Sugar Mountain

$18.95

First published in 2013, SUGAR MOUNTAIN revolves around a deadly virus that starts in China and spreads around the world. Set in western Massachusetts, it was prescient not only about the recent pandemic, but about what could be in store in the future. When the virus arrives and spreads, the Arkwrights, an extended family, gather at their farm in western Massachusetts to face together the relentless mass killer. As well as the ravaging influenza, they must contend with provisioning themselves and fending off a local well-armed and ruthless para-military group all the while hanging on to enough humanity to make their survival meaningful. 

Utterly gripping and frightening… — Lloyd Schwartz; A riveting read… better than many best sellers. — Bob Viarengo; I am addicted and cannot put it down. — Philip Lovejoy; I loved every page. It was fantastic. And I loved Allegra’s journal… I want to see the movie.  — Anna Doyle; Thoroughly hooked. The characters and their plight stayed with me… — Jennie Summerall; But what a page turner this is! Beautifully written literature… The suspense is unstoppable; the multitude of characters flawlessly orchestrated; there’s a New England aura to it, and Allegra’s diary a wonderfully pinned down example… — Stratis Haviaris; Unfortunately, this absolutely could happen either in the way you write about or as a natural mutation of the virus. — Stephen J. Gluckman, Professor of Medicine, Perelman Medical School at the University of Pennsylvania; Medical Director, Penn Global Medicine.

Description

Article from the Greenfield Recorder, (Mass) July 17, 2021, the timeliness of SUGAR MOUNTAIN continues to grow.
IN DEPTH DESCRIPTION: Set in the near future, Sugar Mountain is a saga about the struggles of an extended family to survive a lethal avian flu pandemic. Within days, the world changes radically and forever as the infrastructure of civilized life crumbles. In short order, there exists no power grid, no internet, no media, no medical facilities, dwindling supplies of food, and, for most people, very little hope. A committed pacifist, Cyrus Arkwright has been preparing for several years to make Sugar Mountain, his ancestral farm located in western Massachusetts, into a self-sustaining haven for his extended family. He is, in the modern parlance, a “prepper,” one of the growing number of Americans (that range from the militant right to the communal left) who are getting ready for some kind of apocalypse.
As the family in-gathers during that calamitous May when a deadly form of H5N1 begins its destruction of the human world, the Arkwrights are not only besieged by pleas from friends and loved ones, but realize they are vulnerable to the violence and lawlessness that is spreading with a contagion of its own. Having laid in supplies, devised basic systems, and established a self-sustaining farm, Cyrus, his wife Grace, and their three sons and their families become prime targets in a ravening world. As national, state, and local governments shrivel to all but non-existence, it falls to son Jack, an Army Ranger veteran, to organize the defense of Sugar Mountain. It is Jack, over the protests of his father, who earlier acquired a store of weapons and now teaches the others how to use them.
The principal threat to the refuge arises in the form of the McFerall brothers. Men in their late fifties, Duncan and Bruce live with their families in a hollow several miles from the Arkwright refuge. For more than a century there has been a festering feud between the two families as to the ownership of Sugar Mountain. Empowered by the possession of stolen antiviral medicines and as a member of the National Guard, Duncan is in a position to command weapons and men. In the guise of suppressing “terrorism,” the brothers launch a systematic campaign of attacking and taking farmsteads in which they place their retainers. Sugar Mountain is high on this list. In its situations, in its characters, Sugar Mountain explores the human species in extremis—that is, in those conditions that existed through most of our evolutionary history.
Books by Alfred Alcorn and Complete Book Reviews
BIO: Born Alfred Denny, I grew up in the docklands of Merseyside, in the green fields of Ireland, and on a dairy farm in South Chelmsford, Massachusetts. I graduated from Harvard and have worked as a journalist, teacher, travel director (of the Harvard Museum of Natural History), and safari guide, among other things. Starting with Houghton Mifflin’s publication of THE PULL OF THE EARTH in 1985, I have published 14 novels to date. For a profile on the MURDER IN THE MUSEUM OF MAN series, click on http://harvardmagazine.com
EXCERPT: At first the news comes obliquely, unvoiced, a flicker of words across the bottom of the screen: World Health Organization raises concern about reports of deaths from avian flu outbreak in Xinjiang Province. Beijing officials deny access to WHO inspectors, calling the outbreak “a local matter.” Moments later, the item is upgraded to a breaking news bulletin. The newscaster, an attractive young woman with practiced authority in her voice, tells her morning audience: “This just in. The World Health Organization, the WHO, has designated an avian flu outbreak in a remote province of western China to be at Phase 5 of the pandemic alert level. A Phase 5 designation involves human to human transmission, effecting larger clusters, or communities, of people. At this point, there is a much higher risk of a pandemic although not a certainty. We’ll keep you updated as more information becomes available.” In his farmhouse in the hill country of western Massachusetts, Cyrus Arkwright watches the news about the outbreak and feels his own alarm level ratchet up. It is a foreboding mingled with a sense of vindication he resists. Will this be it? There have been several flare-ups of lethal flu in China in the recent past. But in those instances, the Chinese government cooperated with international health agencies as to the specifics of the pathogen involved. Now it is clamping down. Why? What are they hiding? In his early seventies, of medium height and slightly stooped, Cyrus has a full head of white hair and an Amish beard of darker hue, a suitable frame for his slow-smiling patrician face. He notes down the name of the province. He muses. Phase 5. He tuned in CNN this warm spring morning to follow a forest fire flaring along the Grand Canyon. That footage showed a blackened expanse east of Canyon Village where junipers, pinyon and ponderosa pines once mantled the South Rim. Also news about floods along the Mississippi for the second year in a row. Signs, he thinks, that global warming is looming faster than predicted. Or is Grace, his wife of forty years right? Is he becoming a connoisseur of disaster? Or what their daughter-in-law Allegra smilingly called a “Malthusiast,” a literary allusion no doubt. Not that Grace hesitated to join him in transforming Sugar Mountain, the old family farm, from a weekend retreat into a self-sustaining refuge for their extended family.  Should the need arise. It took some doing. It began five years before when he retired, in stages, from his architectural practice in Cambridge. They sold their roomy house on Francis Avenue with more than a few regrets and moved back. It was as much a move in time as geographically, at least where Cyrus was concerned. For he grew up on this farm in the northern Berkshires named for its grove of sugar maples where in early spring the sap rises with its sweet bounty. He knows like a farmer the three hundred or so acres, some of it good for pasture and hay, a lot of it ledgy, rising forest that extends nearly to the Vermont border. His interest in disasters is more than academic. Cyrus is a prepper, a homesteader, a survivalist. Along with millions of others in America and overseas, he calculates the probability of catastrophe as too high to be ignored. A general awareness of possibilities came into sharp focus in 2009 when a bird flu scare made the Centers for Disease Control urge people to take precautions. That blew over, but left Cyrus wondering when avian influenza or some other highly mutagenic virus would turn into a mass killer.

Additional information

Weight 16 oz
Dimensions 5.5 × 0.9 × 8.5 in
Format

Paperback

Author

Alfred Alcorn

ISBN

978-0-912887-93-7

Amazon

http://a.co/fW8GE3W

Original Language

English

Publish Date

1/1/2014, 4.29.20

Page/Word Count

366

Praise

and Allegra's diary is a wonderfully pinned-down example. I love every minute of it and I am only at page 216. –Stratis Haviaris, Professor of Medicine, this absolutely could happen either in the way you write about or as a natural mutation in the virus. –Stephen J. Gluckman, Unfortunately

Imprint

Caravel

7 reviews for Sugar Mountain

  1. Stephen J. Gluckman, Professor of Medicine, Perelman Medical School at the University of Pennsylvania

    Unfortunately, this absolutely could happen either in the way you write about or as a natural mutation in the virus.

  2. Stratis Haviaris

    But what a page-turner this is! Beautifully written literature…. The suspense in unstoppable; the multitude of characters flawlessly orchestrated; there’s a New England aura to it, and Allegra’s diary is a wonderfully pinned-down example. I love every minute of it and I am only at page 216.

  3. Carrell Ray Jenkins

    For more than a decade, Alfred Alcorn has applied his estimable talents to a series of irreverent satirical mystery novels set in and around an old university that bears a striking resemblance to Harvard.

    There’s nothing satirical or amusing about “Sugar Mountain.” Set in the near future, the novel deals with the gritty determination of a nuclear family of 20 high-minded men and women to survive the onslaught and aftermath of a worldwide pandemic of avian flu which kills 80 percent of the population of the United States — an event which, in the words of one noted epidemiologist, “absolutely could happen.”

    This reader stands in awe not only at Alcorn’s formidable narrative powers but also the painstaking research which was necessary to give the novel a foundation of factual accuracy.

    “Sugar Mountain” is a terrifying book that inevitably reminds the reader of
    Albert Camus’ “The Plague” and William Golding’s “Lord of the Flies.”

  4. Amazon comment -L.B.S.

    I have long been a fan of Alfred Alcorn’s sharp, satirical, and witty writing. Not a typical reader of what can feel like testosterone-pumped doomsday survivalist stories, I opened this book because I trust and respect Mr. Alcorn’s writing and perspective. He did not disappoint and delivered a serious, riveting apocalyptic tale that is so easy to connect with that it is impossible to put down. Set in a rural America that we all can picture – if not live there already – the book follows the Awkright family, whose members are varied, intelligent, compassionate and relatable (even to non-survivalists) because Mr. Alcorn presents their humanity. That they have been quietly and peacefully been planning for a global pandemic does not define them; they are not caricatures of militaristic doomsayers. Mr. Alcorn then unfolds a story of a rapidly spreading virus that is both horrific and believable. Every plot twist and turn feels entirely plausible, as does such a rapid descent into global and local chaos. As a reader, you find yourself thinking about what you would do, how you would survive, and – surprisingly – even thinking that perhaps it is time for you to do a little planning yourself. You will find that newscasts that mention SARS or MERS or the Avian Flu will make you stop and listen far more closely. I guarantee that this book, its characters, and its gritty realism will linger with you long after you put it down. I highly recommend it. Mr. Alcorn continues to be a masterful and thought-provoking storyteller. Trust me; you will not look at your neighborhood or neighbors quite the same way again.

  5. Andrew Wilner, MD

    When a weaponized virus transforms the world into a post-apocolyptic nightmare, human beings struggle to survive. Sugar Mountain examines how a stubborn and resourceful extended family copes with the almost overwhelming challenges of disease, death, starvation and violence of this new world, all the while desperately struggling to maintain their humanity and ideals of civilization. The novel takes place in Western Massachusetts and has a wonderful sense of place. The characters are well drawn and slowly evolve as they face a man-made disaster that could start tomorrow with a broken petri dish in a laboratory somewhere…

  6. Amazon reader-cannvan

    Chilling, insightful and realistic. The cast of characters is diverse, the story telling remarkable and full on. With all the buzz of prepping in this day and age it is a good look at both preparing and not. Savage and realistic a nudge of warning to all, be prepared and network. A triumph of survival. A hint of both the raw goodness and evil of man to survive…it has a happy ending, for which I was grateful. I look forward to reading more on this topic and from Alcorn. Fascinating!

  7. MORE READER COMMENTS

    I read Sugar Mountain on my Kindle and couldn’t put it down. It was utterly gripping and frightening…. —Lloyd Schwartz; 
    I just finished it…a riveting read…better than many “best sellers.” —Bob Viarengo;
    I stayed up until 2:00 am to finish the book last night, I couldn’t put it down. I loved every page. It was fantastic. And I loved Allegra’s journal….Great book. I want to see the movie. —Anna Doyle; 
    Just wanted to say that I read four chapters last night and am thoroughly hooked. The characters and their plight stayed with me today. Can’t wait to continue! —Jennie Summerall; 

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