Across the Blue Ridge Mountains
by M S Marangione
Paperback
ISBN: 9781952439391
 
Mary, the protagonist, makes a fateful decision to run off with a grifter to escape her abusive mother. The novel follows her exile from her family, abandonment in a West Virginia coal camp, and how she eventually flourishes with a family on Hightop Mountain in what is now Shenandoah National Park. Surrounded by nature, she heals from her traumas and discovers the power of female friendships. Empowered, she confronts the long arm of the federal government when over 1,000 families are told to abandon their homes and she fights to save her home and way of life. Even when the government burns down her home, her resilience and grace in the face of adversity become her beacon and ultimately deliver her from herself.
 
About the Author: M.S. Marangione is a Professor of American and Appalachian Literature at Blue Ridge Community College. Her poetry has been published in Lumina magazine, Sagewoman, and the North Shore Woman’s Newspaper.