It’s 1864, the last year of the Civil War, when a new conscription law establishes the Confederate Junior Reserves, which requires boys to serve in the army after their 17th birthday.  Protagonists Billy Nick Long of Henderson County and John Rattler of the Snowbird Cherokee Community are sent to Camp Vance in Morganton, NC, along with other members of the Junior Reserve. The boys have not yet been trained or provided with weapons when Union soldiers raid the camp and take the boys as prisoners of war.  In order to save their lives, the boys join the Union Army’s Galvanized Regiments and head west towards California and Oregon to fight in the American Indian Wars.  Garren’s novel weaves historical evidence of the crimes and atrocities committed during these two wars with his coming-of-age tale of two North Carolina boys.

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

Posted: August 21st, 2009 under 2008, Burke, Garren, Terrel T., Henderson, Historical, Mountains.
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That Hazel Marie! Miss Julia has become fond of her late husband’s mistress and the couple’s son, but Hazel Marie hasn’t always made it easy.  Miss Julia was scandalized when Hazel moved in with a new boyfriend, private detective J.D. Pickens.  Hazel and J.D. are each on the stormy side, and when J.D. has had enough, he leaves town.  Now Hazel finds herself expecting twins, and Miss Julia decides she must get the couple back together.

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

Posted: May 28th, 2009 under 2000-, 2009, Henderson, Humor, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Novels in Series, Piedmont, Ross, Ann B..
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Miss Julia can’t figure out what is wrong with her friend Sam. He is too old for a mid-life crisis and too young for senility, but he inexplicably shows up in her driveway one day wearing a leather jacket and riding a Harley. Although she can’t seem to wrap her mind around it, he also begins courting her in earnest: flowers, bad poetry, and calling “just to talk.” However, the real problem in this book is that Miss Julia’s housekeeper Lillian and all her neighbors are in danger of being evicted by their shady landlord. Miss Julia comes to the rescue by organizing a Poker Run motorcycle fundraiser, but must also dodge the unwanted attentions of the event’s biggest benefactor. This is the fourth book about the proper widow’s adventures in the fictional town of Abbotsville.

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

Posted: May 22nd, 2009 under 2000-, 2003, Henderson, Historical, Humor, Mystery, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Novels in Series, Piedmont, Ross, Ann B..
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When Hazel Marie decides to move out of Miss Julia’s house–and in with her boyfriend, J.D.–the proper widow isn’t sure what to do. Luckily, there are people in town who are more in the marrying mood and Julia throws herself into planning a proper wedding for a local couple. But nothing is ever easy in Abbotsville; there are bridal wedding jitters, uninvited guests, and a local thief for Julia to contend with. This is the third novel about Miss Julia’s exploits in the fictional town of Abbotsville.

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

Posted: February 23rd, 2009 under 2000-, 2002, Henderson, Humor, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Novels in Series, Piedmont, Ross, Ann B..
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At the opening of Miss Julia Takes Over, Hazel Marie Puckett disappears after a dinner-date in Asheville with Abbotsville’s new fundraiser. Although Hazel Marie was the mistress of Julia’s now-deceased husband, she and her son Lloyd are now part of Julia’s family and the upstanding widow is determined to find her. Since the police won’t help, Julia enlists the assistance of a beer-drinking, womanizing private eye. Her search brings her all around North Carolina and has her meeting a NASCAR driver outside Rockingham, whose missing property is connected to Hazel Marie’s disappearance. Readers of the first novel in the Miss Julia series will be familiar with the cast of supporting characters, including Miss Lillian, Sam Murdoch, Pastor Ledbetter, and televangelist Brother Vernon Puckett.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC Library Catalog.

Posted: February 4th, 2009 under 2000-, 2001, Henderson, Humor, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Novels in Series, Piedmont, Ross, Ann B..
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The very proper Julia Springer doesn’t believe in speaking ill of the dead, but her husband’s sudden demise leaves her in a difficult position. She finds out that her stingy husband of more than forty years was actually quite rich and, since there is no will, she inherits every penny of his money. However, her unexpected windfall brings out the worst in some of her small-town neighbors, including a pastor who tries to get the money by proving her legally incompetent. The widow also inherits something else unexpected: her husband’s illegitimate nine-year-old son. As if this weren’t enough to keep Julia busy, she also faces a strange televangelist, a robbery, and a kidnapping.

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

Posted: January 23rd, 2009 under 1990-1999, 1999, Henderson, Humor, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Novels in Series, Piedmont, Ross, Ann B..
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For Doug, a medical student from Durham, finding a summer job during the depression years is a difficult task. He travels west and eventually finds a position at a pharmacy in Hendersonville, where he pours sodas and sells tonics. As he becomes more a part of the town, he also becomes involved in two more controversial, and certainly very illegal, activities: moonshining and abortion. The author Thomas Wolfe makes a brief appearance and there are recurring references to his book Look Homeward, Angel.

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

Posted: November 4th, 2008 under 2000-, 2006, Henderson, Historical, Hubbell, David Smith, Mountains.
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What’s up with the men in Abbotsville??!! Mildred Allen’s husband has disappeared, Richard Stroud might have had his hand in the till, Pastor Ledbetter is toying with the idea of accepting a call to another church, and even Julia’s reliable Sam is acting suspiciously. And as if that isn’t enough, a developer wants to tear down the historic courthouse and redevelop the courthouse square. Miss Julia has a plan to scare off the developer, but it’s anything but a quiet spring in Abbotsville.

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

Posted: August 28th, 2008 under 2000-, 2008, Henderson, Humor, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Novels in Series, Piedmont, Ross, Ann B..
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Miss Julia has always been the model of propriety, but she recently threw caution to the the wind and eloped, marrying Sam Murdoch at an all-night wedding chapel in Pigeon Forge, TN. Upon their return home, she has some difficulties settling into newly-married life, but these difficulties are pushed aside when she learns that her marriage might not be legal. Amidst worrying about whether or not she is living in sin (and how to keep anyone else from finding out), Julia agrees to teach etiquette to Miss S.W.A.T., Miss Detective Squad, and the rest of the Miss Abbot County Sheriff’s Department beauty pageant contestants. Miss Julia’s School of Beauty is the sixth book in the series of novels that focus on Miss Julia and her adventures in the fictional town of Abbotsville.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC Library Catalog.

Posted: August 1st, 2008 under 2000-, 2005, Henderson, Historical, Humor, Mystery, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Novels in Series, Piedmont, Ross, Ann B..
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• Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind. New York: William Morrow, 1999.
• Miss Julia Takes Over. New York: Viking, 2001.
• Miss Julia Throws a Wedding. New York: Viking, 2002.
• Miss Julia Hits the Road. New York: Viking, 2003.
• Miss Julia Meets Her Match. New York: Viking, 2004.
• Miss Julia’s School of Beauty. New York: Viking, 2005.
• Miss Julia Stands Her Ground. New York: Viking, 2006.
• Miss Julia Strikes Back. New York: Viking, 2007.
• Miss Julia Paints the Town. New York: Viking, 2008.
• Miss Julia Delivers the Goods. New York: Viking, 2009.

“Miss Julia” is Mrs. Wesley Lloyd Springer (later Mrs. Sam Murdock) of Abbotsville, N.C., a fictional small town probably based on Hendersonville. Miss Julia is a proper Southern lady with a fierce independent streak who does not hesitate to speak her mind. Each book finds Miss Julia embroiled in some new scandal or adventure and reveals, in the interactions between her and the colorful residents of the town, the warm-hearted kindness underneath Miss Julia’s feisty exterior.

Posted: March 13th, 2008 under Henderson, Humor, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Novels in Series, Piedmont, Ross, Ann B., Series.
Comments: 1