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Bourbon and Branch Water: Hardy’s “Wedding Belles”

Friday from the Archives: “Wedding Belles” fiction by Melissa Hardy from NCLR Issue 12 (2003)

Clad in a flame azalea organdy leftover bridesmaid dress from her older sister’s wedding, Julia Snow (of the Chapel Hill Snows) is attending her college roommate Muffin’s wedding in Charlotte. Julia thought she, like Muffin, like her sisters, like many other women of her time, would have gotten an MRS degree along with her Music BA. As it turns out, she didn’t and is now pondering what, and who, her future holds.

Rerun: Neal reviews Joy & Lucas

Saturday Review: “Tallying the Cost of Addiction in Appalchia:” a review by Dale Neal
David Joy. When These Mountains Burn. 2020.
Meagan Lucas. Songbirds & Stray Dogs. 2019.
In a serendipitous event, both David Joy and Meagan Lucas, both writers living in the NC mountains, have new books out this year AND were reviewed together for their last books.

Hallberg’s “City on Fire” Makes Jump to Television

Friday from the Archives: “Make Believe with Utter Conviction: An Interview With Garth Risk Hallberg” by Brian Glover from NCLR Issue 24 (2017) “Brian Glover interviewed Hallberg during his novel book tour in 2015. Glover wrote, “By any measure, Garth Risk Hallberg’s novel City on Fire was one of the major literary events of 2015…”

Rerun: Bennett reviews Smith & McCorkle

Saturday Review Rerun: Lee Smith’s last novel, Blue Marlin, was reviewed by Barbara Bennett in NCLR Online 2021. Bennett calls Blue Marlin a classic “tale of initiation” of teen Jenny, loosely based on Smith’s own childhood adventure to Key West.

Rerun: Roberts reviews Frazier

Charles Frazier’s latest novel, The Trackers, is out now and we look forward to reading it for a review in the fall issue. Frazier’s work is no stranger in NCLR pages; his last novel, Varina, was reviewed by Terry Roberts in our 2019 Online issue.

“Creating Tradition on the Qualla Boundary”

Friday from the Archives: “There’s Always A Story To Tell: Creating Tradition on the Qualla Boundary” by Karen McKinney from NCLR Issue 13 (2004) “What emerges is an example of Cherokee literature that is as traditional as the story of Selu’s gift of corn but unashamedly a product of the late twentieth century.”