The Hinterlands: A Mountain Tale in Three Parts,Used

Review "In words plain and deep as the hills, [Morgan] binds these tales into a richly textured family saga....Rich in character and detail, this novel forebodes as well the ecological changes that civilization has brought to our wilderness." Booklist April 1, 1994"Work and endurance flow through this book like twin currents in a mighty stream...[A] wise, eloquent and at last sobering portrayal of our country's founding generations." New York Times Book Review, July 24, 1994 Product Description Robert Morgan's first novel unfolds through the voices of three generations of Appalachian storytellers. In the first segment, adventurous teenager Petal runs off with a handsome homesteader in 1772. She tells of setting up housekeeping on the frontier, including the story of birthing her first baby while staving off a panther. In 1816, Petal's grandson uses a starved pig to track the best route for building a route down the mountain to market. In 1845, Petal's grandson constructs the turnpike down the mountain. From the Back Cover The Hinterlands is the story of a family who found, marked, and paved their way into America's eastern frontier. Unfolding in the voices of three generations of mountaineer storytellers who specialize in keeping listeners on the edge of their seats, this is fiction that plunks us down right into the thick of pioneer life. In 1772, an adventurous teenager named Petal ran off with a handsome homesteader on his way to the new frontier in Tennessee. Decades later, Petal spins a hairraising tale for her grandchildren. She includes all the grittiest details of setting up housekeeping with what she carried from home on her back, of birthing her first baby while staving off a panther, of living in the middle of no where_with nary a known neighbor. In 1816, Petal's grandson Solomon and a starved pig named Sue tracked the best route down off the mountain to market. He tells his grandson of his panther, not forgetting to mention his runins with snakes and spiders, with thorny thickets and what was hidden within them. In 1845, Solomon's son David, inheritor of the family bent for roadbuilding, took on linking two mountains with a turnpike. Despite one mountain's mighty efforts to stop him, his feat marked the beginning of the wilderness's end. Based on the author's own family stories, The Hinterlands is both rollicking folk history and riveting adventure fiction. Robert Morgan's three gifted storytellers tell it like it was_and with a vengeance. About the Author Robert Morgan was raised on land in the Carolina Blue Ridge mountains settled by his Welsh ancestors. Author of three novels, nine collections of poetry, and two collections of short fiction, Morgan has taught English at Cornell University since 1971. Excerpt. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Something clawed on the side of the cabin and dropped like a sack of meal on the roof. The cabin creaked with the weight. That painter is as big as a bear, I thought. The door was bolted with the piece of hickory your Grandpa had whittled to slide into the slot. It didn't look like nothing could bust the door down. But just to make sure I shoved the beech over against the door. If the thing tried to break down the door I'd sit on the bench. The big cat walked around on the roof and the whole cabin was shaking. The building shuddered like wind was hitting it. Realus had made the cabin strong out of chestnut and hickory logs, and I prayed the pegs wouldn't give way. The painter seemed to be walking back and forth on the roof, like he was trying to find a place to get inside. First one end of the roof would shake under his weight, and then the other. Splinters fell off the ceiling. He walked along the comb and then along the edges. For a while I didn't hear nothing and thought he might have jumped off. But then they was a scratching and growling around the chimney, and I saw what my problem was going to be. Tha