In this breathtaking collection of stories, celebrated author and poet Robert Morgan portrays the lives and history of a strong-limbed, strong-willed people: the settlers of the Blue Ridge Mountains and their descendants.

Struggling to survive in an ancient mountain landscape that alternately thwarts their efforts and infuses them with joy and vitality, Morgan’s people undergo the transition from the Indian skirmishes of the post-Revolutionary War era to the trailer parks of the present day. With one eye on the land itself and the other on its inhabitants, Morgan poignantly portrays a history of change, of transformation in the landscape, in humanity’s relationship to the earth, and in people’s relationships with each other. His intimate knowledge of the region he portrays makes this collection a valuable social history. At the same time, Morgan offers a moving theme which is universal and eternal—the majestic immutability of the earth and the heroic human struggle to live, love, and create new life.

Focusing on one people in one place, Morgan addresses the themes that matter to all people in all places: birth and death, love and loss, joy and sorrow, the necessity for remembrance, and the inevitability of forgetting.