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The Big Rock Candy Mountain
The Big Rock Candy Mountain
Dec 22, 2025 7:23 AM

Author:Wallace Stegner

The Big Rock Candy Mountain

Bo Mason, his wife, Elsa, and their two boys live a transient life of poverty and despair. Drifting from town to town and from state to state, the violent, ruthless Bo seeks out his fortune - in the hotel business, in new farmland and eventually, in illegal rum-running through the treacherous back roads of the American Northwest.

In this affecting narrative, Wallace Stegner portrays more than thirty years in the life of the Mason family as they struggle to survive during the lean years of the early twentieth century.

Wallace Stegner was the author of, among other works of fiction, Remembering Laughter (1973); Joe Hill (1950); All the Little Live Things (1967, Commonwealth Club Gold Medal); A Shooting Star (1961); Angle of Repose (1971, Pulitzer Prize); The Spectator Bird (1976, National Book Award); Recapitulation (1979); Crossing to Safety (1987); and Collected Stories (1990). His nonfiction includes Beyond the Hundredth Meridian (1954); Wolf Willow (1963); The Sound of Mountain Water (essays, 1969); The Uneasy Chair: A Biography of Bernard deVoto (1964); American Places (with Page Stegner, 1981); and Where the Bluebird Sings to the Lemonade Springs: Living and Writing in the West (1992). Three short stories have won O.Henry prizes, and in 1980 he received the Robert Kirsch Award from the Los Angeles Times for his lifetime literary achievements.

Reviews

Stegner has felt the spell of mountain and prairie, of drought, flood and blizzard...A harrowing saga.

—— The New York Times

An irreplaceable classic...One of the great books from which we may understand America and its rise...

—— Robert Stone

Beautifully written and finely observed, this suspenseful tale of Henry the Eighth's last wife expertly conveys all the dangerous intensity and passion of the Tudor court

—— Rachel Hore, author of A Place of Secrets and A Gathering Storm

Rich in atmosphere and period detail . . . An enticing read

—— Stylist

A sumptuous epic

—— Metro

With a painter's eye for detail, Fremantle brings the dazzling, dangerous Tudor court to life and sheds an intriguing new light on Katherine Parr, one of history's great survivors. An enthralling tale of power and passion, loyalty and betrayal

—— Elizabeth Wilhide, author of Ashenden

A powerful debut

—— Guardian

Breathes vibrant life into Henry VIII's most intriguing, intelligent and least known wife, Katherine Parr

—— Anne Easter Smith

A major new voice in historical fiction

—— The Bookseller

Wildly entertaining . . . One of the best historical novels I've read

—— Huffington Post

The thrilling follow-up to Treasure Island, as told by one of England's greatest contemporary writers...Silver is a worthy sequel to Treasure Island and a work of extraordinary authenticity

—— GQ

Like Stevenson, Motion has achieved that very difficult thing: a children’s novel that works even better for adults. Look to your laurels, Rowling

—— The Times

A solid adventure yarn, full of ghostly echoes of Stevenson, with a denser tropical atmosphere and an even more palpable sense of evil

—— TLS

There are sequels and prequels aplenty, but this follow-up to Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure island by the former Poet Laureate reeks of authenticity, cunning, intrigue, suspense and adventure.It’s brilliant, and for all ages

—— Henry Sutton , Daily Mirror

He reinvents Stevenson’s world to reveal its dark underside, illuminating both its mysterious beauty and its grim immortality.Silver provides a fitting sequel to Treasure Island, certainly, but also stands in its own right as a companion volume to a literary classic.

—— Daisy Hay , The Observer

Silver is a deeply pleasing and convivial book… As with Treasure Island, Silver is left open to the possibility of its own sequel, and surely no one would wish Motion to swallow the anchor. All aboard! All aboard! All aboard that's coming aboard.

—— Ian Sansom , The Guardian

Silver…captures something of the old magic. The thrilling flight across moor and heather that Henry James admired in Kidnapped.... finds expression in Silver’s action scenes set amid Caribbean waters.

—— Ian Thomson , Financial Times

Beautifully written and genuinely exciting... Motion’s novel stays true to Stevenson’s original... Outstanding.

—— Emma Lee-Potter, author of House With No Name

Silver’s plot twists and turns and introduces elements beyond even Stevenson’s imagination. The result is a fascinating and richly coloured novel that can be read by children with an appetite for adventure and adults who will relish reliving the glory days of youth.

—— Alan Taylor , Herald

Elegant, affectionate homage to Robert Louis Stevenson is straight out of this classic adventure-story mould… A piece of writing born of genuine love and respect for the original.

—— Adam Lively , Sunday Times

A thrilling follow-up to Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island...Silver is a novel that will appeal to readers of all ages. Beautifully written and genuinely exciting...Best of all, Motion’s novel stays true to Stevenson’s original tale while adding an extra dimension.

—— Emma Lee-Potter , Daily Express

Elegant, thrilling sequel...The plot is gripping, a mixture of high adventure, low cunning and desperation...Motion’s prose vivid and glowingly poetic, is a brilliant counterpoint to the fascinating action.

—— Eithne Farry , Daily Mail

This is a pacey tale with an appropriately feisty young heroine for modern readers

—— Lesley McDowell , Independent on Sunday

Andrew Motion brings lyricism but, more importantly, rollicking adventure to this sequel to Treasure Island

—— Mail on Sunday
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