Smith, Lee

Lee Smith has written fiction for forty-five years and now she tells her own story. Set deep in the mountains of Virginia, the Grundy of her childhood was a place of coal miners, tent revivals, mountain music, drive-in theaters, and her daddy's dimestore. Because of that dimestore, where she would listen to customers and invent adventures for the store's dolls, she became a storyteller. Smith has created a moving personal portrait and a testament to embracing one's heritage.

Four women, part of a group of classmates from Blue Ridge women's college who traveled down the Mississippi on a homemade raft in 1965, reunite thirty-five years later to share their memories, examine how their lives have turned out, and sprinkle the ashes of a fifth friend in the waters off New Orleans.

Collects fourteen short stories focused on the bittersweet nature of life, including the story of a young boy who dreams of being a comedian and the widowed Mrs. Darcy's trip to the beach.