This is the first North Carolina novel written by a native of the state. It is a tale of the Revolutionary Era in which the conflicts between the local Whigs and Tories are seen through the eyes of a schoolteacher, Hector M’Bride. Despite the title, most of the action takes place in Guilford County; the Battle of Guilford Courthouse figures in the novel, as does the Battle of Camden.
Check this title’s availability and access an online copy through the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.
Comments Off on Calvin Wiley. Alamance, or, The Great and Final Experiment. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1847.
Filed under 1840-1849, 1847, Guilford, Historical, Novels to Read Online, Piedmont, Wiley, Calvin
Ruth and Priscilla (Pril) were friends and neighbors for a decade. The women came and went in each other’s houses without knocking, they traveled together, their children played together, and they traded babysitters, advice, and confidences. Pril knew that Ruth was worldly, a bit unconventional. Despite their differences, the two women shared an uncommon emotional intimacy. Or so Pril thought. When Ruth inexplicably leaves her husband and her home in Greensboro, Pril is stunned. She had no sense of Ruth’s unhappiness and no warning of what Ruth was about to do. Pril’s private sorrow turns to alarm when Ruth’s husband subpoenas Pril to testify in the custody hearing for the children he and Ruth share. As Pril prepares for her role in the case, she reviews her friendship with Ruth. This is Susan Kelly’s first novel; posts for her later novels are also on this blog.
Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.
Comments Off on Susan S. Kelly. How Close We Come. Wilmington, NC: Banks Channel Books, 1997.
Filed under 1990-1999, 1997, Guilford, Kelly, Susan S., Piedmont
Frank Kane is living a quiet life near Greensboro, working in a motorcycle shop, but Frank is a dangerous man. A near-death experience and time in prison put an end to his career as the chief enforcer for the Spartans motorcycle gang, but he retains the instincts and skills that made him so effective in that role. When the granddaughter of an old friend is lured into the sex trade, Frank goes to rescue her. Most of the action takes place in Atlanta, but flashbacks that fill out Frank’s character are set in North Carolina. This is the first novel in what will be a series of Frank Kane thrillers.
Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Library catalog.
Comments Off on John F. Saunders. The Last Spartan. Superior, WI: Savage Press, 2008.
Filed under 2000-2009, 2008, Guilford, Piedmont, Saunders, John F., Suspense/Thriller
This romance, set in North Carolina during the later years of the American Revolution, follows the fortunes of two officers. Francis Duane, a lieutenant-colonel on Lord Cornwallis’ staff, and Curtis Baird, a captain in the Continental Army, contend on and off the field. Duane is betrothed to Isabel Burton, daughter of a prominent Salisbury Loyalist, but the actions of Isabel’s plucky cousin Sarah touch Duane’s heart. Baird suspects that Isabel does not agree with her father’s politics, nor with his plans for her future. This book works better as an historical novel than as a romance. General Nathanael Greene and Lord Cornwallis appear throughout the book, and the novel includes a detailed account of the Battle of Guilford Courthouse.
Check this title’s availability and access an online copy through the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.
Comments Off on Cyrus Townsend Brady. When Blades Are Out and Love’s Afield. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1901.
Filed under 1900-1909, 1901, Brady, Cyrus Townsend, Guilford, Historical, Novels to Read Online, Piedmont, Romance/Relationship, Rowan
There is a lot going on in this novel set in North Carolina in the last years of the Revolutionary War. One plot line follows David Fanning as he leads Tory raiders in Chatham County. The second narrative thread concerns the lovely Polly Rutherford Scurlock who is sent from Chatham County to the safer venue of Guilford County, where she finds multiple suitors. The book weaves many historic events and figures into its plot.
Check this title’s availability and access an online copy through the UNC-Chapel Hill Library Catalog.
Comments Off on William Laurie Hill. The Master of the Red Buck and the Bay Doe. Charlotte, NC: Stone Publishing Co., 1913.
Filed under 1910-1919, 1913, Chatham, Guilford, Hill, William Laurie, Historical, Novels to Read Online, Piedmont, Romance/Relationship
In Killer Market, the fifth installment in the Judge Deborah Knott series, Deborah takes a break from her home in fictional Colleton County and travels to High Point to serve as a substitute judge for a vacationing colleague. Unfortunately, the Judge’s arrival coincides with the start of a giant, week-long furniture event and she is without a hotel reservation. Inconvenience quickly turns into something much worse, however, when she is told that her missing purse has turned up at the scene of a murder and that the victim was killed with her medication. As she begins investigating the crime, Deborah is faced with a variety of quirky characters and two main questions: Who killed the furniture executive? And why did they try to frame the Deborah?
Check this title’s availability in the UNC Library Catalog.
Comments Off on Margaret Maron. Killer Market. New York: Mysterious Press, 1997.
Filed under 1990-1999, 1997, Guilford, Maron, Margaret, Mystery, Novels in Series, Piedmont
Alice Jacobs’s life takes a dramatic turn when her mother, who had abandoned her as a toddler decades before, shows up at her front door. There isn’t much time for catching up, as her mother dies only a few weeks later. The sudden reunion rekindles Alice’s interest in her past and, using a scrapbook full of clues, she pieces together her mother’s story–starting with her Greensboro childhood–and begins to understand the woman who left her behind.
Check this title’s availability in the UNC Library Catalog.
Comments Off on Lynne Hinton. The Arms of God. New York: St. Martin’s, 2005.
Filed under 2000-2009, 2005, Guilford, Hinton, Lynne, Piedmont
Everyone in the small town of Orfax, N.C. is astir when local rock-and-roller Bobby Rex hits the big time with his song “Pally Thompson.” The only one who isn’t thrilled about it is Pally Thompson, who insists that she didn’t go nearly as far with Bobby Rex as the song would suggest. Set in the late 1950s and early 1960s, the novel follows Pally’s attempts to redeem her reputation, but is in effect a rich portrait of adolescent small town life in the postwar South. Fictional Orfax is about twenty miles from Greensboro, the author’s hometown. Bobby Rex’s Greatest Hit won the 1987 Sir Walter Raleigh award for the best work of fiction by a North Carolinian.
Check this title’s availability in the UNC Library Catalog.
Comments Off on Marianne Gingher. Bobby Rex’s Greatest Hit. New York: Atheneum, 1986.
Filed under 1980-1989, 1986, Children & Young Adults, Gingher, Marianne, Guilford, Novels Set in Fictional Places
