The teenage son of an Appalachian single mother who dies when he is eleven uses his good looks, wit, and instincts to survive foster care, child labor, addiction, disastrous loves, and crushing losses. Set in the mountains of southern Appalachia, this is the story of a boy born to a teenaged single mother in a single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father's good looks and copper-colored hair, a caustic wit, and a fierce talent for survival....

A consummate storyteller in the Southern tradition, Lee Smith tugs at her listeners' heart strings with this haunting narrative that reads like a country ballad. Touching, funny, and sad, its down-to-earth characters are somehow familiar and endearing as they do their best to meet the demands of daily life. Her mother's pride and joy, young Crystal Spangler has a keen intellect, the body of a beauty queen, and the heart of a poet. When she leaves...

A New Historical Fiction Series From an Exciting New Team! When Aaron McCarver met Gilbert Morris at the CBA convention in 1991, he never dreamed that those initial discussions would ultimately lead to his conceiving a historical fiction series that he would write with Gilbert Morris. THE SPRIT OF APPALACHIA chronicles the story of the settlers of America's first frontier--the lands over the Appalachian mountains--and of faith that carried them through...

When Joshua Spencer decides to become a lawyer like Andrew Jackson, he also begins to stray from the teachings of his parents. His childhood sweetheart, Rachel Anderson, struggles with her feelings for Joshua in light of the choices he seems to be making. Then a family friend is wrongfully accused of a crime by a vengeful Linus Carter and Joshua must decide where his true loyalties lie. Will he return to the values he was raised with and win back...

Helen arrives in Appalachian Ohio eager to carry out her boyfriend's ideas for living off the land, but when winter comes he calls it quits. Helped by Rudy, her government-questioning, seasonal-affective-disordered boss, and the neighbor couple Karen and Lily, Helen makes it to spring. Helen, Karen and Lily split the work and the food, build a house, and make a life that sustains them, if barely, for years. Then Karen and Lily's son, Perley, decides...

"In her rural Appalachian holler, ten-year-old Misty's closest friends are the crawdads. Misty can speak to them, to the birds, to the creek, to everything outside, and she understands how they think. She knows that if she could just speak to her parents in the same way, she could stop all the fighting. But it's too hard. When her only friend William takes their friendship too far, Misty doesn't know how to get help. This is the story of one tough-as-nails...

"Haunted by her sister's mysterious disappearance, Lucy Wilson arrives in Rowan County, Kentucky, in the spring of 1911 to work for Cora Wilson Stewart, superintendent of education. When Cora sends Lucy into the hills to act as scribe for the mountain people, she is repelled by the primitive conditions and intellectual poverty she encounters. Few adults can read and write.Born in those hills, Cora knows the plague of illiteracy. So does Brother Wyatt,...

"Haven operative Luther Brinkman has been sent into the wilderness of the Appalachian Mountains of Tennessee to locate escaped felon Cole Jacoby, a mentally unstable bank robber. Supposedly, Jacoby hid more than ten million dollars from his last heist before he was captured--and rather mysteriously escaped federal custody. And once Brinkman finds Jacoby, the agent is left severely wounded, with no way to convey his location to Haven. Callie Davis,...

"An incurably romantic bookworm from Appalachia wins a contest and travels to England and the Holy Land in search of the perfect romantic hero. Set in 1877. "--