IN THE ARMS OF THE MOUNTAIN

The Seemans were convinced that the city was not for them; that they must find their homeplace in the Great Smokies -- a mountain farm. There Elizabeth could continue her designing; Edwin could finish the novel he felt compelled to write. Thatit turned out to be not a farm at all- but a superb stretch of semi-wilderness, away from a road, closed in by woods and stream, seemed at first only another challenge. Their cabin was built; they acquired goats, chickens, ducks, a cat and a dog -- and somehow the menage expanded to include recalcitrant bees, a pair of hawks, a baby woodchuck. The adventures that came their way were fascinating to read about -- but grim to experience. Only an obsessive love of the beauties of the wild nature around them, a close link with the animals they had -- in particular a giant of a goat -- a sense of humor and mutual forebearance carried them through successive disasters. Rarely has failure been so enticingly presented- for failure it was, on almost every count. But they made friends, they put down permanent roots, they learned from their mistakes- and -- after an enforced acceptance of defeat when Edwin had to go into a hospital and Elizabeth had to find a new way of life not dependent on close work with her failing eyesight -- the story ends with their return and joyous recognition that here was where they still belonged. Not convincing but alluring.