This is the first North Carolina novel written by a native of the state. It is a tale of the Revolutionary Era in which the conflicts between the local Whigs and Tories are seen through the eyes of a schoolteacher, Hector M’Bride. Despite the title, most of the action takes place in Guilford County; the Battle of Guilford Courthouse figures in the novel, as does the Battle of Camden.
Check this title’s availability and access an online copy through the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.
Comments Off on Calvin Wiley. Alamance, or, The Great and Final Experiment. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1847.
Filed under 1840-1849, 1847, Guilford, Historical, Novels to Read Online, Piedmont, Wiley, Calvin
The subtitle sums up the book: “A Novel Tale Concerning Itself in Part With the Great Struggle in the Two Carolinas; but Chiefly With the Adventures Therein of Two Gentlemen Who Loved One and the Same Lady.” Set along the Catawba River, the novel gives a good sense of the changing allegiances of North Carolinians in the back country during the 1770s and early 1780s.
Check this title’s availability and access an online copy through the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.
Comments Off on Francis Lynde. The Master of Appleby. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1902.
Filed under 1900-1909, 1902, Historical, Lynde, Francis, Novels to Read Online, Piedmont
What an ending to the Sharyn Howard mystery series! Sheriff Howard confounds her colleagues and family by breaking off her long-time romantic relationship with county coroner Nick Thomopolis and taking up with sleazy state senator Jack Winter. Sharyn had previously been suspicious of Winter, seeing him as a corrupt political operative and suspecting him of involvement in her father’s death. Now she’s his arm candy! People give Sharyn an earful on this, but her moves are part of a plan hatched by the FBI to bring Winter to justice. As the plan moves forward, Sharyn and her deputies contend with snow-related emergencies, office romances, and break-ins and murders that may or may not be related to Senator Winter.
Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.
Comments Off on Joyce and Jim Lavene. The First Shall Be Last. New York: Avalon Books, 2007.
Filed under 2000-2009, 2007, Lavene, Jim and Joyce, Montgomery, Mystery, Novels in Series, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Piedmont
The two cousins who come to stay with their aunt in Maiden, North Carolina couldn’t be more different. Selene is a beautiful, but shallow, flapper. After his wife died, Selene’s wealthy father gallivanted around the world, leaving Selene in the care of governesses and other hired help. When Selene finds herself pregnant, she is sent to live with her Aunt Louisa until the baby is born. Selene’s country-mouse cousin, Hestia, is already in Maiden, caring for Aunt Louisa after the older woman breaks her hip. The two cousin clash–about styles, leisure time pursuits, values, and the handsome Booth Barrington. Selene sees Booth as the solution to her awkward situation. Given how wickedly he tormented her when they were children, Hestia is surprised to see what a fine man Booth has become. She’s now drawn to him because of his good looks and Christian values, but she feels she is no match for Selene. As the fall turns into winter, the main characters learn from Aunt Louisa, her friends, and other good people in the little town. When spring arrives both Selene and Hestia have made peace with the past and found love.
Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.
Comments Off on Tamela Hancock Murray. Love Finds You in Maiden, North Carolina. Bloomington, MN: Summerside Press, 2009.
Filed under 2000-2009, 2009, Catawba, Murray, Tamela Hancock, Piedmont, Religious/Inspirational, Romance/Relationship
Ruth and Priscilla (Pril) were friends and neighbors for a decade. The women came and went in each other’s houses without knocking, they traveled together, their children played together, and they traded babysitters, advice, and confidences. Pril knew that Ruth was worldly, a bit unconventional. Despite their differences, the two women shared an uncommon emotional intimacy. Or so Pril thought. When Ruth inexplicably leaves her husband and her home in Greensboro, Pril is stunned. She had no sense of Ruth’s unhappiness and no warning of what Ruth was about to do. Pril’s private sorrow turns to alarm when Ruth’s husband subpoenas Pril to testify in the custody hearing for the children he and Ruth share. As Pril prepares for her role in the case, she reviews her friendship with Ruth. This is Susan Kelly’s first novel; posts for her later novels are also on this blog.
Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.
Comments Off on Susan S. Kelly. How Close We Come. Wilmington, NC: Banks Channel Books, 1997.
Filed under 1990-1999, 1997, Guilford, Kelly, Susan S., Piedmont
In some workplaces, colleagues come to feel like family. That’s how Sheriff Sharyn Howard feels about some of the men and women in her department. When her assistant, Trudy Robinson, is linked to two murders and Trudy’s husband, a deputy sheriff, confesses to the killings to protect his wife, Sheriff Howard goes into overdrive. She’s sure that the killings have to do with skulduggery at the speedway, but she’s hampered by the community’s anger over the death of a popular driver and the FBI’s unexplained interest in the case. This is the eleventh Sharyn Howard mystery.
Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.
Comments Off on Joyce and Jim Lavene. Before the Last Lap. New York: Avalon Books, 2005.
Filed under 2000-2009, 2005, Lavene, Jim and Joyce, Montgomery, Mystery, Novels in Series, Piedmont
It’s the early 1960s when Carolina Campbell’s parents and brother die, leaving the ten year old mountain girl with no living relatives. “Auntie Shen,” the woman who raised her dad, takes Carolina in, but she has no legal standing, so Carolina is sent to a series of foster homes. When this novel opens, Carolina, who has run away, comes upon Harmony Farm, where Mr. Ray and Miss Latah take her in. Carolina quickly learns to be helpful, and she shares her story with the Harmonys. Carolina begins to think this could be her new home. Unfortunately, Russell, a boy from one of the foster homes, arrives and soon Carolina is on the run again. When Carolina is on the lamb with Russell it appears that all is lost, but she makes a good decision, and with some help, returns to the mountains and people who love her.
Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.
Comments Off on Marilyn Taylor McDowell. Carolina Harmony. New York: Delacorte Press, 2009.
Filed under 2000-2009, 2009, Children & Young Adults, McDowell, Marilyn Taylor, Mountains
On a resort island off the coast of Wilmington, four friends gather to renew the ties they had as college students twenty years earlier. Mel, Sara, Annie, and Lola plan to sunbathe, laugh, and party, but their conversations develop a darker tone. Each woman has made her share of mistakes, and each lives with some sorrow. Annie and Mel unload secrets that have burden them since college, but it is Lola who finds a more dramatic way to turn her life around.
Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.
Comments Off on Cathy Holton. Beach Trip. New York: Ballantine Books, 2009.
Filed under 2000-2009, 2009, Brunswick, Coast, Holton, Cathy, New Hanover
Like a number of other fictional heroines, Deena Livingston retreats to the North Carolina mountains after her heart is broken in the big city. Deena plans to keep to herself as she sorts out her life, but her late grandfather has made other plans for her. Deena can have Grandpa Ernest’s cabin and a small inheritance if she works six months in the after-school and summer programs that grandpa funded at the local Presbyterian church. Teaching cooking to preteens takes Deena into new emotional territory. Learning about the troubled histories of these children and seeing their potential prompts Deena to put her own problems into perspective. Her growth is helped along by two brothers, Jonas and Zack, one of whom provides the romantic interest.
Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.
Comments Off on Alice J. Wisler. How Sweet It Is. Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House, 2009.
Filed under 2000-2009, 2009, Mountains, Religious/Inspirational, Romance/Relationship, Swain, Wisler, Alice J.
Like the other men in his generation of the Beckett clan, Carson Beckett has been avoiding the altar. His job as a police detective in Charleston, South Carolina has kept him busy–and banged up. As he recovers from a particularly bad scrape, he begins to think that it’s time to marry his long-time girlfriend Margaret. But before he commits to wedding preparations, Carson decides he should make good on a promise to his late grandfather to clear up a debt owed by the Becketts to a family named Chandler. (A century earlier a Chandler had give a Beckett money to invest. The investment was a good one, but no one could find Chandler to give him his profits.) Carson needs to find the last Chandler heir, Kit Dixon. Kit is a children’s book author and illustrator who makes a living as a waitress on the Outer Banks. Unfortunately for both Kit and Carson, Kit came close to witnessing a murder. When Carson comes around asking questions about Kit, she assumes that he is the murderer. Kit runs down Carson with her distinctive VW Beetle, then when it’s clear he’s not a killer, she takes him in while he heals. You know where it goes from there.
Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.
Comments Off on Dixie Browning. Beckett’s Convenient Bride. New York: Silhouette Books, 2003.
Filed under 2000-2009, 2003, Browning, Dixie, Coast, Novels in Series, Romance/Relationship
