? About what and why? How is silence useful? Destructive? When characters do speak out, what are the repercussions?
Gilded Mountain might also have been called "The Education of Sylvie Pelletier." What does Sylvie learn—about herself and the ways of the world—over the course of the novel? Where does she get her education?
Five women act as role models for Sylvie: her mother, Cherie Pelletier; newspaper editor K. T. Redmond; the "Countess" Ingeborg; the chef Easter Grady; and Mary Harris "Mother" Jones. What ...

Media Reviews

"Stellar... Manning shines at giving the era's class, racial, and economic tensions a human face. This is one to savor." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Manning's bildungsroman not only provides a clear portrait of her young heroine; it captures the intensity of an unsettled time and place in American history." - Kirkus Reviews

"An expansive novel of passions: love, beauty, suffering; struggles for labor rights, women's equality and the rights of formerly enslaved people... it contains romance, historical fiction and inspired, high-minded thinking on important issues, [with] lovely writing about the natural world... a painfully beautiful novel of big ideals, heartbreaks and tragedies, sewn together by an admirable and unforgettable heroine." - Shelf Awareness

"Kate Manning is a master storyteller. Gilded Mountain is so immersive, so richly imagined, that reading it feels akin to time travel. Manning writes historical sagas like no one else; the dreamers, strivers, and opportunists who populate this tale possess a uniquely American desire to reinvent themselves, whatever it takes. An epic story of love, hope and perseverance." - #1 New York Times bestselling author Christina Baker Kline

"Here is adventure of the first order, as young Sylvie Pelletier finds herself thrust into a seething union dispute in a marble-quarrying town. There's violence in the wintry air, but also romance, as two charismatic men vie for Sylvie's attention. Dread and love entwine, as the forces and people that transformed the 20th century converge on the town, all this rendered by Ms. Manning in prose as clean and sharp as the stone saws on the mountain. I raced through it. Sylvie is dynamite and Gilded Mountain is brilliant." - #1 New York Times bestselling author Erik Larson

This information about Gilded Mountain was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

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BuffaloGirlKs

Immigrants and the Gilded Age
Set in the fictional high altitude Colorado towns of Moonstone and Ruby in the also fictional Gilded Mountains Range, this novel tells the story of yearning for a better life and the will to achieve that goal. Women's suffrage, the effects of slavery, and the labor movement also figure strongly in the story. Sylvie Pelletier is on the brink of adulthood when she, brothers, and mother join their father and husband in Moonstone. Living in the company housing of the marble mining business that her father works for and going to the local school, Sylvie first works for the female editor of the local newspaper in order to contribute to her family's finances. When the opportunity arises to work as secretary to the wife of the mine owner at their home in Ruby, she seizes the live-in position. There she comes to know and establish relationships with the owner's wife, formerly a French courtesan, the owner's disaffected college age son, and the Black cook and butler, who were formerly slaves of the southern born owner.

Part of the reason I chose this book was its stunning cover of a full moon rising over the mountains. Having seen these mountains several times, I knew them to be near Aspen, Colorado. My other reason is a love for historical fiction of the American West. The Author's Note makes clear that the setting is based on the history of real-life Colorado towns of Marble and Dearfield, which are also near Aspen. My family has visited Marble several times while driving the scenic byways of Colorado. The author's descriptions of the town, surrounding mountains, and the mining operation are perfect. With the term Gilded in the book title, it is obvious that the book deals with the haves and have-nots of the gilded age. That robber baron millionaires became billionaires on the backs of immigrant workers for whom they had no regard is a theme throughout the novel. I had previously read Cripple Creek Days by Mabel Barbee Lee and thought this book would be much like it. It definitely was not; Kate Manning provides an excellent social commentary on the struggle for safe working conditions, fair pay, and decent hours in the early 20th century.

Sylvie, the main character, was strong and competent. I loved her "silent comments" on what she thought of or wanted to do to many of characters she had to deal with. Yet Sylvie's relationship with the son of the owner left me cold. I found him to be weak, spoiled, without loyalty, unable to see anything, etc. and simply could not understand how the author thought it was a good move to pair him with Sylvie. The story progressed nicely, but there were times that I hoped for better, more descriptive writing. Overall, I do recommend this book for anyone who enjoys historical fiction of the American West or who wants to learn something of Colorado's mining and labor history.

Marie-Pierre Murry

Sloppy French writing
Although the story is rather good, a lot of the French words are misspelled. The French grammar is also often incorrect. Overall, the French writing is sloppy and it is unfortunate.

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Author Information

Biography

Kate Manning

Kate Manning is the author of the critically acclaimed novels My Notorious Life and Whitegirl. A former documentary television producer and winner of two Emmy Awards, she has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times Book Review, Time, Glamour, and The Guardian, among other publications. She has taught creative writing at Bard High School Early College in Manhattan, and lives with her family in New York City.

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