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Unhappy families can be entertaining
Paul O’Connor says he bought this book to show support for a friend, but he read it because the story and the writing drew him in. Reviewed by Paul T. O’Connor. THE RESETTLEMENT OF VESTA BLONIK. By Denise Smith Cline. Regal House Publishing. 251 pages. $19.95, softcover. Leo Tolstoy taught us that all families are…
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Being human in a tempestuous world
Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson THE MARRIAGE BED. By Tommy Hays. Blair/Carolina Wren Press. 300 pages. $27.95. On what starts out seeming like a typical Tuesday evening, Asa Flowers drives home from his job teaching poetry at a small college in Asheville, N.C. The car radio tells him storm clouds will be heading that way…
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A mother’s love, a mother’s war
This fine first novel by a North Carolina author has its official debut this week. Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson MEASURE OF DEVOTION. By Nell Joslin. Regal House Publishing. 254 pages. $20.95, hardcover. Susannah Shelburne has more than her share of worries when we meet her in late October of 1863. The deprivations of the…
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The dancing woman speaks to us all
Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson DANCING WOMAN. By Elaine Neill Orr. Blair/Carolina Wren Press. 291 pages. $28.95, hardcover. Elaine Neill Orr is a gifted writer whose works are inspired and enriched by her creative temperament and her unusual perspective on the world. In her third novel, Dancing Woman, she is perhaps at the height of…
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A runaway wife, intrigue and secrets in a Depression-era tale
Paul O’Connor reviews the latest novel – the fifth – by North Carolina author Charles Frazier. He finds a lot to like. Reviewed by Paul T. O’Connor THE TRACKERS. By Charles Frazier. Harper Collins. 320 pages. $19.99, softcover. In 1937, a young artist has landed his dream job. Val Welch, with the help of a…
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New stories illuminate Old Crimes
Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer OLD CRIMES. By Jill McCorkle. Algonquin Press. 241 pages, $27. Any reader of literary fiction will relish the stories in Jill McCorkle’s latest collection. Once again, this North Carolina writer demonstrates the same sense of detail, depth of perception, and artful composition that have marked her ouevre over the years.…
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Things done for love
Bob Moyer reviews the latest book from one of North Carolina’s finest novelists, Ron Rash. Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer THE CARETAKER. By Ron Rash. Doubleday. 252 pages. $28. Ron Rash populates his North Carolina mountains with some of the meanest people you never want to meet. Serena, the woman featured in his best-selling novel,…
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When the well runs dry…
Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson WESTERN ALLIANCES. By Wilton Barnhardt. St. Martin’s Press. 400 pages. $29, hardcover. Wilton Barnhardt must have had a blast writing this latest novel. What fun, imagining (and researching?!) the travels of Roberto Costa, a spoiled, rich (inherited), overgrown kid-adult who’s never held a job and much prefers Europe to his…
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Like fine wine, a good novel grows better with age
Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson. RUIN CREEK. By David Payne. Cedar Lane Books, an imprint of Ingram. 367 pages. $18, paperback. If you’re looking for a beautifully written, moving, wise novel to read while you’re lounging on the beach under a shady tent or umbrella, you couldn’t do better than Ruin Creek, the second of…
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Young love in this world and beyond
Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson MY LIFE ON EARTH AND ELSEWHERE. By Peggy Payne. Hydra Publications. 332 pages. $18.99, paperback. Peggy Payne’s new novel is both a bold departure from her past books and another way of exploring the themes that have run through her fiction from the start. Payne, who lives near Chapel Hill,…