When Becca takes off, her skizzer (sister) Claire feels compelled to search for her.  Claire has a sense that Becca has gone back to North Carolina and a place in the woods where the sisters played.  A note found there, and a locket, send Claire on a trans-Atlantic search for Becca. To find Becca Claire has to delve into her family’s history–a history far more complicated than she ever imagined. This novel is a story of family secrets, nicely linking contemporary North Carolinians to people and events of early centuries in England.

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

Posted: December 29th, 2008 under 2000-, 2008, Kiesling, A. J., Mystery, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Piedmont, Wake.
Comments: none

It’s rare to find a novel about the illegal liquor trade in North Carolina that isn’t set in the mountains. This is that rare novel. It’s a prohibition era romance set around Bogue Banks. When one of their friends is blinded by bad liquor, a group of New York financiers decided to use a hunting preserve on Bogue Banks as a way station for their rum running. Lora Humphrey falls for one of the New Yorkers and spurns the attentions of a local coast guards man. Her jilted suitor seeks revenge by mobilizing the religious folks in the area against the liquor trade. When Lora takes her New Yorker to a revival they are singled out for condemnation; a well-described brawl ensues. As the locals start taking sides, Lora occupies herself helping a minister’s daughter and searching for long-buried treasure. All the plot lines come together in the end; along the way, the reader gets a good sense of the local geography.

Check this title’s availability and access an online copy through the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

Posted: December 26th, 2008 under 1920-1929, 1922, Baily, Waldron, Carteret, Coast, Novels to Read Online, Onslow, Romance/Relationship.
Comments: none

At the Tyrrell home in Transylvania County, lovely Flora Tyrrell pines for the attentions of her cousin Harry Sunderland and puts off another suitor, Geoffrey Charlton. While cousin Harry is entangled in another relationship, Geoffrey pursues Flora in walks, rides, and visits. Flora is outraged when she discovers that Geoffrey and Harry have been in cahoots. The novel contains many descriptions of the beautiful mountain scenery.

Check this title’s availability and access an online copy through the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

Posted: December 24th, 2008 under 1878, Mountains, Novels to Read Online, Reid, Christian, Tyrrell.
Comments: none

Judge Wargrave believes that his son has dishonored the family, so he plans to leave his estate to a nephew. The nephew, Laurence Desmond, is reluctant to accept the inheritance until he is sure that his cousin’s actions merit this harsh treatment. Laurence’s investigations upset other family members. Even when the rightful heir appears, matters are far from settled. In true early twentieth century style, the novel mixes romance into this tale of family honor. The story in set at the Wargrave country place in Davie County.

Check this title’s availability and access an online copy through the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

Posted: December 18th, 2008 under 1910-1919, 1911, Davie, Novels to Read Online, Piedmont, Reid, Christian.
Comments: none

The Hamptons live an Edenic life on their plantation the western North Carolina. Mrs. Hampton died young, but Mr. Hampton has had the pleasure of watching his children Walter and Norva grow to adulthood. The snake who enters this garden is Norva’s new husband Lawrence Hastings, a man she met in London. Hasting is lascivious and greedy, and his plot to seize the Hampton’s family’s wealth almost succeeds. The novel is thought to be set in Yancey County; the time is the early nineteenth century.

Check this title’s availability and access an online copy through the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

Posted: December 18th, 2008 under 1870-1879, 1878, Mountains, Novels to Read Online, Van Loon, Elizabeth, Yancey.
Comments: 2

Louisiana (Louise) Rogers, a pretty mountain girl, is sent by her father to Oakvale Springs to recover her health. The resort has a healthful climate, but most people who come there are well-to-do Southerners looking to socialize with people like themselves. Louisiana is out of place, as is Olivia Ferrol, a New Yorker. The misfits become friends. Olivia makes Louise her project, changing her hairstyle and manner of walking, and dressing her in finer clothes. Complications ensue when Olivia’s brother is taken with Louise. When Louise and the Ferrols take refuge at Louise’s house during a storm, the differences between Louise and her suitor are exposed. Louise’s father is the hero of this tale, which ends happily for the young lovers. Oakvale Springs is thought to be based on Hot Springs in Madison County.

Check this title’s availability and access an online copy through the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

Posted: December 18th, 2008 under 1900-1909, 1907, Burnett, Frances Hodson, Madison, Mountains, Novels to Read Online.
Comments: none

This brief novel was written during National Novel Writing Month in 2005.  It’s a fantasy that plays with the idea that all women love pirates.  Aithne Reade was a witch who escaped from Salem in 1692.  Aithne made her way to coastal North Carolina where her daughter Brenna grew up and fell in love with the pirate Red Davies.  Their happiness was cut short, and Brenna remains a restless spirit through the centuries.  When Bernice Sarris and her husband buy an old chest at an auction, Bernice finds within it Brenna’s diary and clothes that have some special properties.  Bernice is delighted by what the pirate jacket in the trunk does for husband’s sexual prowess (nice woman that she is, she even lends the jacket to her friends), but she is unprepared for consequences of wearing Brenna’s dress. The chapters in this book alternate between the colonial era and the present, but the two stories are woven together in a satisfying tale.

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

Posted: December 17th, 2008 under 2000-, 2007, Carteret, Coast, Dare, Hillman, Patrick, Hyde, Science Fiction/Fantasy.
Comments: none

Nicole Michelin lives a quiet life in Mount Olive.  Nicole’s parents were missionaries in Japan when her mother died.  Nicole remembers very little about their time there, but she has an abiding aversion to all things relating to Japan.  Nicole’s a school teacher now, happy to help out her grandmother and aunt who had so much to do with raising her.  Work, family, and an interest tropical fish–this fills up Nicole’s life.  Things start to change when a man in Japan responds to one of Nicole’s columns on the Pretty Fish website.  Harrison wants to meet Nicole and asks her to come to Japan.  Although hesitant to accept, Nicole senses that this is a chance both to deal with the tragedy of her childhood and to explore a different future. Nicole’s faith and her grandmother help Nicole take this big leap.  Nicole is a likable character; the first person narrative draws the reader into her story.

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

Posted: December 15th, 2008 under 2000-, 2008, Coastal Plain, Religious/Inspirational, Wayne, Wisler, Alice J..
Comments: none

This beautiful book is written in the voice of Joseph, a high school boy.  When the novel opens, Joseph is living in a homeless shelter with his mother who has multiple addictions.  It’s shocking to Joseph that he and his mother have fallen so low, but at least the shelter is near a good high school.  At school, Joseph finds supportive adults, a few new friends, and a chance to show his talent on the tennis court.  Joseph’s parents are divorced, and his father is in service in Iraq.  His father does what he can to help, and an aunt offers him a home, but Joseph wants to stay by his mother’s side to save her from her worst impulses.  As the novel progresses, Joseph finds his way to a better life.

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

Posted: December 11th, 2008 under 2000-, 2008, Children & Young Adults, Durham, Moses, Shelia P., Piedmont.
Comments: none

In this novel, the Civil War is far from over in December of 1864.  Confederate naval fighters in the waters off North Carolina defeat the Union navy’s blockade.  Wilmington and eastern North Carolina are still threatened, even though Sherman’s march through Georgia has destroyed his army, not Georgia.  This book tells a tale of fierce fighting along the Carolina coastal plain during the early months of 1865.  Historical figures appear, along with fictional characters whose presence adds romantic interest to the narrative and gives the reader a vivid sense of the war’s cost to civilians.

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

Posted: December 10th, 2008 under 2000-, 2008, Craven, Hester, Robert W., Historical, New Hanover.
Comments: 5