Monthly Archives: August 2009

by | August 31, 2009 · 5:18 pm

Inglis Fletcher. Lusty Wind for Carolina. Indianapolis, IN: Bobbs-Merrill, 1944

The fledgling settlement at the mouth of the Cape Fear is menaced by pirates in this novel set in the early 1700s.  Blackbeard, working out of his base on Ocracoke Island, hinders the overseas trade that Huguenot refugee Robert Fontaine hopes will bring prosperity to Carolina coast.  Fontaine’s daughter’s courtship and marriage to the enterprising David Moray add a romantic element to the novel.  The action moves back and forth between Europe and points in the New World.

This is the third novel in the author’s Carolina Series.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

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Filed under 1940-1949, 1944, Brunswick, Coast, Fletcher, Inglis, Historical, Novels in Series

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by | · 5:10 pm

Lois Gladys Leppard. The Mandie Collection, Volume 1. Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House, 2007.

This volume contains the first five books in the Mandie series of children’s books set in the early 20th century. The main character, Amanda “Mandie” Shaw, lives in the Nantahala Mountains with her family, where she goes adventuring and solves mysteries. In the first few books, Mandie is helped by her best friend Joe Woodward.  She meets another helpful pal, Celia Hamilton, after she is sent to boarding school in Asheville. Mandie’s cat, Snowball, also makes frequent appearances in the books.  Recurring themes in the books are Mandie’s attempts to behave properly, her Christian faith, and her partial-Cherokee background.  Titles included in this volume include: Mandie and the Secret Tunnel, Mandie and the Cherokee Legend, Mandie and the Ghost Bandits, Mandie and the Forbidden Attic, and Mandie and the Trunk’s Secret.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2007, Buncombe, Children & Young Adults, Leppard, Lois Gladys, Macon, Mountains, Mystery, Novels in Series, Religious/Inspirational, Swain

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by | · 12:09 pm

Elinor Macartney Lane. Katrine. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1909.

When the rich, young, self-indulgent Francis (Frank) Ravenel returns to his family plantation north of Charlotte, he expects to be master of all he sees.  He is is not prepared for the changes that occurred during his absence–the charming Irish lawyer and financier Dermott McDermott on the next plantation, the Irish overseer McDermott has recommended to Ravenel’s mother, or the overseer’s beautiful daughter, Katrine. Katrine is sweet, wise, with a subtle sense of humor, and an independent streak.  Frank’s self-confidence is shaken when he finds himself falling in love with Katrine.  The ups-and-downs of their relationship are the meat of the novel.

Elinor Lane was a prominent novelist at the beginning of the twentieth century.  This novel, published a few months after her death, was the #2 bestseller of 1909.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

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Filed under 1900-1909, 1909, Lane, Elinor Macartney, Mecklenburg, Novels to Read Online, Piedmont, Romance/Relationship

by | · 12:04 pm

Julia Nunnally Duncan. When Day Is Done. Greensboro, NC: March Street Press, 2009.

Esther, a teacher at the local college, lives at home with her elderly parents in the town she grew up in.  Her drive to work takes her past the cemetery where her brother is buried.  That drive is both comforting and troubling to her, for Esther spends much of her time thinking about the past: the men in her life (brother, first love, ex-husband), the parental advice she ignored, and how her town has and hasn’t changed.  Esther’s life has stalled out, until one day when she notices an attractive man tending the cemetery lawn. Tentatively, Esther begins to make changes in her life, making room in her heart for someone new.

This is the second novel by Ms. Duncan set in fictional Milton, based on Marion in McDowell County (not to be confused with the real Milton, N.C., which is in Caswell County).

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2009, Duncan, Julia Nunnally, McDowell, Mountains, Novels Set in Fictional Places

by | August 29, 2009 · 4:45 pm

Maggie Bishop. Appalachian Paradise. Boone, NC: High Country Publishers, 2002.

Suzanne decides to take a break from her workaholic tendencies as a computer programmer for a large Baltimore company and go hiking alone in the Pisgah National Forest.  She’s fiercely independent, driven, and always has a plan.  In fact, her 5-day solo hike is practically planned down to the minute, but all that goes out the window when her concerned uncle sends along an uninvited mountain man named Wes to keep an eye on Suzanne.  Despite Suzanne’s reluctance to let go of her itinerary and the initial tension of hiking with a handsome stranger, Wes manages to teach Suzanne how to slow down and see the forest through the trees.  As their romance grows, Suzanne becomes more aware of past disappointments, especially her relationship with her father who she hasn’t spoken to in over ten years.  When he shows up at one of Wes’ family gatherings, she is forced reconsider her emotional distance and embrace the present.

This is the first novel in Bishop’s Appalachian Adventure Series.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2002, Bishop, Maggie, Mountains, Novels in Series, Romance/Relationship, Watauga

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by | August 28, 2009 · 5:06 pm

Marian Sims. Storm before Daybreak. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott and Co., 1946.

Paul Shannon, a Marine veteran, returns home to Hartsboro (a fictionalized Charlotte) at the end of World War II.  Paul had always liked to party and run around, but the war has changed him.  Things at home have changed too.  Unbeknown to Paul, his mother has died and his brother Jim has abandoned his young wife and child in the family home.   Paul moves into the house with his sister-in-law and they soon fall in love.  Jim’s return creates a crisis.  The novel has psychological depth; it’s also a window on social mores of the mid-twentieth century.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

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Filed under 1940-1949, 1946, Mecklenburg, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Piedmont, Romance/Relationship, Sims, Marian

by | · 4:37 pm

Maggie Bishop. The Appalachian Adventure Series.

Maggie Bishop’s action-packed novels are all set in the North Carolina mountains and feature an unforgettable cast of characters.  In her contemporary novels, you’ll find mystery, nature, camping, hiking, skiing, and always a little romance.  The novels are centered around four cousins – Wes, Lucky, Tucker, and Grady.  Bishop’s first two novels feature Wes and Lucky and take place in and around Boone and Appalachian State University while her later two novels take place in Banner Elk and Lees-McRae College.

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2010-2019, Bishop, Maggie, Mountains, Mystery, Novels in Series, Romance/Relationship, Series, Watauga

by | August 27, 2009 · 2:25 pm

Kerry Madden. Jessie’s Mountain. New York: Viking, 2008.

This is the third and final installment of the Maggie Valley trilogy, and many of the Weems family members are facing difficult decisions. Livy Two is still hoping to break into the Nashville music scene. She’s encouraged to reach for her dreams when Grandma Horace gives her Mama’s childhood diary, filled with dreams she never had a chance to follow. The sisters are inspired by the entries in their mother’s diary, and sections of the diary are included throughout the book. While Mama currently struggles with the family’s financial problems and debates moving the family away from their valley home, Livy Two and her younger sister Jitters set out for Nashville and the biggest adventure of their lives. After returning to Maggie Valley the girls, still filled with entrepreneurial spirit, find a way to honor their hardworking Mama and solve the family’s financial problems.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2008, Children & Young Adults, Haywood, Madden, Kerry, Mountains, Novels in Series

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by | · 2:14 pm

Sara Beaumont Kennedy. Joscelyn Cheshire. New York: Doubleday, Page & Co., 1902.

In Hillsboro’town a private battle wages between the spirited Royalist Joscelyn Cheshire and the equally strong-willed Patriot Richard Clevering.  Richard leaves to join the Continental Line, and he is captured by the British and consigned to a prison ship.  He escapes and makes his way back to the Piedmont where Joscelyn, her loyalty divided, hides him.  As the tide of war turns in the Patriots’ favor, Joscelyn is reviled by her neighbors.  Richard, knowing her bravery, defends her.  In her gratitude, Joscelyn comes to see that Richard is the man for her.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

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Filed under 1900-1909, 1902, Historical, Kennedy, Sara Beaumont, Novels to Read Online, Orange, Piedmont, Romance/Relationship

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by | August 26, 2009 · 2:28 pm

Inglis Fletcher. The Wind in the Forest. Indianapolis, IN: Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1957.

Both Royal Governor William Tryon and the Regulator insurrection are well known to students of North Carolina history.  In this novel, Inglis Fletcher retells these familiar stories through the actions of Hillary Caswell.  Caswell is a Marylander by birth, new to North Carolina, but wealthy and well connected (his cousin Richard is the speaker of the North Carolina Assembly).  As the novel opens, Caswell is making plans to go to New Bern where he will join Governor Tryon’s administration.  Although the complaints of his kinsmen and the allure of Cecelia Chapman should have kept him in Tyrrell County, Caswell goes on to New Bern and from there into the fray of late colonial unrest and the fateful Battle of Alamance.  As with most of Fletcher’s novels, historical figures like Tryon, Harmon Husband, and Edmund Fanning are integral to the story.

This is the ninth novel in Fletcher’s Carolina Series.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

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Filed under 1950-1959, 1957, Coast, Fletcher, Inglis, Historical, Novels in Series, Piedmont