Tag Archives: Farming

by | April 14, 2008 · 3:57 pm

Julia Nunnally Duncan. Drops of the Night. Boone, N.C.: Parkway Publishers, 2006.

Drops of the Night, a North Carolina novel set in 1988, is the story of Nora Lynch, a childless farmer’s wife who faces her husband’s jealous rages and intentions to sell the family farm – a plan that threatens the only lifestyle Nora has known. She also confronts a growing attachment to a stranger who enters her life through her husband’s gambling. Drops of the Night is 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 Library Catalog.

Comments Off on Julia Nunnally Duncan. Drops of the Night. Boone, N.C.: Parkway Publishers, 2006.

Filed under 2000-2009, 2006, Duncan, Julia Nunnally, McDowell, Mountains, Novels Set in Fictional Places

Tagged as ,

by | · 11:33 am

Vicki Lane. The Elizabeth Goodweather Appalachian Mysteries.

Elizabeth Goodweather runs a small herb and flower farm in the fictional mountain town of Ridley Branch, N.C. At the opening of the first book in the series, she has recently been widowed and, with both of her children moved away, she feels a little lonely and bored. The boredom quickly vanishes when she’s dragged into a local mystery. In each of the following novels Elizabeth investigates missing persons, stolen items, and murders, all of which relate to the clash of old and new in the North Carolina mountains. Much like her heroine, author Vicki Lane lives on a farm in the North Carolina mountains.

Comments Off on Vicki Lane. The Elizabeth Goodweather Appalachian Mysteries.

Filed under Lane, Vicki, Mountains, Mystery, Novels in Series, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Series

Tagged as ,

by | March 13, 2008 · 9:58 am

Judy Reene Singer. Horseplay. New York: Broadway Books, 2004.

Fed up with her life, Judy van Brunt quits her teaching job, leaves her philandering husband, and finds work at a North Carolina horse farm. Her instincts were correct: she finds happiness much easier to come by in the simple world of the horses. Singer writes with knowledge and humor about the equestrian world as she portrays Judy’s efforts at riding and managing thoroughbreds. Judy has some success with the horses, but their complicated and colorful owners prove more difficult to handle.

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

Comments Off on Judy Reene Singer. Horseplay. New York: Broadway Books, 2004.

Filed under 2000-2009, 2004, Singer, Jody Renee

Tagged as ,

by | · 9:58 am

Louise Shivers. Here to Get My Baby Out of Jail. Winston-Salem: John F. Blair, 2003.

Roxy Walston is a young wife and mother on a Tarborough, N.C. tobacco farm in 1937. Farmlife is simple and tough, and Roxy feels restless, especially when Jack Ruffin is hired to help with the harvest. Roxy feels an instant attraction to Jack and is soon faced with choices that could change her forever. When Here to Get My Baby Out of Jail was first published in 1983, it was praised for its tender evocation of life on a tobacco farm and was named the best first novel of the year by “USA Today.” It was also made into the North Carolina-filmed movie Summer Heat in 1987.

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

Comments Off on Louise Shivers. Here to Get My Baby Out of Jail. Winston-Salem: John F. Blair, 2003.

Filed under 2000-2009, 2003, Edgecombe, Historical, Shivers, Louise

Tagged as , , ,

by | · 9:58 am

Charles Price. The Cock’s Spur. Winston-Salem: John F. Blair, 2002.

In the mountains of western North Carolina in the 1880s, moonshining and cockfighting are a regular part of the rough-and-tumble life. Webb Darling, the self-proclaimed king of the moonshiners, rules the region from his hilltop cabin. In contrast to the cruel and conniving Darling is a former slave named Hamby McFee who dreams of making enough money to escape from his life in the mountains, where he still farms the same land he worked as a slave. Unfortunately, the only chance Hamby has at making enough money to leave may be to win it from Darling.

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

Comments Off on Charles Price. The Cock’s Spur. Winston-Salem: John F. Blair, 2002.

Filed under 2000-2009, 2002, Coast, Historical, Mountains, Piedmont, Price, Charles

Tagged as , , , ,

by | · 9:58 am

Michael Phillips. The Shenandoah Sisters.

Two young women from very different backgrounds must rely on each other in order to survive in the turbulent times following the Civil War in fictional Shenandoah County, N.C. Mayme Jukes is a former slave whose family members were killed by Confederate soldiers. Katie Clairborne is the last person left on the once majestic Rosewood plantation. In these novels, the girls usually face danger and emerge with a deeper understanding of race, friendship, and their Christian faith.

Comments Off on Michael Phillips. The Shenandoah Sisters.

Filed under Novels in Series, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Phillips, Michael, Religious/Inspirational, Series

Tagged as , , ,

by | · 9:58 am

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.

Comments Off on Robert Morgan. Gap Creek. Chapel Hill: Algonquin, 2000.

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

Tagged as ,

by | · 9:58 am

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.

Comments Off on Eric Martin. Luck. New York: Norton, 2000.

Filed under 2000, 2000-2009, Martin, Eric

Tagged as , , ,

by | · 9:58 am

Vicki Lane. Signs in the Blood. New York: Dell, 2005.

Elizabeth Goodweather runs a small herb and flower farm in the fictional mountain town of Ridley Branch, N.C. Recently widowed, and with both of her children moved away, Elizabeth is feeling a little lonely and bored, but that quickly changes when she’s dragged into a local mystery. When a neighbor’s son is found dead, the police determine it was an accident, but the boy’s mother isn’t convinced. As Elizabeth pursues the case, she digs up evidence of a long ago crime that is suspiciously similar to the current mysterious death.

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

Comments Off on Vicki Lane. Signs in the Blood. New York: Dell, 2005.

Filed under 2000-2009, 2005, Buncombe, Lane, Vicki, Mountains, Mystery, Novels in Series, Novels Set in Fictional Places

Tagged as ,

by | · 9:58 am

Kaye Gibbons. A Virtuous Woman. Chapel Hill: Algonquin, 1989.

Ruby Pitt Woodrow and Blinking Jack Stokes tell, in alternating chapters, the stories of their lives. Ruby’s chapters are told from her perspective as she is dying of cancer at age 45, while Jack’s reminiscences are set during the period just after Ruby’s death. These stories are set largely on tobacco farms in eastern North Carolina and describe a fondly remembered marriage, which stands in contrast to the characters’ otherwise difficult lives.

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

Comments Off on Kaye Gibbons. A Virtuous Woman. Chapel Hill: Algonquin, 1989.

Filed under 1980-1989, 1989, Coastal Plain, Gibbons, Kaye

Tagged as , ,