Book picks similar to
Trees of Heaven by Jesse Stuart
kentucky-books
land-farming
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Necessary Lies
Diane Chamberlain - 2013
Bestselling author Diane Chamberlain delivers a breakout book about a small southern town fifty years ago, and the darkest—and most hopeful—places in the human heartAfter losing her parents, fifteen-year-old Ivy Hart is left to care for her grandmother, older sister and nephew as tenants on a small tobacco farm. As she struggles with her grandmother’s aging, her sister’s mental illness and her own epilepsy, she realizes they might need more than she can give.When Jane Forrester takes a position as Grace County’s newest social worker, she doesn’t realize just how much her help is needed. She quickly becomes emotionally invested in her clients' lives, causing tension with her boss and her new husband. But as Jane is drawn in by the Hart women, she begins to discover the secrets of the small farm—secrets much darker than she would have guessed. Soon, she must decide whether to take drastic action to help them, or risk losing the battle against everything she believes is wrong.Set in rural Grace County, North Carolina in a time of state-mandated sterilizations and racial tension, Necessary Lies tells the story of these two young women, seemingly worlds apart, but both haunted by tragedy. Jane and Ivy are thrown together and must ask themselves: how can you know what you believe is right, when everyone is telling you it’s wrong?
Southern Fatality
T. Lynn Ocean - 2007
But don't get too comfortable, because when the sexy and hard-hitting security specialist Jersey Barnes stumbles into a scheme that will steal millions of dollars from American taxpayers, you'll want to go along for the ride! Who has kidnapped the son of Samuel Chesterfield, celebrity owner of a nationally known brokerage firm chain? Who plans to steal a fortune from innocent, hard-working citizens? And why do people around Samuel Chesterfield keep dropping dead? Find out by reading the first Jersey Barnes mystery--available now!
Gulf Coast Cottage
Maggie Miller - 2021
In the middle of an awful divorce, fifty-three-year-old Georgia Carpenter finds herself out of luck, time, and money. Then her phone rings with the news that her great aunt has died and left her a cottage in the Gulf Coast town of Blackbird Beach.Georgia has no idea what awaits her on the other coast of Florida. All she knows is that she has nowhere else to go. And no reason to stay where she is.Fortunately for her, life has far more interesting plans than she ever could have realized. Including making the acquaintance of a handsome handyman and getting the chance at a brand new start.
Rain Song
Alice J. Wisler - 2008
Something happened in Japan...something that sent Nicole and her father back to America alone...something of which Nicole knows only bits and pieces. But she is content with life in little Mount Olive, North Carolina, with her quirky relatives, tank of lively fish, and plenty of homemade pineapple chutney. Through her online column for the Pretty Fishy Web site, she meets Harrison Michaels, who, much to her dismay, lives in Japan. She attempts to avoid him, but his e-mails tug at her heart. Then Harrison reveals that he knew her as a child in Japan. In fact, he knows more about her childhood than she does...
Glory Over Everything: Beyond The Kitchen House
Kathleen Grissom - 2016
Glory Over Everything is “gripping…breathless until the end” (Kirkus Reviews).The year is 1830 and Jamie Pyke, a celebrated silversmith and notorious ladies’ man, is keeping a deadly secret. Passing as a wealthy white aristocrat in Philadelphian society, Jamie is now living a life he could never have imagined years before when he was a runaway slave, son of a southern black slave and her master. But Jamie’s carefully constructed world is threatened when he discovers that his married socialite lover, Caroline, is pregnant and his beloved servant Pan, to whose father Jamie owes his own freedom, has been captured and sold into slavery in the South. Fleeing the consequences of his deceptions, Jamie embarks on a trip to a North Carolina plantation to save Pan from the life he himself barely escaped as a boy. With the help of a fearless slave, Sukey, who has taken the terrified young boy under her wing, Jamie navigates their way, racing against time and their ruthless pursuers through the Virginia backwoods, the Underground Railroad, and the treacherous Great Dismal Swamp.“Kathleen Grissom is a first-rate storyteller…she observes with an unwavering but kind eye, and she bestows upon the reader, amid terrible secrets and sin, a gift of mercy: the belief that hope can triumph over hell” (Richmond Times Dispatch). Glory Over Everything is an emotionally rewarding and epic novel “filled with romance, villains, violence, courage, compassion…and suspense.” (Florida Courier).
A Tangled Mercy
Joy Jordan-Lake - 2017
Haunted by unanswered questions and her own uncertain future, she flees to Charleston, South Carolina, the place where her parents met, convinced it holds the key to understanding her fractured family and saving her career in academia. Kate is determined to unearth groundbreaking information on a failed 1822 slave revolt—the subject of her mother’s own research.Nearly two centuries earlier, Tom Russell, a gifted blacksmith and slave, grappled with a terrible choice: arm the uprising spearheaded by members of the fiercely independent African Methodist Episcopal Church or keep his own neck out of the noose and protect the woman he loves.Kate’s attempts to discover what drove her mother’s dangerous obsession with Charleston’s tumultuous history are derailed by a horrific massacre in the very same landmark church. In the unimaginable aftermath, Kate discovers a family she never knew existed as the city unites with a powerful message of hope and forgiveness for the world.
Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey: An American Heritage
Michael R. Veach - 2013
Its history stretches back almost to the founding of the nation and includes many colorful characters, both well known and obscure, from the hatchet-wielding prohibitionist Carry Nation to George Garvin Brown, who in 1872 created Old Forester, the first bourbon to be sold only by the bottle. Although obscured by myth, the history of bourbon reflects the history of our nation.Historian Michael R. Veach reveals the true story of bourbon in "Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey." Starting with the Whiskey Rebellion of the 1790s, he traces the history of this unique beverage through the Industrial Revolution, the Civil War, Prohibition, the Great Depression, and up to the present. Veach explores aspects of bourbon that have been ignored by others, including the technology behind its production, the effects of the Pure Food and Drug Act, and how Prohibition contributed to the Great Depression. The myths surrounding bourbon are legion, but Veach separates fact from legend. While the true origin of the spirit may never be known for certain, he proposes a compelling new theory.With the explosion of super-premium bourbons and craft distilleries and the establishment of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, interest in bourbon has never been higher. Veach shines a light on its pivotal place in our national heritage, presenting the most complete and wide-ranging history of bourbon available.
The Washingtons of Wessyngton Plantation: Stories of My Family's Journey to Freedom
John F. Baker Jr. - 2009
Baker Jr. was in the seventh grade, he saw a photograph of four former slaves in his social studies textbook. When he learned that two of them were his grandmother's grandparents, he began the lifelong research project that would become The Washingtons of Wessyngton Plantation, the fruit of more than thirty years of archival and field research and DNA testing spanning 250 years. A descendant of Wessyngton slaves, Baker has written the most accessible and exciting work of African American history since Roots. He has not only written his own family's story but included the history of hundreds of slaves and their descendants now numbering in the thousands throughout the United States. More than one hundred rare photographs and portraits of African Americans who were slaves on the plantation bring this compelling American history to life. Founded in 1796 by Joseph Washington, a distant cousin of America's fi rst president, Wessyngton Plantation covered 15,000 acres and held 274 slaves, whose labor made it the largest tobacco plantation in America. Atypically, the Washingtons sold only two slaves, so the slave families remained intact for generations. Many of their descendants still reside in the area surrounding the plantation. The Washington family owned the plantation until 1983; their family papers, housed at the Tennessee State Library and Archives, include birth registers from 1795 to 1860, letters, diaries, and more. Baker also conducted dozens of interviews -- three of his subjects were more than one hundred years old -- and discovered caches of historic photographs and paintings. A groundbreaking work of history and a deeply personal journey of discovery, The Washingtons of Wessyngton Plantation is an uplifting story of survival and family that gives fresh insight into the institution of slavery and its ongoing legacy today.
From the Top: Brief Transmissions from Tent Show Radio
Michael Perry - 2013
I like to read Harper’s with a chaser of Varmint Hunter Magazine. Maybe that’s why I enjoy a good show under canvas. Here we sit, brain-deep in arts and culture, but we’re also just people hanging out in a tent, some of us wearing boots, a few of us wearing Birkenstocks, but best of all we’re breathing free fresh air filled with music.”From Scandihoovian Spanglish to snickering chickens, New York Times bestselling author and humorist Michael Perry navigates a wide range of topics in this collection of brief essays drawn from his weekly appearances on the nationally syndicated Tent Show Radio program. Fatherhood, dumpster therapy, dangerous wedding rings, Christmas trees, used cars, why you should have bacon in your stock portfolio, loggers in clogs—whatever the subject, Perry has a rare ability to touch both the funny bone and the heart.
The Unnatural History of Cypress Parish
Elise Blackwell - 2007
On the verge of manhood and a stone’s throw of the rising Mississippi River, Louis Proby is pulled between his love of the natural world and the glittering temptations of New Orleans, between the beautiful Nanette Lançon and a father who no longer seems larger-than-life, between the simplicity of childhood and the complicated decisions of adulthood.Louis comes of age at a time when the country is coming of age. In Louisiana, it’s a time when the powerful prove themselves willing to sacrifice the poor to protect their position. As the people of Cypress Parish go about their daily lives, bankers in New Orleans are plotting to alter those lives irrevocably. Like so many calamities, the one that befalls Cypress Parish has both natural and human causes.Based on historical events and narrated on the eve of another disaster, The Unnatural History of Cypress Parish tells the story of a young man growing up in a time and place not quite like any other.
The Music Box
Heather Meyer - 2013
In hopes of finding it, she escapes the city and settles in a small South Carolina town to write his story. There, she meets Matt, a young man struggling to come to grips with his own father’s legacy.Despite a growing attraction, she keeps him at arm’s length until the tune from a tiny music box reveals a common bond that pulls them together and sets them on a journey of discovery that will challenge everything she believes about herself and about the man she thought couldn’t possibly exist.
The Wisdom House
Rob Parsons - 2014
And then Rob began to think about how he hoped he'd have the chance to talk with all his grandchildren as they grew. He imagined them coming into his study, settling into one of the two comfy armchairs in front of the fire and opening up about the challenges they were facing. Perhaps it would be when they were beginning their first job, buying their first house, getting married or starting a family. Or perhaps they'd talk long into the night, when their hearts were broken or friends had betrayed them. Perhaps he would have the chance to help them rebuild the dream that somebody had trodden on. "Come on in, take a seat—tell me what's been going on. . ." Rob knew he wouldn't have all the answers. But maybe he could help—just a little.
Freaky Tales: Erotic Shorts
Sabrina B. Scales - 2019
Orgasms? Yeah, I give those. Fairytales? Never wanted to live those Because I'm simply not that chick Hearts? Yeah, I broke some Love? These niggas can't get none Commitment? I'm probably the wrong one But you can stop by and lick this clit If a freak is what you're looking for Be prepared when you step through my door On the bed, couch, or kitchen floor I can give you what you need I prefer my kisses down low We can do this fast or we can take it slow Either way, I think it's best I let you know When it's over, please, get up and leave My name is Melody Bledsoe and I got some freaky things to tell you. You ready? Probably not!
Like Mother Like Trick
Dannaye Carter - 2013
With each penetration they gain a sense of sexual maturity. Then later decide, their sweet pea is like treasure and should be discovered with gentle anticipation. By time they realize what it’s really worth, their sexual juices have been ran dry. Get well acquainted with the main character Erin, of “Like mother, Like Trick”, as she unfolds her truth of her mother’s expectations of a woman’s Hustle. Erin, a young girl, recently graduated out of high school is given 2 choices by her biological mother, Nicole Grey. Either hustle to make it, or die thinking about it. Erin referred to her mother as “Lady” She felt no neutering connection to her mother. They were more like sisters sharing the same dwelling space. Lady explained to Erin, “The fastest way to money is through your Pussy. Every man wants some, and will pay great money for it. You better know what it’s worth and use for the better good!” Lady would explain to Erin confusing the concepts of self worth. Erin was taught Lady’s value of sex at a very young age. Middle school lunch spent in the faculty parking lot for 100-dollar blowjobs. High school study hall spent in the Embassy suits for lunch rush pussy, for her clients working on corporate exchange Blvd. Lady exposed Erin to a very lavish lifestyle, and instilled in her the importance of money over everything, including morals and self- respect. Lady insisted that Erin help with the bills as well as feed clothe and finance her own dues from the money Erin received from clients. That was her way of teaching Erin Value of a dollar. By Erin’s freshman year of high school, she had known very well what she was into. She had maintained a very big clientele, and had become a very known and skillful trick expert. Erin felt she mastered her craft, and it still didn’t fulfill her desires. She hated her hustle and absolutely fell disgusted with the thought of engaging in sexual intercourse for income,. She needed a way out. Quick,, fast, and in a hurry. She needed help and knew that there was only one person that could help her. Erin gained the respect of her mother’s current boyfriend Kahlief. In Kahlief’s eyes, Erin was ambitious determined. He could sense through body language, she hated what she was doing. Often times Kalief would introduce Erin to his well known friends in the modeling industry, photographers and agents all over the city, but those small gigs wouldn’t last too long. Well aware of what was taking place with his girlfriend and her daughter. He didn’t give a damn. He was more obsessed with the fact that, to his old hood, his bitch was the baddest; she had bread, and was upgrading his finances on a regular. And to top it off Lady didn’t give a damn what anybody had to say.Erin became very close to Kahlief. When this Double trick Empire was at its best, He knew more than anybody, she was in search for something worth much more. Something not even the highest paying customer could finance. Something that would make her stop this lifestyle and come from up under Lady’s dirty schemes and diversions. She was looking for Love. Real love, that best friend love, that I’m “sorry ladies, I have to be in by 9” love. She was determined to find it. Get involved with this twisted tale as Erin finally finds Mr. Right and falls in love with a man who has everything but only wants to be with her. Just when Erin decides she doesn’t have to resort to her sexual encounters for money, she is soon devastated as she finds Lady lying lifeless in a pool of blood
Cold Hard Truth (Boston Crime Thriller Book 5)
Brian Christopher Shea - 2022