Fiction

Why is it that “the one that got away” sometimes intrigues us more than the one that didn’t? Sara Anderson, a kindergarten teacher engaged to handsome young minister Daniel Parker, faces that question when she is called for jury duty and discovers that an old flame is the prosecuting attorney. During a week-long jury trial, Sara faces a torrent of emotions – betrayal, bitterness, fear, and worry – all the while listening to the evidence in the case at hand. Sara suspects that there is more to the story than meets the eye, but she isn’t prepared for the answer to be so shockingly close to her own heart.

Little Sam Mountain follows the life of John Dowdy as he grows up in the mountains of Western North Carolina during the Great Depression. Like so many mountain people, the Dowdys experience great poverty, but they are patriotic and eager to enlist when World War II breaks out. The novel follows John Dowdy as he leaves his sweetheart, Sarah, and his family to go to Europe to fight. When he returns after the war and sees the dramatic changes that have occurred, he is forced to reassess his plans for a life on Little Sam Mountain.