"A dream, after all, needn't be fueled by particulars, only by desire." So notes main character, Gracie Antes, in CRESTMONT, a historical fiction gem set in the 1920s. Determined to take control of her life, sheltered Gracie Antes leaves her unhappy home in 1925 to pursue her dream of a singing career. On her way to the big city, she accepts a job as a housemaid at the bustling Crestmont Inn. Once there, Gracie finds a life-changing encounter with opera singer Rosa Ponselle, family she never imagined could be hers, and a ...
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"A dream, after all, needn't be fueled by particulars, only by desire." So notes main character, Gracie Antes, in CRESTMONT, a historical fiction gem set in the 1920s. Determined to take control of her life, sheltered Gracie Antes leaves her unhappy home in 1925 to pursue her dream of a singing career. On her way to the big city, she accepts a job as a housemaid at the bustling Crestmont Inn. Once there, Gracie finds a life-changing encounter with opera singer Rosa Ponselle, family she never imagined could be hers, and a man with a mysterious past. Relive the 1920s with a colorful cast of characters. Discover with Gracie that sometimes we must trade loss for happiness. Set in Eagles Mere, Pennsylvania, the story is interwoven with details about the town, the rich history of The Crestmont Inn, and the family who passed ownership from one generation to the next. Many attempts have been made to explain how the mountaintop lake nestled in this tiny town came to be. Crestmont gives a new twist to an old Native American legend, setting the tone of grace around which the story is built. Let the period of the Roaring Twenties spark your interest with its unique social mores, fashion, jazz, and yes, a little bootlegging thrown in for pizzazz.
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Add this copy of Crestmont to cart. $11.93, fair condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Atlanta rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Austell, GA, UNITED STATES, published 2010 by Star Publish.
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Crestmont is the story of the eponymous inn, which is located in Eagles Mere, Pennsylvania and which had its heyday in the 1920s, the time period featured in the novel. We?re introduced to the Crestmont Inn through the eyes of Gracie, a young lady who leaves home to become a singer and stops for a few seasons to work as a housekeeper at the Crestmont and save some money.
Meanwhile, the inn itself does a thriving summer business, but needs updates and improvements. Its owner-operators, William and Margaret Woods, are full of ideas and goodwill but short on cash ? until Margaret discovers a letter, left by her late father, directing her to a hidden stash that the Crestmont?s creator put aside for precisely this purpose. Work begins apace as Gracie joins the local church and begins to make friends ? as well as romantic interests ? among the Crestmont staff and in Eagles Mere at large.
Gracie wants to be a singer, and serendipity is with her when she meets the legendary opera singer Rosa Ponselle, then star of the New York Metropolitan Opera. Gracie?s own birth family is drifting away from her, but in the staff and visitors at the Crestmont, she begins to find a family composed of those who love and enjoy her for who she is ? or, as Richard Bach put it, one tied together by ?respect and joy in each other?s lives.?
Crestmont is ideal reading for those who want to get away to a simpler past and enjoy the relationships fostered by good will and hard work in the Pennsylvania countryside.
CraigLeBlank
Jun 30, 2010
Can A Book Be A Vacation
A review by Betsy Rider, owner of Otto Bookstore, Williamsport, PA
Four years ago, Holly Weiss, a music teacher and former opera singer, stayed at the Crestmont in Eagles Mere. She was captivated by the peaceful ambiance of today?s Inn and by the rich history of the founder and previous owners. So she wrote a book about them, filling out the known facts with fictionalized motivations and relationships.
After briefly sketching the Native American legend about the creation of the unique spring-fed lake from the tears of the mourning Great Spirit, Weiss re-creates the inspiration of William Warner, a visitor from Germantown who saw a challenge in the cyclone ravaged hill-top overlooking the crystal clear lake. Warner, who was driven by a need for excellence in all his endeavors, planned the Crestmont and hired two hundred carpenters to complete it in a year?s time. It was to be the very best in accommodations and in service. His staff was trained to anticipate every need and whim of the guests. His memory of the desires of the previous years? visitors never failed to impress one and all.
According to Weiss? fictionalized time-line, when Warner?s health deteriorated slightly more than a decade after the opening, his daughter, Margaret Woods and her husband, William, continued his legacy of outstanding hospitality. When Margaret Woods died in 1941, her daughter, Peg Dickerson, ran it until her health gave out, thus seeing it through three generations of the same family. It was sold in 1977 to a couple who replaced the ?Great House? with condominiums.
But I get ahead of myself. The owning and running of the legendary Crestmont is only the background for a moving story of Gracie Antes, a young girl trying to find her place in the world outside her repressive family upbringing in Moravian Bethlehem. She could sing. She knew it, even if nobody else did. But she needed money to follow her dream of singing in the Vaudeville circuit. So she answered an ad for summer employment at the Crestmont in Eagles Mere. She left her home and didn?t tell anyone she was still alive for a month and even then she didn?t tell them where she was working.
Gracie grew from a shy, young dreamer with a pocket full of words she needed to look up and a notebook nowhere near full of the names of the friends she made, to an assured young woman who found her family and place in Eagles Mere, where she discovered singing was only one of her many talents.
Even more compelling for me was the character development of Margaret Woods, who was drowning in her father?s legacy of outstanding service to their clientele. She never took time for herself and didn?t discover until long after his death that her father had found a retreat in an attic hideaway. That he needed respite from his responsibilities too. When a mistake made by Gracie sends her into a debilitating depression, she barely copes until her family and a favorite older employee gradually help her recover her former energy.
The book is filled with just enough other characters to welcome you into their world: PT, the young manager of the Inn?s bowling alley (and all around go-fer) who escapes his murky past by pouring himself into his piano jazz; Dorothy, a teacher who leaves her classroom to wait on the pampered rich and oversee the young staff; Bessie, an angry housemaid who hides her hurt under her anger; Mrs. Cunningham, an elderly blind lady who needs Gracie?s help and care while providing love and understanding in return; and the most famous guest, Rosa Ponselle, an opera singer who also takes Gracie under her wing.
The author has researched her material with the same kind of thorough care that the legendary Inn provided. Her knowledge of the American culture of the ?Roaring Twenties? serves her well. She liberally sprinkles references to neighboring towns and events. Her pace is leisurely and her characters lovable. Readers will feel refreshed after their vacation, reading ?Crestmont.?
bookworm24
Jun 23, 2010
Charming and delightful, a pleasure to read
Step into the lives of Gracie Antes and the Woods family of Eagles Mere Pennsylvania. Gracie, who decided to take control and live her life, left her sheltered family in 1925 to pursue her dreams. Crestmont was a summer job, a way to start earning money in order to follow her dream and sing. Little did she know she would find herself, friends, and a family of her own by taking a job at the Crestmont Inn. The woods own the Crestmont and spend their time keeping the dream of Mrs. Woods?s father alive. The Crestmont is not just and Inn, but a place of happiness and solitude for many guest as well as the charming staff.
As you read this wonderful novel, you will be taken back in time to the 1920?s. You will feel you are part of the Crestmont and its staff. As Gracie?s? story unfolds you are vividly aware of the decade, its people, pastimes and its trials. The book is truly engulfing. You will not want to put it down. The characters are unique and charming, giving the book a truly small town feel with a get away to dream of.
I really enjoyed this debut novel. I felt I was actually part of Eagles Mere and the Crestmont Inn. The characters are charming and loveable. It makes you want to visit the modern day Crestmont, though I?m sure you would arrive and be disappointed. The book is a work of historical fiction, combined with actual history, The Crestmont is a wildly entertaining read. Everything is well presented and thought out. The descriptive nature enables you to envision life during this time. The author does a wonderful job at drawing the reader in and making them welcome, wanting to be part of the story and happenings. She has a way of making the business of running an Inn feel charming and delightful. It is a pleasure to read.
