Thursday, November 20, 2008

New Book


New Book

Things have been really, really busy here of late. I am trying to balance four different books. Here is the latest release:

Families, Friends, and Felons: Growing Up in the Avery County Jail
This book was just released last week. We (I co-wrote this with Jimmie Daniels) had a book party this past Sunday afternoon. Families, Friends, and Felons takes a look at a historic structure, the Avery County jail, but from a different perspective. When most people think about a jail, they think about the incarceration of wrong doers. We did not focus on those who wound up on the wrong side of the law, but on those who lived in the jail. Over the course of almost seventy years, the jail was home to the jailer, sometimes the sheriff and sometimes an appointed deputy, and his family. The jailer’s wife often cooked (and at times cleaned) for the prisoners, and other members of the family helped take care of those men and women behind bars. Families, Friends, and Felons is the story (in their own words) of those families. They not only witnessed prisoners being brought in at any time of the day or night, but also weddings (two documented) and births (one documented), along with regular observances: birthdays, anniversaries, even Christmas.

The book is 51 pages in length and has a dozen photographs, most published for the first time. You can get signed copies of this book by sending a check for $15.00 to: PO Box 393, Crossnore, NC 28616 or, you can order it online by visiting www.michaelchardy.com/books.html. If you want us to address this book to someone in particular, please let us know to whom it needs to be addressed.

The folks who picked the book up last Sunday have already started calling and saying how much they enjoyed the book. Get your copy soon. It makes a great gift!

And don’t forget, I have two other books on Avery County. The first is the collection of historic images and the second is a collection of essays on all kinds of Avery County subjects, like Lulu Belle and Scotty, Howard Marmon, the Land of Oz, Crossnore School, Childsville, and many other locations and people. Check it out at http://www.michaelchardy.com/

Well, I hope everyone is well. It’s been snowing here on Hawshaw Mountain and very cold. More like January than November.

Regards,
Michael

PS: The new Mitchell County book is slated for release in February, and the book on the 58th NCT will be out sometime next year

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