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A Novel
by Silas House
In this nationally bestselling novel, A Parchment of Leaves, Silas House produced an iconic story of 1900s rural mountain Kentucky that remains a favorite of many of his fans.
On his way to find work in the Redbud Camp, Saul Sullivan encounters a Cherokee girl who is said to possess a beauty that brings death to the men who see her. Saul, however, is irrevocably drawn to Vine the moment he lays eye on her and believes they are meant to be married, over the objections of her mother and his. Despite her misgivings, Saul's mother, Esme, and his brother Aaron take to Vine from the moment she comes to God's Creek. In fact, Vine realizes from the start that Aaron's interest in her is far more than brotherly. When Saul must leave Vine behind for a year of work, troubling and violent events follow his departure, and Vine's spirit and her love are put to the ultimate test.
This novel was the Winner of the Award for Special Achievement from the Fellowship of Southern Writers and a Finalist for the Southern Book Critics Circle Prize.
Blair brings this novel into a beautiful new paperback edition, along with two other Silas House novels, Clay's Quilt and The Coal Tattoo. The three novels, which share a common setting and some characters, are companion novels. They may be read individually, in any order, but collectively, they form a rich tableau of life in rural mountain Kentucky in the last century.
"Breathtaking for both its beauty and its pain…A superb combination of wonder and suffering." ―Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"A moving love story set against a stunningly beautiful background, and House seems to capture it all―the deep emotion, the love of land, the customs of mountain people―in quietly eloquent prose." ―Booklist
"House has done it again. As he did in his stunning debut novel, Clay's Quilt, he has written a rich narrative that captures both the scenery of the southern Appalachian Mountains and the spirit of the people who live there." ―BookPage
"Poignant, evocative." ―Publishers Weekly
This information about A Parchment of Leaves was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Silas House is the New York Times bestselling author of six novels, one book of creative nonfiction, and three plays. His writing has appeared frequently in the New York Times and has been published in Time, Newsday, Garden and Gun, Oxford American, and many other places. House is the winner of an E.B. White Award, the Nautilus Award, the Intellectual Freedom Prize from the National Council of Teachers of English, the Storylines Prize from the New York Public Library/NAV Foundation, and many other honors, as well as being long listed for the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction. He teaches at Berea College and in the Spalding University School of Writing.
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