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Betty Pace walks readers through a tumultuous year in the life of Fern, an adventurous, trailblazing first-year teacher, who has traveled deep into the hills of Eastern Kentucky in August 1961 to teach twenty-one students in a one room schoolhouse. Before the sun rises, Fern begins her day trudging through the thick terrain and hollers of Twisting Sourwood where she happens upon wild animals, small town secrets and a murder of a young boy and his mother. Fern and two other teachers leave their homes across Kentucky and West Virginia to board with the Sizemore family who teach the young educators how to cook, pack in coal, play Rook and steer clear of feuding families and flooded waters as they navigate their way through reading, arithmetic and writing lessons with their students. While nestled in a schoolhouse deep in the Appalachian mountains, Fern aspires to raise enough money to travel to exciting places that she has read about where she will eat in fancy restaurants that are surrounded by tall building stocked full of sharp dressed businessmen who work in high paying jobs. SOFTBACK VERSION By Betty Pace -
Historians tend to tell our history through the lives of famous people, and certainly biographies and autobiographies play an important role in understanding Kentucky history. However, since history is the sum total of all human experiences, the lives of everyday people should shape our history, too. That’s why memoirs like the one presented here by Harry J. Rust are so important. Harry grew up on a farm in Campbell County in northern Kentucky, and, more than eight decades later, he still lives in that same area. His story of family life covers four generations. It is a strong contribution to our understanding of the hardworking middle class that has made America a great nation – a middle class that is beginning to appear more frequently in Kentucky and Appalachian memoirs. It is an important remembrance that neither exploits nor exaggerates the difficulties of rural life in Kentucky. It is a rich tapestry of the work, emotions, thoughts, and words of a man who represents millions of unrecognized rural people who are the true flesh and blood of history. This book is a valuable contribution to Kentucky history. HARDBACK VERSION Harry J. Rust -
Written and created by Joan Litteral, Angel: A Donkey's Tale is a full color, fully illustrated children's book. Illustrations by Evan and Joe Kovach. HARDBACK VERSION Joan Litteral -
Kentucky Is My Home is a new collection of Jesse Stuart's previously unpublished poetry. Compiled and edited by John W. McCauley and published in 2025, it is a book that will continue to give life to Stuart’s poetry and his legend as a world-famous author, a far-sighted conservationist, and a respected spokesman for the people of Appalachia. HARDBACK VERSION Jesse Stuart -
God’s Oddling is a book I wanted to write all my life. It is about my father, Mitchell (Mick) Stuart, who was unable to read or write anything except his own name. He was a great man — great in spirit and great in his influence upon others. I loved and respected him. When I set out to write this book I discovered that I had been writing it all my life, for I had already published poems, stories, and articles about my father. The title of this book, God’s Oddling, comes from something my father used to call me. For years he called me “oddling” because I had gone away to college and become a writer, and because I didn’t smoke the tobacco we grew or drink the mountain liquor brewed nearby. I was recovering from my heart attack when my father died. During those last days he often visited me at my house, and he still called me “oddling.” It was then, just before he died, that I realized my father was one of God’s oddlings, not me. He was a proud, independent gentleman who made his own decisions and went his own way.—Jesse Stuart, Greenup, 1960
HARDBACK VERSION Jesse Stuart -
Smoke and Silence: The Lives of Ol’ Mort is a folk epic memoir built from memory, myth, and the stories passed down across generations in eastern Kentucky. Told in the voice of Mort’s great-great-grandson and rooted in tales shared by Mort’s grandson, this is the story of a man who lived hard and loved quietly—who survived a world war, outran federal agents, raised his family from the land, and became something larger than life without ever asking to be. Through battles, bartering, backwoods stills, and front porch wisdom, Mort's story unfolds in a series of vivid, true-to-place chapters that feel more lived than written. Whether he was lifting wagons, dodging revenuers, or writing letters for dying men in the trenches of France, Mort carried himself with a strength that didn’t need explaining. SOFTBACK VERSION Tanner Willis
