Born of Gilded Mountains

A lost treasure. A riddled quest. The healing power of friendship.

Legends are tucked into every fold of the Colorado mountains surrounding the quaint town of Mercy Peak, where residents are the stuff of tall tales, the peaks are taller still, and a lost treasure has etched mystery into the very terrain.

In 1948, when outsider Mercy Windsor arrives after a scandal shatters her gilded world as Hollywood's beloved leading lady, she is determined to forge a new life in obscurity in this time-forgotten Colorado haven. She purchases Wildwood, an abandoned estate with a haunting history, and begins to restore it to its former glory.

But as she does, her every move tugs at the threads of the mountain's lore, unearthing what became of her long-lost pen pal Rusty Bright, and the whereabouts of the infamous Galloping Goose Railcar No. 8, which vanished years ago--along with the mailbag it carried, whose contents could change the course of countless lives. Not to mention the fabled treasure that--if found--could right so many wrongs.

Among the towering mountains that stand as silent witnesses, the ghosts of the past entangle with the courage of the present to find a place where healing, friendship, and hope can abide amid a world forever changed.

This discussion guide was shared and sponsored in partnership with Baker Publishing Group.

Book club questions for Born of Gilded Mountains by Amanda Dykes

Use these discussion questions to guide your next book club meeting.

Rusty and Marybeth’s friendship was one for the ages . . . and yet for nearly twenty years, they’d never met face to face. What is it about letters that offers the chance to bind people together? Have you ever had a special pen pal or received a piece of mail that held great importance to you?

For years, Rusty chose “the frigid grip of isolation” over the “sea of community, compassion, currents she knew were kind.” Why is it sometimes tempting for us to choose isolation over community? Has there ever been a time when community surprised you in a good way?

What are Marybeth and Rusty’s main personality differences? How did those complement or challenge their friendship? Have you experienced a friendship or relationship where a different personality proved to be a gift?

Consider the things Mercy lends her voice to—or doesn’t lend her voice to—throughout the book: scripts, lullabies, warnings to her father and to Wilson P. Wilson. How does her use of voice grow or change throughout the story?

Would you rather live in Rusty’s cabin, Mercy’s Celestial Climes, or Wildwood Estate? What about camping in the boathouse or running the traveling book boat/wagon?

If you had to dine tonight on a Classic Hollywood menu (Cobb salad, pineapple cake, crème brûlée, salmon puffs, caviar, etc.) or a Mercy Peak menu (chili and corn bread, biscuits and gravy, Boston brown bread, blueberry pie), which would it be? What would you add to your chosen feast?

There are some elements tucked into the book that serve as “echoes” of one another. Pinnacle Studios has the initials P. S., for example, which is an important component of letters to Marybeth. Can you think of any others?

While watching “the burst,” Miss Ellen says, “When the mountain cracked open, it seemed like our hearts did, too, even wider—but then we saw what it made way for. . . . It’s a daily reminder that light will break into our darkness.” Can you think of other
examples, personally or in history or in other stories, when something broken has been redeemed into a place of light?

Joel 2:25 (ESV) says, “I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten.” In Mercy Peak, Marybeth experienced the unexpected fulfillment of dreams she had long given up on (a lullaby just for her, being rocked to sleep, finding a family who cherished her). How did other characters experience the theme of restoration in their own lives? Can you think of a time when God pursued you with a long-held dream but in an entirely different form than what you’d imagined?

At the end of the book, we learn that a movie (in the fictional world) is in the works! Who would you cast to play the characters of this book?

Born of Gilded Mountains Book Club Questions PDF

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