Category Archives: 1947

1947

Paul Ader. The Leaf against the Sky. New York: Crown Publishers, 1947.

This is a classic coming-of-age novel.  The main character, John Perry, is the son of a Methodist minister.  Soon after his family moves to a new town, John strikes up a friendship with Milton Silverstein and Zona Cahill.  Zona is flirtatious and worldly; Milton is Jewish.  John’s father does not approve of his new friends.  Still, the friendships continue even after the trio goes off to college.  John intends to return to his small hometown one day to edit his local newspaper, but first he has to find his own way, struggling to break free of religious orthodoxy and develop his own opinions.  The college the friends attend is called Trumbull University, but is is easily recognizable as Duke. The mountain town which the friends leave and then return to is called Macon, but a contemporary reviewer thought it was actually Franklin, in Macon County.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

Comments Off on Paul Ader. The Leaf against the Sky. New York: Crown Publishers, 1947.

Filed under 1940-1949, 1947, Ader, Paul, Durham, Macon, Mountains, Piedmont

Corydon Bell. Come Snow fer Christmas. Cleveland, OH: Tower Press, 1947.

As this novella opens, Doc Beddingfield is having a George Bailey kind of Christmas.  The good doctor moved from Charleston back to his home in the North Carolina mountains after his beloved wife, Cora, died almost a decade ago.  Each year since her death Doc sits at his desk on Christmas Eve and writes a letter to Cora.  At first the letters were sad ones, full of pain and loss, but over the years the tone changed and the letters became newsy reflections on recent events.  In recounting his year, the doctor re-establishes his connection with Cora, giving him a sense of continuity in his life.

This year is different. A feeling of uneasiness prevents Doc Beddingfield from writing.  Thinking that his sixth sense is telling him that a patient needs him, he sets off on his horse.  His patient is fine, but he learns of a new family in the neighborhood whose home has burned down. Visiting them, he finds a woman about to give birth.  Taking this new family into his home revitalizes the doctor and reignites feelings of community that had grown dim in the previous year.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

Comments Off on Corydon Bell. Come Snow fer Christmas. Cleveland, OH: Tower Press, 1947.

Filed under 1940-1949, 1947, Bell, Corydon, Mountains, Religious/Inspirational