by Lee Smith
Reviewed by Linda:
Novelist Lee Smith knows how to tell a story. In this deeply moving memoir of her Appalachian childhood and subsequent departure from all that was familiar, she describes a lost world that we are all richer for knowing. As a child she thrived in that astonishing culture of tent revivals, isolated communities, mountain music, and most of all her daddy's beloved dimestore. Her parents, who both struggled with mental illness in an era where that condition was almost taboo, were determined that she leave for college, and it took her years to truly appreciate all that she had left behind.