She isn't looking for new friends when Mary Dobbs Dillard arrives from Chicago. Besides, "Dobbs," the passionate and fiercely individualistic daughter of an itinerant minister, is her opposite in every way.But just as the Great Depression collides disastrously with Perri's well-ordered life, friendship blossoms--a friendship that will be tested by jealousy, betrayal, and family secrets....With her endearing characters and poignant storytelling, Atlanta native Elizabeth Musser vividly re-creates the charm of her beloved city amid the poverty and plenty that shaped the 1930s.

    And every year, Samuel Lake, a vibrant and committed young preacher, brings his beloved wife, Willadee Moses, and their three children back for the festivities. The children embrace the reunion as a welcome escape from the prying eyes of their father’s congregation; for Willadee it’s a precious opportunity to spend time with her mother and father, Calla and John. But just as the reunion is getting under way, tragedy strikes, jolting the family to their core: John’s untimely death and, soon after, the loss of Samuel’s parish, which set the stage for a summer of crisis and profound change.In the midst of it all, Samuel and Willadee’s outspoken eleven-year-old daughter, Swan, is a bright light. Her high spirits and fearlessness have alternately seduced and bedeviled three generations of the family. But it is Blade Ballenger, a traumatized eight-year-old neighbor, who soon captures Swan’s undivided attention. Full of righteous anger, and innocent of the peril facing her and those she loves, Swan makes it her mission to keep the boy safe from his terrifying father.With characters who spring to life as vividly as if they were members of one’s own family, and with the clear-eyed wisdom that illuminates the most tragic—and triumphant—aspects of human nature, Jenny Wingfield emerges as one of the most vital, engaging storytellers writing today. In The Homecoming of Samuel Lake she has created a memorable and lasting work of fiction.

    From the #1 New York Times bestselling author Jan Karon, this is the new ecollection of the first five novels in the beloved Mitford Years series. Readers have come to feel at home in Mitford, the little town with the big heart. As this charming mountain village works its magic, you'll laugh, you'll cry, and you'll quickly make friends who feel like family-for the residents of Mitford are the most ordinary people who live the most extraordinary lives. A visit to Mitford is good for the soul, and now you can visit it again and again.

    Storms are common in the Atlantic between June and November. Most weather disturbances falter and die, no sooner born than ended.Wind blowing from the east six miles high may collide with wind blowing from the opposite direction, creating a shear that will decapitate a storm and rip it apart before an eye can solidify. Warm waters fuel a hurricane, but cold ocean currents can destroy the system before it gains strength.For the moment, this particular disturbance has no name. Meteorologists say she is a tropical depression that should be watched, but five days east of Florida, with gale force winds, she is worthy of no more than a warning to seafaring ships. When winds reach hurricane force, they will dignify her with a name: Katrina. Nine-year-old Thelonious Monk DeCay lives in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward with his grandmother. His mother dead and his father missing, Monk is determined to find his father.With their harmonicas and bottle-cap taps, Monk and his best friend entertain the tourists in Jackson Square under the watchful eyes of eccentric historian Quinton Toussaint, who knows where to find Monk’s father.Hurricane Katrina changes everything. Left homeless and alone after the storm, Monk befriends a deranged man and survives by sneaking across the rooftops and courtyards of the French Quarter, stealing food and supplies while hiding from both a murderer and the police.In the midst of the storm and its aftermath, a woman Monk has never met appears in New Orleans with answers to his questions about his long-lost father.

    Filled with beautiful photography, including dozens of how-to photos showing how to mix, stir, fold, roll, and knead, Southern Biscuits is the definitive biscuit baking book.Nathalie Dupree has written or coauthored many cookbooks, including the James Beard award winner Nathalie Dupree's Southern Memories and Shrimp and Grits.She has appeared on more than 300 television shows and specials, which have shown nationally on PBS, The Learning Channel, and The Food Network. Dupree holds an Advanced Certificate from the Cordon Bleu and has also written extensively for magazines and newspapers. She lives in Charleston, South Carolina.Cynthia Stevens Graubart is an author and former television producer who began her culinary television production career with New Southern Cooking with Nathalie Dupree in 1985. She is the author of The One-Armed Cook, called the culinary version of What to Expect When You're Expecting. Cynthia and her husband, Cliff, live in Atlanta, Georgia.Homemade Refrigerator Biscuit Mix Makes 10 cupsIf making several batches of biscuits a month, or one biscuit at a time, make a flour-and-fat base mixture to add the milk to at a later time. It will keep several months in a tightly covered container in the refrigerator. Combine one part milk or buttermilk with two parts mix for any quantity of biscuits from 4 to 40! Once again, more salt and baking powder are added. This dough can also be used in making coffee cakes, pancakes, waffles, and the like.Ingredients: 10 cups self-rising flour3 teaspoons salt5 teaspoons cream of tartar4 teaspoons baking powder2 cups chilled shortening, lard, or butter,roughly cut into 1/2-inch piecesDirections: Fork-sift or whisk the flour, salt, cream of tartar, and baking powder in a very large bowl. Scatter the shortening over the flour and work in by rubbing fingers with the shortening and flour as if snapping thumb and fingers together (or use two forks or knives, or a pastry cutter) until the mixture looks like well-crumbled feta cheese, with no piece larger than a pea.Shake the bowl occasionally to allow the larger pieces of fat to bounce to the top of the flour, revealing the largest lumps that still need rubbing.Store the mix in the refrigerator in an airtight container until ready to use.

    At that tender age, her little sister disappeared-never to be found. It was a loss that slowly eroded the family bonds she once relied on. As an adult with a prestigious job in the arts, Julie meets a struggling artist who reminds her so much of her sister, she can't help feeling protective. It is a friendship that begins a long and painful process of healing for Julie, leading her to a house on the Gulf Coast, ravaged by hurricane Katrina, and to stories of family that take her deep into the past.

     Roxanne Reeves defines her life by the committees she heads and the social status she cultivates. But she is keeping secrets that make her an outsider in her own town, always in search of acceptance. And when she is given a job none of the other white women want-researching the town's African-American history for a tour of local sites-she feels she can't say no. Elderly Grace Clark, a retired black schoolteacher, reluctantly agrees to become Roxanne's guide. Grace takes Roxanne to Catfish Alley, whose undistinguished structures are nonetheless sacred places to the black community because of what happened there. As Roxanne listens to Grace's stories, and meets her friends, she begins to see differently. She is transported back to the past, especially to 1931, when a racist's hatred for Grace's brother leads to events that continue to change lives decades later. And as Roxanne gains an appreciation of the dreams, courage, and endurance of those she had so easily dismissed, her own life opens up in new and unexpected ways.

    Unchallenged, until now.Like everyone else in Cane Creek, Mississippi, Chantry Callahan grew up in the shadow of town boss Bert Quinton. Quinton held the lives of local people in his harsh grasp, never letting go. He knew where all their secrets were buried, along with the bodies of anyone who had dared to defy him.As a boy, Chantry couldn't best Quinton. Couldn't protect the people he loved, including his own mother. But now Chantry is grown. He's come back for answers.And for justice.

    They called their little group "The Southern Belle Breakfast Club." They were able to face what life dished out to them as long as they stayed united as one. Sickness, death and even cheating husbands had been a challenge that they were able to overcome. Now, all this was about to change. They did not realize that one of them held a secret that would change their lives forever. Moments that are funny, moments that are sad, and moments that are awkward all come together to make for a heart warming story of these six women and their close bond of friendship.

    Five and Ten became a favorite local haunt as well as a destination—Food & Wine named Hugh a “Best New Chef” and at seventy miles away, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution named Five and Ten the best restaurant in Atlanta. Then came the five consecutive James Beard nominations. Now, after opening two more restaurants and a wine shop, Hugh is ready to share 120 recipes of his eclectic, bold, and sophisticated flavors, inspired by fresh ingredients. In A New Turn in the South, you’ll find libations, seasonal vegetables that take a prominent role, salads and soups, his prized sides, and fish and meats—all of which turn Southern food on its head every step of the way. Hugh’s recipes include: Oysters on the Half Shell with Cane Vinegar and Chopped Mint Sauce, shucked and left in their bottom shells; Chanterelles on Toast with Mushrooms that soak up the flavor of rosemary, thyme, and lemon; Braised and Crisped Pork Belly with Citrus Salad—succulent and inexpensive, but lavish; Yellow Grits with Sautéed Shiitakes, Fried Eggs, and Salsa Rossa—a stunning versatile condiment; Fried Chicken with Stewed Pickled Green Tomatoes—his daughters’ favorite dish; and Lemon Chess Pies with Blackberry Compote—his go-to classic Southern pie with seasonal accompaniment. With surprising photography full of Hugh’s personality, and pages layered with his own quirky writing and sketches, he invites you into his community and his innovative world of food—to add new favorites to your repertoire.

    In She, which Windham was putting the finishing touches on when she died in June 2011, the author describes how she woke up one day to find that she had an unwanted houseguest, an old woman who had suddenly moved into her home and was taking over her life. Windham referred to this interloper simply as She, and here the reader has been invited into the lively colloquy between the author--whose spirit has not changed--and her alter ego, who moves haltingly toward her earthly end. She will leave you laughing and crying, but also grateful and hopeful.

    THEY’RE LOST FOREVER. Nellie Clay married Hobbs Pritchard without even noticing he was a spell conjured into a man, a walking, talking ghost story. But her mama knew. She saw it in her tea leaves: death. Folks told Nellie to get off the mountain while she could, to go back home before it was too late. Hobbs wasn’t nothing but trouble. He’d even killed a man. No telling what else. That mountain was haunted, and soon enough, Nellie would feel it too. One way or another, Hobbs would get what was coming to him. The ghosts would see to that. . . . Told in the stunning voices of five women whose lives are inextricably bound when a murder takes place in rural Depression-era North Carolina, Ann Hite’s unforgettable debut spans generations and conjures the best of Southern folk-lore—mystery, spirits, hoodoo, and the incomparable beauty of the Appalachian landscape.

    Rather than organizing plants, including trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants, by flower color or family characteristics, as is done in most guidebooks, botanist Tim Spira takes a holistic, ecological approach that enables the reader to identify and learn about plants in their natural communities. This approach, says Spira, better reflects the natural world, as plants, like other organisms, don't live in isolation; they coexist and interact in myriad ways. Full-color photo keys allow the reader to rapidly preview plants found within each of the 21 major plant communities described, and the illustrated species description for each of the 340 featured plants includes fascinating information about the ecology and natural history of each plant in its larger environment. With this new format, readers can see how the mountain and piedmont landscapes form a mosaic of plant communities that harbor particular groups of plants. The volume also includes a glossary, illustrations of plant structures, and descriptions of sites to visit. Whether you're a beginning naturalist or an expert botanist, this guidebook is a useful companion on field excursions and wildflower walks, as well as a valuable reference. Southern Gateways Guide is a registered trademark of the University of North Carolina Press

    He teaches at East Tennessee State University, where he is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Literature and Language.  "I admire the assurance, the formal authority of Graves’ craft."—Robert Morgan“Here is a welcome new voice offering strengths in craftsmanship and music, but always grounded in a profound sense of place. Read these poems for their wisdom, listen closely to their cadence, let them take you where they will.”—­­­Jeff Daniel Marion“Tennessee Landscape with Blighted Pine is more than an extraordinary first book. These poems have the music, wisdom, and singular voice of a talent fully realized, and make abundantly clear that Jesse Graves is one of America’s finest young poets.”—Ron Rash

    A collection of essays dealing with the ballad novels of New York Times Best-selling author Sharyn McCrumb, examining the history, folklore and culture of the region of which she writes

    No longer are cupcakes solely for children-these handheld treats nowmust pass musterwith taste-discriminatingadults equally ravenous for the little frosted jewels. Big Book of Cupcakes sets a new standard with recipes for cupcakes that actually taste as great as they look. In addition to the traditional favorite flavors everyone craves, such as red velvet and carrot cake, this book offers fun, new flavor twists like Maple Bacon and Caramel Sea Salt Mocha, as well as easy decorating and serving ideas, from classic to creative. In this book, which is organized by season and the events readers want to celebrate with home-baked cupcakes-from New Years to Christmas, birthdays to "just-craving" days-author and cupcake-bakery owner Jan Moon shares her secrets and most requested recipes. Whether you're making the perfect batch of cupcakes for a child's birthday party or satisfying a very adult comfort-food craving, the nostalgic treats that fill this book are sure to delight and surprise. Plus, Jan's creative tips on how to serve and display cupcakes for parties are sure to be crowd-pleasers. With more than 10 years of experience honing her craft in the Test Kitchens of Southern Living magazine, Jan Moon has embarked on a venture of her own and opened a bakery in Birmingham, Alabama. In addition to wedding cakes and custommade treats, Dreamcakes Bakery specializes in delectable cupcakes, and Jan's unique creations keep her loyal customers coming back for more.

    She was also becoming a capable gardener under the tutelage of her mother, Chestina Welty, who designed their modest garden in Jackson, Mississippi. From the beginning, Eudora wove images of southern flora and gardens into her writing, yet few outside her personal circle knew that the images were drawn directly from her passionate connection to and abiding knowledge of her own garden.Near the end of her life, Welty still resided in her parents' house, but the garden-and the friends who remembered it-had all but vanished. When a local garden designer offered to help bring it back, Welty began remembering the flowers that had grown in what she called "my mother's garden." By the time Eudora died, that gardener, Susan Haltom, was leading a historic restoration. When Welty's private papers were released several years after her death, they confirmed that the writer had sought both inspiration and a creative outlet there. This book contains many previously unpublished writings, including literary passages and excerpts from Welty's private correspondence about the garden.The authors of "One Writer's Garden" also draw connections between Welty's gardening and her writing. They show how the garden echoed the prevailing style of Welty's mother's generation, which in turn mirrored wider trends in American life: Progressive-era optimism, a rising middle class, prosperity, new technology, women's clubs, garden clubs, streetcar suburbs, civic beautification, conservation, plant introductions, and garden writing. The authors illustrate this garden's history--and the broader story of how American gardens evolved in the early twentieth century-with images from contemporary garden literature, seed catalogs, and advertisements, as well as unique historic photographs. Noted landscape photographer Langdon Clay captures the restored garden through the seasons.

    Ron Rash the poet is back and giving us poems that are both the river stones and the water making them shine. If allowed only two words for this wonderful poet, they would have to be clear and lithe.

    Secure in the love of her father, bothered with her mother’s desire that she be a proper Southern belle, Bessie’s determined to forge her own way in life. Or, as her Cherokee great-grandmother, Elisi, puts it, a whistling woman.Life, however, has a few surprises for her. First, there’s Papa carrying home a dead man, which seems to invite Death for an extended visit in their home. And shortly before she graduates from Dorland Institute, there’s another death, this one closer to her heart. But Death isn’t through with her yet. Proving another of Elisi’s sayings, death comes in threes, It strikes yet again, taking someone Bessie has recently learned to appreciate and cherish, leaving her to struggle with a family that’s threatening to come apart at the seams.Even her beloved Papa seems to be turning into another person, someone Bessie disagrees with more often than not, and someone she isn’t even sure she can continue to love, much less idolize as she had during her childhood.And when Papa makes a decision that costs the life of a new friend, the course of Bessie’s heart is changed forever.

    Weiland. In the waning days of the American Civil War, three Confederate cavalrymen and their wounded sergeant are forced to take refuge in a widow’s shack. One more battle looms on the horizon—one more battle none of them want to fight—and they must each make a decision that will influence the rest of their lives: to run or to fight? <

    With this mouth-watering collection of recipes you have everything you need to Neely-tize your table far beyond the holiday season.

    Often available in periodicals, lynching plays were read aloud or acted out by black church members, schoolchildren, and families. Koritha Mitchell shows that African Americans performed and read the scripts in community settings to certify to each other that lynch victims were not the isolated brutes that dominant discourses made them out to be. Instead, the play scripts often described victims as honorable heads of household being torn from model domestic units by white violence.In closely analyzing the political and spiritual uses of black theatre during the Progressive Era, Mitchell demonstrates that audiences were shown affective ties in black families, a subject often erased in mainstream images of African Americans. Examining lynching plays as archival texts that embody and reflect broad networks of sociocultural activism and exchange in the lives of black Americans, Mitchell finds that audiences were rehearsing and improvising new ways of enduring in the face of widespread racial terrorism. Images of the black soldier, lawyer, mother, and wife helped readers assure each other that they were upstanding individuals who deserved the right to participate in national culture and politics. These powerful community coping efforts helped African Americans band together and withstand the nation's rejection of them as viable citizens.

    Almost. While preparing for an upcoming trial, his long-time secretary interrupts him with a phone call. It is Elsie Smallwood calling from Grant's hometown.Greene County is a place to which Grant vowed never to return. For almost twenty years, he has been successful in avoiding his past. However, Elsie's unexpected phone call sends him back to the place that harbors painful memories. When he arrives, he finds a community in need of healing and a dying friend's desire for the pain of others to be released.Grant's journey is a testament to individual and communal redemption and to the good - and bad - within all people. Through lovable characters and unexpected twists of events, Grant and the place he calls home are finally able to confront the painful past. And by doing so, each comes face to face with Pain Unforgiven.

    . .Heirloom plants belong in Southern gardens. Tough and adapted, tried and true, pretty and useful, these living antiques--passed through countless generations--represent the foundation of traditional gardens as we know them today. Heirloom Gardening in the South is a comprehensive resource that also offers a captivating, personal encounter with two dedicated and passionate gardeners whose love of heritage gardening infuses the work from beginning to end. Anyone who wants to know how to find and grow time-honored and pass-along plants or wants to create and nurture a traditional garden is sure to find this a must-have addition to their home gardening library. Inside the book:New essays on naturalizing daffodils, slips and starts, and growing fruit;A completely updated and expanded heirloom plant encyclopedia;Revised plant lists (bulbs, cemetery plants, etc.)New material on the creation of two of the authors' personal gardensBuilding on the popularity of the original edition, this lively, entertaining, and informative new book from two proven experts will be enthusiastically welcomed by gardeners and horticulturists throughout Texas and the South.

    Coming from a wide range of backgrounds, these experts explore such complex issues as government by judiciary and a reconsideration of nationalistic government. They address the sources of nationalism and the influence of early political leaders, while discussing the continuing struggle between federal and local governments. The debate culminates in an analysis paralleling the disintegration of the Soviet Union with the current situation in the United States and urges readers to preserve the sovereignty of individual state governments.The collection is an outgrowth of the Abbeville Conference, held in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2010 and features arguments by Dr. Thomas DiLorenzo, Yuri Maltsev, Donald W. Livingston, Kent Masterson Brown, Marshall DeRosa, Kirkpatrick Sale, and Rob Williams. The essays present challenging ideas on issues that have remained current since the birth of the American nation.

    In the centerpiece story, an eighteenth-century Eno Indian tells of the fiery fate of his adopted father, English explorer John Lawson. In the surrounding stories, the age-old conflicts between newcomer and old-timer play out as twenty-first century retirees, carnies, runaways, heartbroken women, and farmers stumble into new lives and new insights in Ambler County, North Carolina. "Hudson's prose is pure as birdsong," says novelist Doris Betts. "These fine stories of change and discovery are a field guide to the human species in transition."

    . . evocative images, searching irony, and meditative poise." —Library JournalRooted in the customs of Southern families and peopled with undertakers, bluegrass musicians, daughters practicing karate, and elderly parents, David Bottoms' poems are generous, insightful, and lean headlong into familial wisdom. Past and present interweave with grandmothers spitting tobacco juice, ponds "filled with construction runoff," and the boyhood home-site paved over for a KFC. This is Bottoms' most personal and heartbreaking book.From "My Daughter Works the Heavy Bag":A bow to the instructor,then fighting stance, and the only girl in karate class faces the heavy bag.Small for fifth grade—willow-like, says her mother—sweaty hair tangled like blown willow branches.The boys try to ignore her. They fidget against the wall, smirk,practice their routine of huff and feint.Circle, barks the instructor,jab, circle, kick, and the black bag wobbles on its chain.Again and again, the bony jewels of her fistjab out in glistening precision,her flawless legs remember arabesque and glissade.Kick, jab, kick, and the bag coughs rhythmically from its gut.The boys fidget and wait . . . David Bottom, Georgia's Poet Laureate, was inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame in 2009. He teaches at Georgia State University and co-edits Five Points magazine. He lives in Marietta, Georgia.

    Hephaestus Books represents a new publishing paradigm, allowing disparate content sources to be curated into cohesive, relevant, and informative books. To date, this content has been curated from Wikipedia articles and images under Creative Commons licensing, although as Hephaestus Books continues to increase in scope and dimension, more licensed and public domain content is being added. We believe books such as this represent a new and exciting lexicon in the sharing of human knowledge. This particular book is a collaboration focused on Novels by Cormac McCarthy.

    You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

    1864–1943) is at once one of the most familiar and misunderstood figures in American history. In My Work Is That of Conservation, Mark D. Hersey reveals the life and work of this fascinating man who is widely—and reductively—known as the African American scientist who developed a wide variety of uses for the peanut.Carver had a truly prolific career dedicated to studying the ways in which people ought to interact with the natural world, yet much of his work has been largely forgotten. Hersey rectifies this by tracing the evolution of Carver’s agricultural and environmental thought starting with his childhood in Missouri and Kansas and his education at the Iowa Agricultural College. Carver’s environmental vision came into focus when he moved to the Tuskegee Institute in Macon County, Alabama, where his sensibilities and training collided with the denuded agrosystems, deep poverty, and institutional racism of the Black Belt. It was there that Carver realized his most profound agricultural thinking, as his efforts to improve the lot of the area’s poorest farmers forced him to adjust his conception of scientific agriculture.Hersey shows that in the hands of pioneers like Carver, Progressive Era agronomy was actually considerably “greener” than is often thought today. My Work Is That of Conservation uses Carver’s life story to explore aspects of southern environmental history and to place this important scientist within the early conservation movement.

    Jackson asserts that the myth that the route to increasing achievement by focusing on weaknesses (promoted by policies such as NCLB) has blinded us to the strengths and intellectual potential of urban students--devaluing the motivation, initiative, and confidence of dedicated educators to search for and optimize this potential. The Pedagogy of Confidence dispels this myth and provides practical approaches for rekindling educators' belief in their ability to inspire the vast capacity of their urban students.Book Features: Describes practical approaches and examples of how inspirational educators implement High Operational Practices, offering strategies for dealing with cultural disconnects, the influence of new technologies, and language preferences of students. Illustrates how educators empower student investment in the "mediative learning community" to foster positive relationships. Presents historical, cognitive, and neuroscience research, providing educators the rationale and benefits of changing old policies and practices to new ones that will guide students to intellectual development, self-directed learning, and self-actualization. Explores the theory and methodology of cognitive psychologist Reuven Feuerstein, upon which The Pedagogy of Confidence is based.

    The date was November 18, 1914. He pulled himself from the water, sober, cold, and converted to a new life in the Lord. Thus began the legend of Asa's Spring. The Greats of Cuttercane tells the stories of people in Cuttercane, Georgia, the place of Asa's Spring. Written in the edged-in-humor style of caricature, these stories are still shared daily in the South.

    Savannah learns that there’s more to home than a plot of land, as Dante searches for God’s answer to his dream. Tave’s love softens the heart of a wounded man, leading him to sacrifice everything for her. Victoria witnesses first hand God’s redemptive power in her family as He remakes her husband into the man of her dreams.

    You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

    Iron under a bed stops a nightmare. The carousel artist can carve only birds. Part fairy tale and part gothic ballad, Wait spans a single year: the year before a young woman’s marriage. Someone is always watching—from the warehouse, from the woods. And on the outskirts of town, someone new is waiting.

    Her mother has remarried, had a "change-of-life" baby, and traded in her waitress uniform to be a stay-at-home mom. Meanwhile, Charlie's best friend Marleen has grown distant and Charlie's crush on her friend's older brother Kyle suffers a setback when he gets a steady girlfriend. The real shock comes when the girlfriend is kidnapped and murdered, leaving Charlie and her small hometown reeling from the shock. Can it be that the world Charlie believed in her whole life isn't what it seems?The harder she looks, the more she comes to realize the truth about her town and the people who live there. Helplessly, Charlie watches as Marleen develops a dangerous obsession with a male neighbor. With the help of Marleen's brother Jeff, Charlie fights to save her friend before it is too late.Set in the mountains of North Carolina against a backdrop of racism, bittersweet first love, and disillusionment, Weeds and Flowers is a story of young girl finding her way along the paths that lead from childhood onward.