Burning Bright by Ron Rash; and Other Appalachian Authors

 

The Bristol Public Library together with Washington County Virginia Public Library System and the Birthplace of Country Music Museum were awarded a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts for The Big Read.  The theme is “Where We Live,” and the book selected is Burning Bright by Ron Rash.  Free copies of the book will be available at all three locations while supplies last.  A wide array of programs will be available, including book discussions, author talks, creative writing workshops, and more. Click here for more information. 

Ron Rash is known for both his novels and his short stories which portray life in the Appalachian region.  A professor and a poet, Rash’s stories can be gritty and beautiful at the same time.  His stories are set in various time periods but all are memorable.  Burning Bright is a superb collection of his stories; novels include The Cove and Serena.

Other Appalachian authors include:

Lee Smith was born in Grundy, VA and began writing stories in elementary school. She is the author of many acclaimed novels and short story collections, including Family Linen, Black Mountain Breakdown, Fair and Tender Ladies, and Devil’s Dream.

Silas House was working as a rural mail carrier just before he sold his first novel, Clay’s Quilt. Clay Sizemore is a young miner who is falling in love with Alma, a talented fiddler trying to escape an abusive husband. Other titles include A Parchment of Leaves and The Coal Tattoo.          

Sharyn McCrumb is best known for her Ballad novels set in Appalachia. Many draw on regional history and legends as part of the story.  Titles include She Walks These Hills, Unquiet Grave, The Ballad of Tom Dooley, and The Devil Amongst the Lawyers.

Julia Keller was a journalist before turning her attention to fiction.  Her Bell Elkins series follows a prosecutor in the rural West Virginia town of Acker’s Gap.  In A Killing in the Hills, the first book in the series, three men are gunned down in a local dinner in broad daylight. To make matters worse, one of the witnesses was Bell’s own teenage daughter. Keller shows both the beauty and the troubles of the area, and the harm addiction brings.

Wiley Cash writes about his native North Carolina in his gothic, character-driven novels.  Like Rash, Cash doesn’t hesitate to show the darker side of human nature but love can be a powerful countermeasure.  His first novel was A Land More Kind Than Home.          

Ann Pancake grew up in West Virginia and her writing tends to be set in the Appalachian region.  Her work includes novel, short stories, and essays.  Strange as This Weather Has Been is a contemporary novel about a family dealing with the rise and fall of the mining industry and mountaintop removal. 

Amy Greene writes novels set in East Tennessee.  Long Man is set in 1936, when the TVA wants to dam the river and flood the surrounding communities. Annie Clyde Dotson’s family has lived on this land for generations, and she is determined to try to hold on to it for her daughter.

Denise Giardina writes a variety of historical fiction. Born in Bluefield, WV, she is the author of two acclaimed Appalachian novels.  Storming Heaven begins in the 1890s, when miners began to unionize; Unquiet Earth picks up in the 1930s. Giardina likes to tell her stories through her characters, presenting different viewpoints.

Brian Panowich writes gritty thrillers that have been dubbed “Country Noir” for vivid landscapes and violent crime.   In Bull Mountain, a sheriff whose family has lived on the land for generations has to contend with balancing duty and family ties. 

Other authors to consider:  Adriana Trigiani, Jesse Stuart, Barbara Kingsolver, Robert Morgan, Charles Frazier

Nora Bonesteel’s Christmas Past by Sharyn McCrumb

 

 

 Reviewed by Jeanne

Sharyn McCrumb is probably one of the best known Appalachian writers working today due to the popularity of her Ballad series.  In this novella, she follows two storylines with characters from that series.  One features Sheriff Spencer Arrowood as he and his deputy set out on Christmas Eve with a warrant to arrest a man who lives in one of the many hollows in the area. This can be a difficult task at the best of times; doing it at a holiday makes it worse.  The second story is told from the point of view of Nora Bonesteel, a strong Appalachian woman with a reputation for “having the Sight.”  Her new neighbors who have moved to the area from Florida are wondering if the house they have bought is haunted and hope Nora will be able to tell them.

McCrumb does her usual wonderful job of evoking the Northereast Tennessee setting, giving readers sympathetic insight into the people and the history of the area.  There is pathos, humor, and an exploration of the rich Appalachian culture.  While those who have read McCrumb’s earlier books will particularly enjoy these visits with characters they know and love, you don’t have to have read any of the previous books to enjoy this one.  And, of course, you don’t have to wait until Christmas to read and appreciate it, though if you are looking for something to help get you in the seasonal spirit, this would be a good choice.

While both stories are good, I think that the Arrowood story would have been been better served by being done as a standalone.  It seems overshadowed by Nora’s tale, which—to my mind—would have been better if some of the characters had been more fully developed.  At the end especially I would have liked to have had a better sense of one character but others could have stood a bit more depth.  The story seems largely a vehicle for Nora to describe and explain some Appalachian customs, which is fine though I have a quibble or two there as well.  (Mostly there seems to be the assumption that our ancestors placed the same value on handmade versus mass produced items that we do.) More than once she stops thinking about the “Good Old Days” to say she was just “woolgathering.” I also think McCrumb stacked the proverbial deck by having the neighbors’ ornaments be Florida-centric (flamingos, beach things) rather than, say, Hallmark; more chances that the audience would shudder with distaste.

These minor quibbles aside, this slim book is a soothing dip into the past, which is something most need in these tense, perilous pandemic days. Times of “used to be,” indeed.

Nevermore: Unquiet Grave, When We Were Orphans, Orient Express, Crossbones Yard, Discourtesy of Death

Reported by Ambrea

Set at the turn of the century in Greenbrier, West Virginia, The Unquiet Grave by Sharyn McCrumb is a masterful retelling of an infamous legend—and a murder than shook a small town to its core.  Shortly after the death of her daughter, Zona, Mary Jane Heaster visits the county prosecutor and claims the ghost of her daughter has appeared, saying she was murdered.  When an autopsy proves this to be true, Greenbrier is thrown into turmoil and headlines are awash with stories of the Greenbrier Ghost.  Switching between the perspectives of Mary Jane and James P.D. Gardner, the first black attorney to practice law in West Virginia, The Unquiet Grave, according to our Nevermore reader, is an incredibly fascinating novel.  Not only does McCrumb’s book draw on the history of the region, it tells a compelling story that’s sure to leave readers clamoring for more.  Our reader highly recommended it to Nevermore, saying she finished it within a few days because it was simply that good.

Next, Nevermore checked out When We Were Orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro.  Christopher Banks was born in Shanghai, but, when he is orphaned at the tender age of nine, he’s sent to live in England.  More than twenty years later, Christopher has become a renowned detective and he returns to Shanghai to solve the mystery of his parents’ suspicious disappearance.  But, as the cover points out, “within the layers of his narrative is slowly revealed what he can’t, or won’t, see:  that his memory...is not unaffected by his childhood tragedies; that his powers of perception...can be blinding as well as enlightening; and that the simplest desires—a child’s for his parents, a man’s for understanding—may give rise to the most complicated truths.”  Our reader said When We Were Orphans was very good; in fact, she named Ishiguro as her new favorite author, saying he always published incredible works.  Insightful and imaginative, this novel is a fascinating look at loss, discovery, memory and desire.  Our reader highly recommended it.

Nevermore also took a look at The Discourtesy of Death by William Brodrick, a suspenseful mystery set in Britain that dives back into the world of Father Anselm, a lawyer turned monk.  When Father Anselm receives a letter accusing Peter Henderson of murder, he knows he must uncover the truth if he hopes to expose a killer—and stop a series of dangerous events that will inevitably lead to even more spilled blood.  Our reader said The Discourtesy of Death was a fine mystery; however, she noted it was filled with philosophical musing and it had a penchant to develop slowly.  She offered it to her fellow mystery readers, but she didn’t give it a high recommendation, saying she “honestly found the [history of the] author more interesting than the book.”

Next, Nevermore shared a new book by Kate Rhodes titled Crossbones Yard.  In this series debut, readers are introduced to Alice Quentin, a London psychologist with more family baggage than she would like to admit.  When Alice stumbles across a murder (quite literally), she finds herself drawn into a murder case that will put her—and everyone one she’s ever cared about—into danger.  Our reader said she’d never checked out any of Rhodes' novels, but “I will look for more from her.”  Crossbones Yard turned out to be a great mystery story, our reader continued, and the end was “pretty amazing.”  Rhodes' novel was passed on and quickly snatched up by the next person.

Last, Nevemore rounded out our meeting with a look at a classic mystery:  Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie.  The tenth novel in the Hercule Poirot series, Murder on the Orient Express recounts Detective Poirot’s trip on the luxurious Orient Express as he returns to Belgium—and the unexpectedly grisly murder that pits Poirot against one of the most ingenious killers he’s ever faced.  Our reader picked up Christie’s novel, because she wanted to read it before she watched the new movie.  She said it’s the perfect winter story.  “You can feel the cold and the snow,” she said, noting that the novel is incredibly descriptive and wonderfully detailed.  Thus far, she has loved reading Murder on the Orient Express.  She’s currently taking notes on characters and trying to decipher clues, saying, “I’m going to figure it out eventually.”

Nevermore: Six Wakes, Lady Bird, It's All Relative, Man from the Train, Truevine, Unquiet Grave

Nevermore members read widely, and this week one reader read Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty, a science fiction murder mystery.  The Dormire is a sleeper ship, carrying thousands of colonists from a war-torn, atmosphere-wrecked, socially disintegrating Earth to a new start on the planet Artemis.  But when Maria Arena and her crewmates awaken, as clones of their original selves, finding blood floating through the air leads them to believe that their former selves have been murdered.  Our reader greatly enjoyed this book and said that he could really see someone making this novel into a movie.

Turning to American history, another reader enjoyed Lady Bird: A Biography of Mrs. Johnson by Jan Jarboe Russell.  This revealing biography of the First Lady shows how much she contributed to LBJ’s presidency in the midst of the Civil Rights movement.  Conversations with family members and political associates make this a well-rounded picture of President and Mrs. Lyndon Johnson.  Our reader said that she enjoyed the book and that Lady Bird was a lovely person.

It’s All Relative: Adventures Up and Down the World’s Family Tree by A. J. Jacobs was enjoyed by yet another reader, as the author has explored the DNA connectivity of the worldwide community.  After Jacobs received an email from an eighth cousin who had been able to connect 80,000 relatives, he began a globe spanning journey to explore the far flung branches of his family tree.  Our reader enjoyed the humor, as Jacobs told his own family stories within the scientific explanations of how we are all related.

Our next reader began to read The Man from the Train: The Solving of a Century-Old Serial Killer Mystery by Bill James and Rachel McCarthy James, but sadly could not finish it.  Although the book was praised by other critics, our reader found that it was simply murder after murder, bludgeon after bludgeon.  She stated emphatically:  “It has 461 pages of murder and not all of them were near the train tracks.”

Truevine: Two Brothers, a Kidnapping, and a Mother’s Quest: A True Story of the Jim Crow South by Beth Macy shocked another reader as it recounted the story of two albino African-American brothers who were stolen from their family in 1899 and forced to be part of a circus sideshow for almost thirty years.  George and Willie Muse were depicted as caricatures of themselves as they traveled the world with the circus, and eventually reunited with their mother.  Our reader said that it was an extremely well-researched book and that she learned a lot about Virginian society and race relations in the early 1900’s.

 Another novel was enjoyed by another reader, Abraham’s Well by Sharon Ewell Foster.  The story centers around the Trail of Tears, the removal of Native Americans from the southeastern United States and their forced march to what is now Oklahoma.  Foster’s characters are not just Native American, but Black Cherokee African Americans, whose bloodlines were also mixed with white slave owners.  The Cherokee removal is here told from the point of a young girl, Armentia, who experiences tragedy and loss as her family is forced from North Carolina to Oklahoma.

Finally, The Unquiet Grave by Sharyn McCrumb told the story of Zona Heaster, married to Trout Shue in 1896 and dead a few short months later.  Zona appears in a waking dream to her mother Mary Jane, insisting that she was murdered, and Mary Jane has no choice but to pursue justice for her daughter.  Set in recently created West Virginia, the story jumps in time from the actual happenings to a recounting by an aging lawyer more than thirty years later.  Our reader said that everything McCrumb writes is wonderful, and she only wishes the author had included maps in this novel based on historical facts.

The Unquiet Grave by Sharyn McCrumb

Reviewed by Kristin

Young and headstrong, Zona Heaster lived in Greenbrier County, West Virginia, round about 1896.  West Virginia was still a young state, fresh from the Civil War, at least in the memories of its older population.  Zona may have been young as well, but she was past twenty and ready to get married when the first opportunity presented itself.  When charmer Edward Erasmus Shue, or “Trout,” came along, Zona jumped at the chance, no matter what reservations her mama may have had.

A few months later, Mrs. Zona Shue is dead from an apparent fall down the stairs.

Mary Jane Heaster, Zona’s mother, never did trust that Trout.  When Zona had found out that he had two previous wives, it didn’t bother her none, but Mary Jane was afraid for her girl.  When Zona is brought back to her hometown for burying, Trout acts the grieving husband and insists that no one look closely at the body.  Soon after the funeral, Mary Jane has an unexpected visitor: Zona, telling her mother that her death was not natural.

Decades later, James P.D. Gardner recounts to his doctor what it was like to be an African-American attorney assisting in the defense of Edward Shue accused of murdering his young bride Zona.  Mr. Gardner is going through a tough time himself, remanded to the segregated insane asylum after a suicide attempt, and his story is intertwined with that of the Heasters and the Shues.

Sharyn McCrumb paints a rich narrative in her usual way:  the characters are strong, the settings are vivid, and she draws this novel from historical facts.  Zona’s story is well known in the West Virginia hollows and ridges as the tale of “The Greenbrier Ghost.”  Although long believed to be folklore, McCrumb followed the documents back into time, finding census records, death certificates, court records, maps and more to prove that there was a real Zona who died under suspicious circumstances.  McCrumb can always be counted upon to portray her Appalachian characters realistically with authentic voices that may as well have come straight from 1896.

McCrumb may be best known for her Appalachian Ballad novels, but here she proves once again that she has an unerring sense for a good story, and the ability to tell it in a way that draws  readers in, and keeps them wishing for more.

Nevermore: Tami Hoag, Pat Conroy, Sharyn McCrumb and more!

Nevermore opened with praise for Tami Hoag’s novel The 9th Girl, a thriller about a serial killer whose victims are adolescents.   Detectives Nikki Liska and Sam Kovac are faced with trying to identify his latest victim, a girl whose body was found on New Year’s Eve.  Hoag balances the characters’ home lives with the case, and shows a shrewd understanding of high school culture and the role social media plays in the lives of young people—not to mention that this is an extremely well done thriller.  Our reviewer praised the strong characterization and commented that while Hoag isn’t an author that’s usually at the top of the list, this book was very good indeed.  Other reviewers have said that this is one of Hoag’s best.

The next book up was The Death of Santini by Pat Conroy.  Most of Conroy’s fiction is thinly disguised autobiography, but this nonfiction book is very open about its sources: Conroy’s real family.  The book concentrates on the last few years of Conroy’s father, the model for the father of The Great Santini.  Our reviewer said that some sequences bordered on the fantastical, but felt Conroy was trying to tell the story as honestly as he could. He pulls no punches in the telling, either.  All his siblings were strongly influenced by their father, but the reactions to his domineering ways were varied.  The verdict was that this wasn’t a book that she enjoyed as much as some, but it was worth reading.

Innocence by Dean Koontz had been picked up by another reader who felt that parts of it were excellent.  He read a thought-provoking selection but then added that for him the ending fell flat, which was sad in a book that had so much promise.

Two series were recommended without a great deal of in-depth comment.  Jacqueline Winspear’s Maisie Dobbs was praised as a World War I era detective novel series, one that might surprise you with a woman as the private investigator.  The other series applauded was by Oliver Pötzsch, set in Germany in the 1600’s about a man who carries on the familial tradition of being an executioner.  In that time, executioners performed a necessary duty but were shunned by society.  The series contains four books, beginning with The Hangman’s Daughter.

Finally, King’s Mountain by Sharyn McCrumb was brought to the table once again.  With a nod to the local history of the North Carolina/Tennessee area, McCrumb writes novels that are a great blend of fiction and history.  Set during the American Revolution, this is a story of the Carolina Overmountain Men and their commander John Sevier.