An autobiography that begins with one's birth begins too late, in the middle of the story, sometimes at the end. So begins Mary Lee Settle's memoir. Her story carries within it inherited choices, old habits, old quarrels, old disguises, and the river that formed the Kanawha Valley of West Virginia and the mores of her childhood. She traces effects on her family and herself as ancient as earthquakes, mountain formations, and the crushing of swamp into coal deposits. In doing so, Settle records the expectations, talents, and tragedies of a people and a place that would serve as her deep and abiding subject in The Beulah Quintet.
- ISBN10 0425174425
- ISBN13 9780425174425
- Publish Date 1 July 2000 (first published 31 October 1998)
- Publish Status Out of Stock
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Berkley Publishing Group
- Format Paperback (US Mass Market)
- Pages 304
- Language English