Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com

Average Customer Rating:

Boring	Customer Rating:
I couldn't get all the way through this book. The writing is terrible, it's too detailed and makes me want to fall asleep. Simple actions are written in 3 different ways back to back... quit being redundant! I don't need to know what every muscle in a characters body is doing at any given moment, or what the hands of everyone in the room looks like. Get.To.The.Point.

Disjointed storyline, unsympathetic characters

Customer Rating:

The Woodsman's Daughter reads as if the author wrote three separate stories years apart, and then tried to bind them together with Elmer's glue. The first part, which deals with a stereotypical drunken Southern father (please! can we get any more banal?) and his family, is mildly interesting. The second part focuses on the surviving daughter, Dalia, left penniless, who determines to marry for money and of course, ends up well-off but with an abusive husband. The third part highlights Dalia's daughter, who turns into a rebellious "flapper" and outrages her mother completely. Through a totally Gothic turn of morbid events, most lives get ruined in the end. Not recommended unless it's the only book at the vacation condo. Stick with Anne Rivers Siddons for better-written versions of the same story.

An epic novel of stunningly beautiful magnitude

Customer Rating:

A stunning, moving epic novel set in nineteenth century Georgia, 'The Woodsmans Daughter' is sure to touch your heart if you have one. The nineteen hundreds isn't the time of women's liberation or 'capable' females, yet the story is about ladies with cores of steel and men with spines of jellyfish. 'The Woodsmans Daughter' spans three generations, following our tragically spoiled heroine Dalia Miller from a young girl, to a young woman, to a mother, and lastly a grandmother. Dalia has the gutsy will of Scarlett O'Hara but her selfishness makes Scarlett look like Melanie. Life is cruel, and doesn't spare feisty Dalia any of its ruthless surprises. The book is divided into three parts, first focusing on Monroe Miller, Dalia's father, and his hard life as a turpentine farmer. He finds the atmosphere of his self-made Millertown, deep in the woods of longleaf pines, more congenial that his fancy house with his laudanum addicted wife and two willful daughters. The second part is Dalia's life after growing up, managing her own survival in a world not designed for single women. The last part is about Clara Nell, Dalia's daughter, who completely embodies the spirit of her willful mother. I don't want to give away too much, but the languid pacing of this family's triumphs and tragedies make for a surprisingly fast read. Cousin Juliet particularly intrigued me, mentioned but not introduced until Clara Nell's life account. Dalia's life progresses, prospers, blossoms, withers, declines, and rebuilds under the spellbinding prose of author Gwyn Hyman Rubio. Not one moment is left dull under the vivid canvas of her words. This is truly a beautiful book in all aspects: languid, interesting, suspenseful, tragic, uplifting, and filled with fully fleshed out characters that you will either love or hate ... and often pity. I highly recommend this book. Enjoy!

Hack Ick - I'm Melting

Customer Rating:

This was the worst book I've ever read. Although the book is incredibly descriptive and elicits a highly visual experience, the subject matter is demented and verges on something sadly insane. The author wrote as if she were bored and needed to add sick events to dramatize an otherwise quaint country story. The setting is realistic and the characters are believable. Somehow it didnt help that they were thrown together, and just when you think the story will get better (or at least less disgusting), it DOESNT.

Enjoyable read - want a prequel exploring Monroe Miller	Customer Rating:
I enjoyed reading this book - Ms. Rubio's understanding of southern culture is outstanding. My favorite character in the book is Monroe Miller - the father of Dalia. I was left wanting to know more about this tortured man. I want to know more about his life before he married Dalia's mother and before his children were born. I look forward to more books from this author.