The View from Brindley Mountain

This memoir of a bygone era will resonate deeply with readers who experienced life in the deep South in the 1940's and 50's. The humorous accounts of youthful antics and cultural quirks will fascinate readers for whom such a place and such a time can only seem foreign if not exotic.

The story begins with traces of native Americans who left behind flint weapons setting a young boy to dreaming. Modern times begin when a rebel from Bavaria seeks land to build a haven for fellow immigrants from Prussian oppression. This visionary located a large swath of gently-sloping, pine-forested wilderness in north-central Alabama. The sandy ridge on which he laid out his town was named for an earlier pioneer, Mace Brindley. This intrepid backwoodsman and his cohort built grist mills, blacksmith shops and cotton gins, planted crops and began a never-ending struggle to raise their families in the face of economic depressions and unforgiving elements.

The stories are filtered through the eyes of a young farm boy who grew to manhood dreaming of future journeys and conquests. On the back porch of a little clapboard house, this would-be traveler contemplated the wide horizon stretching out in all direction, full of seemingly endless possibilities and challenges.

My Thoughts:
The View from Brindley Mountain reads as if one were sitting on the front porch drinking lemonade and listening to Grandpa tell about his childhood - a chapter conveyed each time you visited. The author's writing meanders in much the same way Grandpa would while storytelling. Poetry is sprinkled through the book - some are by known poets (William Blake, Longfellow, Alfred Lord Tennyson) and others are the author's original works.

This book was provided to me through Bostick Communications; I received no monetary compensation.