The Hinterlands: A Mountain Tale in Three Parts - Softcover

Morgan, Robert

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1565120213 ISBN 13: 9781565120211

Publisher: Algonquin Books, 1994

Synopsis

This 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 specializing in keeping listeners on the edges of their seats, this is fiction that plunks us down right into the thick of pioneer life. Using his own family stories as his inspiration, Robert Morgan has crafted a riveting folk history alive with adventure. Morgan's three gifted storytellers tell it like it was--with a vengeance.

About this title

About the Author

Robert Morgan is the bestselling author of numerous works of fiction―including the Oprah Book Club selection Gap Creek―and non-fiction, and is also an established poet with fourteen collections to his credit. Born in Hendersonville, NC, he teaches at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, where he is Kappa Alpha Professor of English.

From the Back Cover

First order of business for the pioneers was finding their way. After that came marking, then clearing, and finally paving that way. Axing wilderness inroads inch-by-inch, linking settlement with settlement - this was the challenge. 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 hair-raising 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 nowhere - 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 run-ins 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!

Edition details

• Publisher: Algonquin Books
• Publication date: 1994
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1565120213
• ISBN 13: 9781565120211
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 368