Category Archives: 2000

2000

Kathy Reichs. Deadly Decisions. New York: Scribner, 2000.

Forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan is caught in the middle of an outlaw biker gang-war in Deadly Decisions, the fourth book in Reich’s series of mysteries. While investigating the deaths of both bikers and innocents caught in their crossfire, Tempe finds a connection to a North Carolina teenager’s death in 1984. In the midst of her investigation she also has to deal with three very different men: a sleazy TV reporter who keeps hanging around, her cop boyfriend who has been arrested for dealing in drugs and stolen property, and her 19-year-old nephew who is fascinated by all things motorcycle-related.

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

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Filed under 2000, 2000-2009, Mystery, Novels in Series, Piedmont, Reichs, Kathy, Suspense/Thriller, Wake

Joan Medlicott. The Ladies of Covington Send Their Love. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2000.

Amelia, Hannah, and Grace have a lot in common: they are all in their 60s, disconnected from their remaining family members, and living unhappily in a gloomy Pennsylvania boardinghouse. When Amelia inherits a North Carolina farmhouse and its surrounding land, the three women pile into Hannah’s station wagon and drive to the fictional mountain town of Covington. This short visit to see the property is just the start of their adventure. After renovating the house and moving to N.C., the women begin to discover new interests and start to reconnect with their families. A Publisher’s Weekly reviewer has compared Medlicott’s Covington (which is located near Mars Hill and Asheville) with Jan Karon’s town of Mitford.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC Library Catalog.

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Filed under 2000, 2000-2009, Medlicott, Joan, Mountains, Novels in Series, Novels Set in Fictional Places

J.R. Salamanca. That Summer’s Trance. New York: Welcome Rain, 2000.

When Priscilla Oakshaw invites her husband’s old friend, Jill Davenport, to join her and her husband Ben for their summer vacation on the Outer Banks, she has no idea that Jill and Ben were once much more than just friends. Jill and her companion visit the Oakshaws for several weeks of self-reflection, erudite conversation, and betrayal.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC Library Catalog.

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Filed under 2000, 2000-2009, Coast, Salamanca, J. R.

Thomas Wolfe. O Lost. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2000.

O Lost is the original, unedited version of Look Homeward, Angel, Thomas Wolfe’s classic novel about a sensitive young man growing up in pre-Depression Altamont, a fictional version of the author’s hometown of Asheville. Wolfe’s manuscript was cut and reshaped by the author with the help of legendary editor Maxwell Perkins. Now readers can see the raw material for themselves, including a long introductory section on protagonist Eugene Gant’s ancestors in the Civil War.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC Library Catalog.

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Filed under 2000, 2000-2009, Buncombe, Mountains, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Wolfe, Thomas

David Payne. Gravesend Light. New York: Doubleday, 2000.

Joe Madden is a professor at Duke who has come to the Outer Banks to study the inhabitants of a small fishing village. Joe moves into his family’s home on the fictional island of Little Roanoke, and soon after begins an affair with Day Shaughnessy, a doctor at the local hospital. The narrative alternates between Joe’s voice and Day’s, describing the evolution of their relationship, and Joe’s research. The citizens of Little Roanoke play a prominent role in the novel as Joe tries to understand the unique way of life on the Outer Banks.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC Library Catalog.

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Filed under 2000, 2000-2009, Coast, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Payne, David, Romance/Relationship

Barbara Neely. Blanche Passes Go. New York: Viking, 2000.

Blanche White is on her way back to her hometown, the fictional Farleigh, N.C., located near Durham. Blanche is going to spend the summer working for a friend’s catering company, and is sure to be busy with the months-long celebration of Farleigh’s bicentennial. But coming home is not easy. Blanche is confronted by painful memories from her past, and, finding that her detective skills have preceded her, she’s hired to investigate a prominent local family. Viewing her hometown as an African American with a strong feminist perspective, Blanche provides a refreshingly different look at the New South.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC Library Catalog.

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Filed under 2000, 2000-2009, Neely, Barbara, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Piedmont

Robert Morgan. Gap Creek. Chapel Hill: Algonquin, 2000.

Gap Creek follows a newlywed couple in Appalachian North and South Carolina in the early 1900s. Julie Harmon Richards, an independent hard-working woman, narrates the story of the difficulties she and her husband face just trying to get by. Battling fierce weather, personal tragedies, and thieves, this novel details the difficulties of mountain life. Morgan gives careful attention to the details of farm work, with a particularly memorable description of the butchering of a hog. Gap Creek was a selection of the Oprah Book Club in January 2000.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC Library Catalog.

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Filed under 2000, 2000-2009, Avery, Historical, Morgan, Robert, Mountains

Eric Martin. Luck. New York: Norton, 2000.

Mike Olive and several classmates from Duke spend the summer in fictional Cottesville, N.C. alongside Mexican migrant workers on a tobacco farm. The students are working on a project to document the living and working conditions of the workers, and find that conditions are even worse than they imagined. As they began to protest the abuses they see, the locals are none too happy, especially Harvey Dickerson, Mike’s childhood friend. To make things even more complicated, Mike has fallen for the daughter of one of the Mexican workers. As the end of the summer approaches, Mike finds that there are now several people out to get him.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC Library Catalog.

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Filed under 2000, 2000-2009, Martin, Eric

Fred Leebron. Six Figures. New York: Knopf, 2000.

Warner Lutz and his young family have just moved to booming, affluent Charlotte, N.C., but they have yet to benefit from the largesse around them. Walter’s job is unsatisfying and he often takes out his frustrations on his family. When his wife is attacked by an unidentified assailant, Walter becomes a suspect in the crime. Six Figures is a compelling portrait of twenty-first century isolation and evidence that even in a bustling New South city, not everyone is thriving.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC Library Catalog.

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Filed under 2000, 2000-2009, Leebron, Fred, Mecklenburg

Josephine Humphreys. Nowhere Else on Earth. New York: Viking, 2000.

Set in Robeson County in the final days of the Civil War, sixteen-year-old Rhoda Lawson tells the story of the last desperate struggle to resist the Union Army. General William Tecumseh Sherman’s army was on its way, and the local Home Guard was rounding up everyone they could for the fight. The local Lumbee Indians, however, wanted no part in a war whose aims they had opposed. When Henry Berry Lowrie comes to help Rhoda’s brothers hide from the Home Guard, she falls in love with him, and leaves to live with the outlaws. Lowrie is an actual historical figure, and the events of this novel are based in part on his life.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC Library Catalog.

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Filed under 2000, 2000-2009, Coastal Plain, Historical, Humphreys, Josephine, Robeson