Home Feed
Home
Search
Search
Add Review, Blurb, Quote
Add
Activity
Activity
Profile
Profile
Sycamore
Sycamore | Bryn Chancellor
"In this masterful performance, Bryn Chancellor explores the loss around which an entire community has calcified with humanity and wisdom. Chancellor digs deep in these pages, unearthing broken hearts, secrets, betrayals, passion andmost impressivelygrace. What a joy to find a book that is both propulsive and perfectly composed."Cynthia DAprix Sweeney, author of The Nest An award-winning writer makes her debut with this mesmerizing page-turner in the spirit of Everything I Never Told You and Olive Kitteridge. Out for a hike one scorching afternoon in Sycamore, Arizona, a newcomer to town stumbles across what appear to be human remains embedded in the wall of a dry desert ravine. As news of the discovery makes its way around town, Sycamores longtime residents fear the bones may belong to Jess Winters, the teenage girl who disappeared suddenly some eighteen years earlier, an unsolved mystery that has soaked into the porous rock of the town and haunted it ever since. In the days it takes the authorities to make an identification, the residents rekindle stories, rumors, and recollections both painful and poignant as they revisit Jesss troubled history. In resurrecting the past, the people of Sycamore will find clarity, unexpected possibility, and a way forward for their lives. Skillfully interweaving multiple points of view, Bryn Chancellor knowingly maps the bloodlines of a community and the indelible characters at its heartmost notably Jess Winters, a thoughtful, promising adolescent poised on the threshold of adulthood. Evocative and atmospheric, Sycamore is a coming-of-age story, a mystery, and a moving exploration of the elemental forces that drive human naturedesire, loneliness, grief, love, forgiveness, and hopeas witnessed through the inhabitants of one small Arizona town.
Amazon Indiebound Barnes and Noble WorldCat Goodreads LibraryThing
Pick icon
100%
blurb
BookNAround
Sycamore | Bryn Chancellor
post image

They claim tonight is a good night to see the Northern Lights so I‘m just going to sit here and read until it gets dark out. (As if I needed an excuse!)

review
whatsthEStorey
Sycamore | Bryn Chancellor
post image
Pickpick

I'm so glad I stuck with this book! Listening to this on Libby, the first few chapters were rough. It took me a little while to figure out the changes in perspective and time; likely would've been easier in print, but I got there. The story of this missing girl is pieced together through many different narrators, friends & family. Her story becomes the story of the entire town & the author shows the impact artfully. Much more than mystery.

blurb
whatsthEStorey
Sycamore | Bryn Chancellor
post image

I'm learning that a book being described as "atmospheric" is a bad sign for me. An hour into this one and all that's happened is a walk in the dark and a very dramatic long walk picking up rocks.

RebelReader I loved this book, I didn‘t listen to it though I read it. 6y
whatsthEStorey @RebelReader I think the audio might be the problem. I like the reader's voice, but some books aren't meant to be read aloud. 6y
29 likes2 comments
blurb
RebelReader
Sycamore | Bryn Chancellor
post image
Cinfhen Another new to me book!! 😀🙌🏻💕 6y
RebelReader @Cinfhen Mission Accomplished! I want some of my more obscure faves get some love! ❤️💕❤️💕 6y
86 likes1 stack add2 comments
review
ClairesReads
Sycamore | Bryn Chancellor
post image
Pickpick

Sycamore is an atmospheric mystery. Chancellor does an excellent job of capturing the oppressive atmosphere of a small town, where everyone has secrets they are struggling to keep. Chancellor manages multiple timelines and a complex cast of characters with ease. Tension is built steadily, towards a bleak conclusion. The final reveal was a little anticlimactic, and the there was a bit too much of a “happy ending” vibe for this to be a five star.

44 likes1 stack add
blurb
ClairesReads
Sycamore | Bryn Chancellor
post image

Back to some crime/mystery for my soul

40 likes1 stack add
blurb
ClairesReads
Sycamore | Bryn Chancellor
post image

Got that holiday reading sorted #thankgodterm1isover

Joanne1 I've just finished See what I have done. I'll be interested what you think of that one. 7y
ClairesReads @Joanne1 thanks- we‘re reading it for #indiebuddyreads in the first week of May 7y
43 likes1 stack add4 comments
review
RebelReader
Sycamore | Bryn Chancellor
post image
Pickpick

I‘m up late to finish this gem. I love it when you pick up a book with very few expectations and it blows you away. Jess Winters disappeared 18 years ago as a teenager. Now it appears her remains have been found. We travel back and forth between past and present to find out what really happened to Jess, but it‘s the people we meet along the way that make this book a five star read for me. I‘m already waiting for this author‘s next offering!

Cathythoughts Sounds really good. I love pringles too & that very flavor 👍🏻 7y
Kaye Sounds very good ! 7y
RebelReader @Cathythoughts I got this slightly smaller can at the $1 store. Unfortunately, I ate the whole can in two sittings and felt virtuous that I didn't eat them all at once! 😋🤔😜 7y
109 likes9 stack adds3 comments
review
Jeg
Sycamore | Bryn Chancellor
post image
Mehso-so

Well written but I had a hard time keeping track of the characters and the going back and forth through time.
Half way through I knew what the ending would be but maybe that might have been the point , I‘m not sure.
@MrsMalaprop

blurb
Jeg
Sycamore | Bryn Chancellor
post image

@MrsMalaprop now bookclub is past I can now get into some different reading. I‘ve made this pile from my many TBR books. Started Sycamore and enjoying it so much that I think I‘ll finish it today. The skinny book with the title not clear is A Wrinkle in Time which Im rereading before taking grandson to see the movie which I think is on next school holidays here. So many books——-

MrsMalaprop What a lovely stack 🤗📚. Enjoy 😊. 7y
8 likes1 comment
blurb
Jeg
Sycamore | Bryn Chancellor
post image

This was in the free box today , it looked interesting and it was published last year. Had anyone read it?
@MrsMalaprop

Lauren.Archer I own it, but have not had a chance to read it yet. 7y
Kimzey My book group read it and we loved it! 7y
13 likes2 comments
blurb
Kimzey
Sycamore | Bryn Chancellor
post image

1. No 2. 50 degrees F 3. Sycamore by Bryn Chancellor 4. Barbados 🇧🇧 5. @LisaJo ✋🏼 @Godmotherx5 ✋🏼

@jesshowbooks #friyayintro

Godmotherx5 🖐🏼 7y
Seekingtardis 🤚🏻 7y
No_One ✋🏼 7y
hes7 🖐🏻 7y
Susanita Barbados is lovely!! 7y
52 likes5 comments
blurb
DGRachel
Sycamore | Bryn Chancellor
post image

First new book purchase of the year and a new puzzle for #audiopuzzling. #getindie #bookhaul #cantstopwontstop

75 likes2 stack adds
review
Pasaal
Sycamore | Bryn Chancellor
Pickpick

I enjoyed the book. However, I didn't quite understand how all the peripheral characters were so affected by the main characters disappearance, even years later. And, although this author handled it well, I have to say I'm getting kind of tired of the multiple charcter, every chapter a new person/viewpoint novel. A nice, straight forward plot would be nice!

review
wallacereads
Sycamore | Bryn Chancellor
post image
Pickpick

I have been reading this one on and off for a few weeks. I finally sat down and dug into the story and am glad I did. The author did an amazing job depicting a town seemingly frozen in the wake of the disappearance of one of its own.

review
NovelVisits
Sycamore | Bryn Chancellor
post image
Pickpick

Loved this wonderful debut! Sycamore by Bryn Chancellor is a beautifully told story of a girl gone missing and the people of the community left behind. Part coming-of-age, part suspense, Sycamore is a fascinating jigsaw puzzle of a story. Full review: http://www.novelvisits.com/sycamore-bryn-chancellor-review/

Skybariline Looks like a good one! 7y
9 likes1 comment
blurb
ShelfSpaceLimited
Sycamore | Bryn Chancellor
post image

This is what my "station" looks like on my day off... because I want to read as much as I can and I have commitment issues.

blurb
Redwritinghood
Sycamore | Bryn Chancellor
post image

Heads up! If you don't want to buy any new books right now, don't look at the Kindle daily deals today.

review
TorieStorieS
Sycamore | Bryn Chancellor
post image
Mehso-so

Structured around the disappearance and then the discovery of seventeen year old Jess Winters, this book is more about the whole small desert town and the aftershocks of this traumatic 1991 tragedy. The large cast size and interesting angle set this missing person story apart- but it makes it a little hard to get into at first!

blurb
Carolineleavitt
Sycamore | Bryn Chancellor

Read Bryn's intetview. Carolibeleavittville.blogspot.com

blurb
DGRachel
Sycamore | Bryn Chancellor
post image

Bryan Chancellor teaches at UNC-Charlotte, according to her bio. Her book looks promising. I may have to attend the author event at Park Road Books. #getindie #localauthor #aprilbookshowers

cathysaid I just got an email from PRB that they are hosting John Grisham as well. 8y
DGRachel @cathysaid I saw that. I haven't read his stuff in years, so I'm not sure if I want to spend $32 for a ticket and miss work. Considering it, though. 🤔 8y
63 likes1 stack add2 comments
blurb
HarperBooks
Sycamore | Bryn Chancellor
post image

Isn't the snow the perfect backdrop for this gorgeous cover? THE NEST author #CynthiaDAprixSweeney calls #BrynChancellor's debut #Sycamore a "masterful performance," and a book that is "both propulsive and perfectly composed." ❤️

SusanInTiburon Great picture! 8y
MyNamesParadise I'm excited for this one!!! 8y
28 likes3 stack adds2 comments