Novels For Sale

I have completed the second novel in a series of novels set on Black Mountain. My agent is hard at work shopping the books now.

Ghost on Black Mountain

Beautiful Wreck (Semi-finalist in Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest 2009)

Synopsis For Ghost On Black Mountain:

Ghost On Black Mountain introduces the reader to a way of life that existed before contemporary conveniences. Nellie is a young girl in the late 1930’s, who, in spite of her mother’s warnings, marries Hobbs Pritchard, a native of Black Mountain. Hobbs drags Nellie up the mountain, where he dumps her in his old family home while he goes away on ‘business’ for weeks at a time. Nellie encounters the ghost of a ‘town man’, Merlin Hocket, who died while walking alone in the woods. He warns her of the mountain and its ways.

When Hobbs returns home in the middle of the night, he not only brutally forces himself on Nellie, he beats her and then falls into a drunken stupor. But, don’t make the mistake of thinking Nellie will stay a victim. She sets out the next day to ask for help. Hobbs’ aunt tells her “It’s just part of life, child. You’d better learn to live with it.”

So, Nellie takes life into her own hands and plots her escape. She waits for Hobbs to return. When he does she kills him with an ax, and his body is burned. But, she couldn’t bring herself to burn his face, so she hides severed head inside an old hollow tree. Then she sprinkles his ashes on her freshly turned garden.

Nellie’s in-laws begin snooping around when Hobbs doesn’t come home. And, there is the matter of a terrible smell. Nellie escapes by cutting her hair, dressing like Hobbs, and walking down the mountain, but not before she discovers she is pregnant and sees Merlin Hocket, the ghost, one more time.

And so begins the saga of Nellie Pritchard told in four parts from four different points of view. The reader comes not only to love and know Nellie Pritchard, but other characters such as, Rose Gardner, Hobbs’ mistress and the mother of his son. She marches up Black Mountain and marries Jack Thomas, Hobbs’ stepbrother. Jack takes Hobbs’ son, Lonnie as his own. Part two closes with the discovery of Hobbs’ skull in the old hollow tree.

Part three introduces the reader to Iona Harbor, Nellie and Hobbs’ daughter. Nellie has since taken the new identity as Annie Harbor, Harold Harbor’s wife, who happens to be the preacher of Darien Baptist Church. He is completely ignorant to his wife’s past and believes his daughter, Iona, is his own. The Harbors live on the Georgia Coast far enough away for Nellie/Annie to feel comfortable with living another life. Iona tells her own story, and through this tale, the reader learns much of how Annie Harbor came into existence. Iona defies her overprotective mother and goes to college in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where she meets and falls in love with Lonnie Thomas.

The final part of the book is told by Annie Harbor. Iona has a terrible car accident on Black Mountain, while visiting Lonnie’s parents. Right before she drives the car off an embankment, she sees Nellie’s ghost, Merlin Hocket, standing in the road. Iona—who is a music major—is seriously injured. Lonnie is killed. When Annie (aka Nellie) and Harold arrive at the hospital, the doctor informs them of the situation and that their daughter is pregnant. It doesn’t take Annie long to put the whole story together. Iona is urged by her mother to take care of the baby situation. Annie is more than willing to find a doctor, even though the procedure is against the law. Iona goes back to school, even though the doctor said she would never play the piano professionally due to injuries to her hands incurred during the accident.

Annie’s dead mother appears to her one night, urging her to go to Iona some seven hundred miles away. When Annie arrives at the college, she finds her daughter near death in a pool of blood, a botched attempt to kill herself and the baby. Iona loses the baby but recovers. Soon after, she finds true love. She tells this boy everything that has happened to her. Annie is amazed at her daughter’s courage and honesty. She decides to come clean with her husband and daughter by telling them her murderous story.  The book ends with an epilogue that allows the reader to see a glimpse of Nellie’s last years on earth.

Black Mountain is as much a character in this book as any of the other characters, and this lends richness to the storytelling. The characters are brought to life through their mountain lore, ghost stories, hoodoo, and superstition. Don’t midjudge these soft-spoken people because of the plain way in which they speak and their misuse of grammar. Their words reflect a fading culture of southern storytelling. They are wise, gentle, calculating, and intelligent in ways the reader could never imagine.

In this 70,000-word book, the writer has attempted to mix good with evil, old with new, ignorant with wise, and sophisticated with plain in hopes of capturing some of the voices from her beloved South.