A sixth-generation North Carolinian, highly-acclaimed author John Ehle grew up on former Cherokee hunting grounds. His experience as an accomplished novelist, combined with his extensive, meticulous research, culminates in this moving tragedy rich with historical detail. The Cherokee are a proud, ancient civilization. For hundreds of years they believed themselves to be the "Principle People" residing at the center of the earth. But by the 18th century some of their leaders believed it was...

Evansville, settled in 1839, developed as an important agricultural trade center. Log cabins, farms, and small industries were built, and the population grew from less than 10 families in the beginning to nearly 5,000 people in 2009. Then and Now: Evansville is a unique look at how the community has changed from the 1900s to today. Ruth Ann Montgomery, author of Images of America: Evansville for Arcadia Publishing, is Evansville's historian. John Ehle, an Evansville resident for many years...

“In The Road John Ehle’s skill as a storyteller brings an early episode of road building in the North Carolina mountains to rich and vivid life. Hardship and humor, suffering and dreams are the balance for survival in a landscape that makes harsh demands on its intruders. Ehle lets us experience this place, people, and past in a fully realized novel.”—Wilma Dykeman“The Road is a strong novel by one of our most distinguished authors. Muscular, vivid, and pungent, i...

In 1928 New York native Muriel Earley Sheppard moved with her mining engineer husband to the Toe River Valley—an isolated pocket in North Carolina between the Blue Ridge and Iron Mountains. Sheppard began visiting her neighbors and forming friendships in remote coves and rocky clearings, and in 1935 her account of life in the mountains—Cabins in the Laurel—was published. The book included 128 striking photographs by the well–known Chapel Hill photographer, Bayard Wootten, a freque...

Three full-cast dramas by popular crime writer Peter Lovesey, plus a selection of short stories recorded for radioPeter Lovesey is well known for his murder mysteries featuring Victorian policeman Sergeant Cribb, Bath detective Peter Diamond and Bertie, Prince of Wales. He has won numerous awards, including the Crime Writers’ Association Silver Dagger, Gold Dagger and Diamond Dagger for Lifetime Achievement. Collected here are adaptations of three of his historical...

When Jim Qwilleran retired to Moose County (400 miles north of everywhere), he intended to write a book -- a novel of crime and investigation with a metropolitan setting. He never finished the first page! Instead, he listened to the folktales of local people and recorded a collection of Moose County legends. Qwilleran's informants swore they were true -- even though some had a supernatural twist that left one wondering. . .

The author of City of Refuge returns with a startling and powerful novel of race, violence, and identity set on the eve of the Civil War.The year is 1855. Blackface minstrelsy is the most popular form of entertainment in a nation about to be torn apart by the battle over slavery. Henry Sims, a fugitive slave and a brilliant musician, has escaped to Philadelphia, where he earns money living by his wits and performing on the street. He is befriended by James Douglass, leader...

Tully’s breakthrough novel about life on the roadJim Tully left his hometown of St. Marys, Ohio, in 1901, spending most of his teenage years in the company of hoboes. Drifting across the country as a “road kid,” he spent those years scrambling into boxcars, sleeping in hobo jungles, avoiding railroad cops, begging meals from back doors, and haunting public libraries. Tully crafted these memories into a dark and astonishing chronicle of the American underclass—espec...

Short story of 5,000 words, sequel to Hambly's Benjamin January New Orleans murder mystery series. It's astonishing enough to everyone who knows New Orleans saloon-keeper Kentucky Williams that she owns a Bible... but someone is willing to do murder to steal it. Benjamin January and his worthless white sidekick Hannibal Sefton attempt to figure out who - and why.

Satirist, novelist, and keen observer of the American scene, Mark Twain remains one of the world's best-loved writers. This delightful collection of Twain's favorite and most memorable writings includes selected tales and sketches such as The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, How I Edited an Agricultural Journal Once, Jim Baker's Blue-Jay Yarn, and A True Story. It also features excerpts from his novels and travel books (including Roughing It, The Innocents...

Huckleberry Finn is a wonderful story filled with adventure and unforgettable characters that no one who has read it will ever forget.The book is noted for its colorful description of people and places along the Mississippi River. Set in a Southern antebellum society that had ceased to exist about twenty years before the work was published, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is an often scathing satire on entrenched attitudes, particularly racism.