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.

These thirteen lyrical tales of the Southern Appalachians evoke with crystal clarity the natural world of this rural environment. From Civil War prison camps to contemporary trailer parks, these lyrical stories come alive with an array of intriguing characters—male and female, young and elderly, learned and unlearned.

The separate passions and dreams of these individuals mirror the larger cultural and historical dramas of American life. And Morgan’s meticulous eye for detail creates an indelible sense of place in readers both familiar with and strangers to the Blue Ridge Mountains, who will feel the inescapable lure of the region that is Morgan’s birthright.

Opening with the powerful prize-winning “A Brightness New and Welcoming,” about a Confederate soldier in a Chicago prison camp, the collection then charts a course through the changing landscape of the North Carolina mountains—through world wars, Vietnam, and its aftermath—revealing the strengthening and loosening of the strong bonds of Southern families over generations.