Dirt-poor, sensitive as poets, and proud as kings, the Powell family has lived on a Georgia mountaintop for generations. Then, during the 1960's, young Ursula Powell's father convinces the Tiber family, owners of everything in nearby Tiberville, to commission a huge iron sculpture of a bear for the town. Decades later the strange sculpture - rejected by the townspeople and left to rust on the Powell farm - symbolizes a family's failure and thwarted dreams. But, unknown to Ursula, it is now worth such a huge fortune that the artist's embittered son, Quentin Ricconni, is coming to reclaim it . . . and to change everything Ursula believes about the past, the choices that break a heart, and the redeeming powers of art and love.

Characters as intriguing as the abstract sculpture." -- Atlanta Journal Constitution

"I highly recommend On Bear Mountain . . . a deeply touching tale." -- Romance Reviews Today

"A delight." -- Hollywood Behind The Scenes

"Rich, complex." -- The Romance Reader

"Beautifully written . . . A shimmering web of sorrows and joys." ߝ Booklist

"Readers of the novels of Anne Rivers Siddons will welcome into their hearts Deborah Smith." -- Midwest Book Review

"A fine and gentle tale" -- Publishers Weekly

"Charming and heartwarming" -- Library Journal

"Smith's best novel yet." -- Kristin Hannah

Reviewer’s Choice Nominee, Best Contemporary Novel

Romantic Times BookClub 2003

Nominee, The 2002 Townsend Prize for Fiction

Reviewer’s Choice Nominee, Best Mainstream Romance

Romantic Times, 1997