Finalist for a 2018 Southern Book Prize for Biography and History
Troylyn Ball and her husband, Charlie, an engineer and real estate developer, had spent their entire lives in Texas. But after a near fatal trip to the emergency room with their non-verbal, wheelchair-bound son Marshall, they admitted the dust and the heat were too dangerous. To save their boys, the Balls cashed out, sold their beloved farm, and moved to Asheville, North Carolina.
Nearing fifty, Troy thought her chance at adventure had passed. But in this booming little Appalachian Mountain city of hippies, farmers, artisans, and retirees, she unexpectedly discovered a support network and something she’d never had in twenty-five years of providing round-the-clock care for her special needs boys: the freedom to pursue her own dreams. She struck up a friendship with a legendary eighty-year-old raconteur from the mountains, met his friends, and soon found herself in a rickety country shack with an ingeniously inventive retired farmer trying to create the best recipe ever for traditional mountain moonshine.
But when the real estate bubble burst and the collapse of her husband Charlie’s new venture in Asheville left them deeply in debt, Troy realized her ten-year business plan for Troy & Sons Platinum Whiskey wasn’t enough. If she was going to save her family—and she was definitely going to save her family—she needed to become the most successful woman in the legal whiskey business. And she needed to do it fast, before the bank took her house, her business, and everything she’d worked so hard to achieve.
Full of eccentric characters and charming locations—from a "haunted" cabin in the mountains to the last farm in the world to grow heritage Crooked Creek corn—Pure Heart is a charming story of a woman who set out to find a purpose in the most unexpected of places, and ended up finding happiness, contentment, and a community of love and respect.
There is nothing stronger than a mother’s love . . . except a good glass of moonshine
The mountains of North Carolina are rich—lush with the greens and blues of the seven-mile views and bursting with a culture where the ways of Old Appalachia meet the new South. This is the heart of moonshine country, where they practice an art passed down from generation to generation, crafted not only out of pride and ingenuity, but also out of a daring to push the boundaries of the law to create a product that has come, in many ways, to symbolize America.
Troy Ball is a classic Southern belle, with an easy charm, impeccable manners, a wide smile, and golden-blond hair. But beneath that crisp white blouse and strand of pearls is a streak of tenacity a mile wide. In the early 2000s, Troy and her husband, Charlie, left their native Texas for the up-and-coming town of Asheville, North Carolina, because the climate was better for the health of their two severely ill, special-needs sons. Troy found there something the dedicated mom never expected: time for herself. And then along came Forrest Jarrett, an Appalachian raconteur with a pickup truck, a thousand stories to tell, and a sip or two of white squeezings, aka moonshine, to share with the newcomer.
What followed was a surprising friendship and a five-year journey into the heart of distilling old-fashioned corn whiskey. Stretching back to Colonial times and forward to today and the Byzantine laws Troy had to navigate to become the first female legal moonshiner in the history of the South, this a true moonshine-making odyssey that will touch your soul.
When the real estate crash wiped out her family financially and threatened the safety of her children, Troy realized that moonshine was more than a hobby . . . her world-class whiskey (and newfound friends) could save her family, too.
Pure Heart is a story of dedication, inspiration, and days spent in a run-down shack in the company of some of the finest and funniest good-old boys you’d ever want to meet. It is the story of how a strong woman used grit and determination to launch a thriving business, and what a mother will do to help her children. It is also about sharing a drink with friends—and all that is great about the South.
