On Agate Hill

by Lee Smith

book data

469 ratings, 3.73 average rating, 131 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		21%
4		42%
3		26%
2		7%
1		1%

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published

August 28th 2007 (first published 2006) by Algonquin Books

binding

Paperback

isbn

1565125770 (isbn13: 9781565125773)

description

A dusty box discovered in the wreckage of a once prosperous plantation on Agate Hill in Nnorth Carolina contains the remnants of an extraordinary life...more

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11/30/07

Rosemary rated it:

(review of isbn 1428100040)

Read in November, 2007

recommends it for: readers of sagas and Civil War history

Lee Smith has a lovely way with words and history and tells an enthralling tale, following orphan Molly Petree from childhood to old age. The voice of each character is distinct and engaging. Now that I'm done, I miss these characters!

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09/11/08

Erin rated it:

(review of isbn 1565124529)

bookshelves: historical-fiction

Read in January, 2009

I hardly know where to start with this review. The book begins in the years following the civil war told mainly from journal entries and letters. Molly as a 14 year old writes, "I want to live so hard and love so much I will use myself all the way up like a candle, it seems to me like this is the point of it all, not Heaven”

The rest of the book details how she lives her life up like a candle. She leads a tragic life from the very first "dear diary," and although t...more

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12/08/08

Beverly rated it:

(review of isbn 1565124529)

bookshelves: book-group

I am not one for reading stories about war, so I was skeptical when our book group selected this one that was presented as "about the Civil War." So I was presently surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. I found it to be more a book about an individual and a family in the Civil War period. I liked how the book illustrated the impact of the war on individual's and families in the south, and transported you to an era and place with a fresh perspective. The book is filled with unu...more

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05/21/09

Heidi rated it:

(review of isbn 1565124529)

Read in May, 2009

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

The novel was rather disappointing I thought. Basically, it's the story of Molly, a little girl who's orphaned right after the civil war. She's taken in by her Uncle who lives on Agate Hill, an old plantation falling to ruin.

**SPOILER!!!** Through diary enteries, county papers, and court reports, we follow Molly as her life makes one dynamic change after another (her Uncle's mistress tries to take over, she befriends a sick little girl, family members die off or leave one by one, ...more

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4 comments

06/09/09

Debbie Mcafee rated it:

(review of isbn 1565124529)

Has a copy to sell/swap — Read in June, 2009

I'd love to chat with someone about this book --- I was all excited about reading it since I love Southern lit, but was a tad disappointed --- I still give it 4 stars, but was hoping for a 5! I thought that the whole fire thing was a bit unrealistic and didn't fit Molly's character. I'm still puzzled with why she did what she did. And then, I also didn't really like the ending -- the whole premise of Simon Black Molly's decisions in Part 5. I didn't think that fit her character either. Anyw...more

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06/11/09

Judy rated it:

(review of isbn 1565124529)

bookshelves: on-agate-hill

This was my second Lee Smith book and, oh my, what a great read. As in Oral History, Ms. Smith tells her story through journal entries, letters, and other archived information. This story is set post Civil War and tells the tale of one young lady from roughly 13 to the end of her life. In the telling Ms. Smith lays out life in the times of tragic loss but does so with an air of hopeful optimism and mystery. As with Oral History I walk away with a sense of how much stronger we are in the face of ...more

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04/04/09

John rated it:

(review of isbn 1565124529)

Read in June, 2009

On Agate Hill, by Lee Smith is a historical piece that follows the life of the orphaned Molly Petree. The reader first meets Molly in 1872 at the age of 13. She is living in her uncle’s house and has just begun to keep a journal, which is one of the forms that are used to tell her story. In fact, the whole novel is in the form of journal entries, letters and court documents.

With the epistolary style, a plot is not always easily identified, as is the case with this book. This ...more On Agate Hill, by Lee Smith is a historical piece that follows the life of the orphaned Molly Petree. The reader first meets Molly in 1872 at the age of 13. She is living in her uncle’s house and has just begun to keep a journal, which is one of the forms that are used to tell her story. In fact, the whole novel is in the form of journal entries, letters and court documents.

With the epistolary style, a plot is not always easily identified, as is the case with this book. This style of writing generally leads itself to wonderful character portraits and allows one to gain a fuller knowledge and understanding of one or more characters. As Molly is the main character, all of the journal entries, etc… are either written by her or about her.

The story unfolds in four basic stages of Molly’s life. The first stage is Molly’s life on the Agate Hill Plantation, owned by her Uncle Junius. At this point in her life, Molly has lost a lot of people close to her. Both of her parents have died, as well as her aunt and a cousin and other cousins have grown up and moved out of the house. Her uncle’s sister comes to stay and brings her granddaughter, Mary White. Mary and Molly become close friends during their short time together and Molly faithfully writes to her throughout her life, even though she is not sure that Mary is still alive.

The second stage of the story takes place after Molly’s Uncle Junius dies. Simon Black, a former friend of Molly’s parents shows up shortly after Junius’ death and sends Molly off to boarding school in Virginia. At the Gatewood Academy, Molly blossoms and becomes the darling of her classmates and many of her teachers. The headmistress, Mariah Snow, however, is not impressed with Molly from the very first. Her distaste for her and her self-hatred are clearly evident in the journal that she keeps.

The next stage begins when Molly and Agnes leave the Gatewood Academy and take over a small school in the mountains of North Carolina. It is here that Molly gets her love story (she and Mary White were constantly making up love stories for each other on Agate Hill). Engaged to a prominent businessman from Salisbury, N.C., Molly runs off in the night with a man of questionable morals and characters. Jacky Jarvis is the only man for Molly and he and his family welcome her into their homes and their hearts.

Unfortunately, Molly’s and Jacky’s lives were filled with sorrow as one after another of their children either die at a very early age or are stillborn. Devastated by each loss, somehow Molly manages to find the strength the pull through each time, but each time it becomes more difficult for her. As the story of Molly begins to wind down, a major “plot-twist” is thrown in when the reader learns of the mysterious death of Jacky Jarvis and the trial of Molly Petree Jarvis for his murder.

The last stage of the story brings Molly back to Agate Hill and her guardian, Simon Black. Molly spends her last years in the place she knew as a young girl and in the company of Simon’s former servant and her own cousin, who was born shortly before Molly left Agate Hill to attend the Gatewood Academy.

The main themes in this heartwarming tale are those of loss and survival and of living one’s life to one’s own satisfaction, regardless of the opinions of others. Loss and survival are the most obvious themes, as they are present from the very beginning. Molly lost many family members through death prior to the beginning of the novel and even more before she went off to school. She lost her cousin Spencer, while she was at Gatewood and then she lost all of her children and finally her husband and then Simon Black. Death however was not the only form of loss for Molly. She also had to deal with the loss of close friends, as they were forced to move away or their life’s journey took them elsewhere. At her trial for Jacky’s murder, Molly commented in her journal later, that seeing the family there, she realized that even though they supported her, she no longer belonged with them.

In regards to the theme of living your life to your own satisfaction: as the reader learns more about Molly, they see that she often has opinions and tastes that tend to contradict what polite society would find acceptable. The best example of this is when she ran off and married Jacky Jarvis. She ignored the gossip and talk about him and followed her heart and never once regretted it.

Overall, I found this book to be a very enjoyable read. I usually find myself drawn to books that have strong, well defined characters and I was not disappointed with this one. I read it slowly, over a three month period (not due to lack of interest, but lack of time to read!) and this allowed Molly to linger in my thoughts and become someone that I felt I knew and I grew to care about what happened to her.
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06/20/08

itpdx rated it:

(review of isbn 1565124529)

Read in June, 2008

A well written historical fiction story about a girl in the reconstruction south. An interesting study of a time when class structure was fractured and reformed--from the southern families that had been able to survive the war with some of their wealth (represented by the girls at the boarding school and their families) and the families that lost their wealth represented by Junius's family, to the former slaves beginning to exercise their new freedom to make their own choices, to the farmers, s...more

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03/09/08

Kellie rated it:

(review of isbn 1565124529)

bookshelves: 2008-reads, bookclub-books, fiction-literature

Read in March, 2008

This was a very unique book. It starts off with a letter from a young girl who is writing to a college asking to be let back into the program she was in. She tells the director of this school that she has a diary and some letters from the civil war. It is unclear if she sends the Director all that she has or just writes to tell him about it but then the book switches over to the diary and so the story begins. The setting is Agate Hill, North Carolina and it is just after the Civil War ended...more

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06/08/07

JG rated it:

(review of isbn 1565124529)

bookshelves: appalachia, civil_war, fiction, mostly_for_women, read_in_2007, reviewed, southern-lit, strong_females

Read in November, 2007

Finally! A great book! I was on a mediocre stretch there for a while.

On Agate Hill is the story of Molly Petree, an orphan girl growing up in the Reconstruction South. The book is made up of a lot of journal entries and letters, and it begins with a young Molly telling her own story, the story of her as a "ghost girl" growing up on her uncle's plantation, Agate Hill. Then the story is picked up by the headmistress of Gatewood Academy, a sort of finishing school for girl...more

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04/05/08

Martha rated it:

(review of isbn 1565124529)

Read in April, 2008

recommends it for: Lee Smith fans, Southern history buffs

This is by far the best book I have ever read by Lee Smith. The leading character was believable and the history seemed accurate. It seemed as if she had done a lot of research for this book.

The story is revealed through Molly's diary, letters and other documents that have been discovered by a contemporary student.

Molly Petree, an orphan at the beginning of the book set just after the Civil War, continues to lose the people she loves. Her life takes many twists and turns...more

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04/24/09

Adriana rated it:

(review of isbn 1565124529)

Read in April, 2009

This was an amazingly powerful book. Told in alternating voices and through letters and journal entries, this narrative formed a devastating picture of life after the Civil War for the south, and of love and passion, duty and dereliction thereof.

While there are few admirable male characters here, the conversation about freedom and restrictions for women in this age is enthralling. Young Molly's voice is irresistible, even though some parts are very difficult to read. This is a memor...more

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07/27/07

Annis Marney rated it:

(review of isbn 1565124529)

Read in June, 2007

recommends it for: Southern women, mostly

Very good. I've read a lot of Lee Smoth's novels over the years. She lived in Chapel Hill and used to be married to a poetry professor there, so I've been reaing her since I was in college. Nice characters, always, strong women figures, all in Appalachia and surrounding areas, so familiar territory. This book was better than I expected just reading the blurb on the jacket cover. Coming of age story of a girl orphaned in and by the Civil War. Having just read Killer Angels about Gettysburg, I'm a...more

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04/19/08

Meredith rated it:

(review of isbn 1565124529)

bookshelves: hollins-writers, just-finished

Read in April, 2008

if you got to the end of Fair and Tender Ladies and wished for more, then this is the book for you. this is a very similar story to Fair and Tender Ladies, with the same kind of plot arc, and the same dreamy and passionate characters. the main difference is that, instead of telling the main character's story only through letters, lee smith changes things up a bit and uses a variety of cultural documents, authored by multiple characters, to tell the story. the result is something like what one...more

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02/06/09

Kehder rated it:

(review of isbn 1565124529)

Read in February, 2009

I had a hard time getting into the first part, I guess because of journal entry format, but it picked up for me in part two and I ended up liking it a lot. I agree that it wasn't maybe as good as we expected it to be but I think reading To Kill a Mockingbird the previous month set the bar really high.

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10/16/07

Jenny rated it:

(review of isbn 1565124529)

Read in May, 2007

I have enjoyed every Lee Smith novel I've read, although I will say that the female protagonists can get a bit repetitive after awhile. However, her stories are so gripping and involving you almost don't mind. :-) As for Agate Hill, I found it engrossing and moving and poignant and incredible--it's definitely Smith's best. It's set post-Civil War and tells the story of what happens to those left behind, after the destruction is over. You will not forget Molly Petrie. She is unique. This b...more

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06/03/09

Rebecca rated it:

(review of isbn 1565124529)

Read in June, 2009

All the classic elements of southern fiction entwined with a good view of the at the end of the Civil War, Lee Smith continues to engross the reader with another strong female character and her story. On Agate Hill definitely bears rereading in order to explore all of the undercurrents of Smith's story. This is a good book to get lost in!

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03/27/09

Stacey rated it:

bookshelves: book-club

Read in April, 2009

I started this book for a second time so that I could determine whether or not the main character was black or white. Once I started for the second time and then read a good size chunk of the story, I really enjoyed it. It is the story of Molly Petree, a young girl living during the reconstruction of the south after the civil war. It follows this girls life through letters and journal entries. A good description of life during that time period.

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01/25/09

Bev added it (review of isbn 1565124529)

Read in March, 2008

Great book. Lee Smith does a wonderful job of following the life of a civil war orphan to the twenties, revealing the mind and heart of a real woman, not the sweetsie stereotype. A woman's book definitely.

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03/09/08

Becky rated it:

(review of isbn 1565124529)

Read in June, 2008

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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