Addie: A Memoir - Softcover

Settle, Mary Lee

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0425174425 ISBN 13: 9780425174425

Publisher: Berkley Trade, 2000

Synopsis

The multi-award-winning author of The Beulah Quintet recounts her childhood in the Kahawha Valley of West Virginia in the aftermath of World War I, her experiences during the Great Depression, and her discovery of literature and music. Reprint.

About this title

Review:

This lively memoir has an unusual biographical twist--it focuses on an era well before the author Mary Lee Settle was even born. Not content to take the usual journey from childhood to old age, Settle instead focuses on the life and times of her own West Virginian Grandmother Addie. By exploring the roots of her family tree, Settle can give a broader perspective to her own life, her relationship with her mother and Grandmother, and the attitudes which she inherited from them.

Addie gives a fascinating insight into the culture of gentrified white Southerners at the turn of the century, a culture which ousted the young Addie for her scandalous relationship with a man who was far above her in status and class. Through meticulous research of family documents and court papers, Settle has painted a very personal but very telling portrait of a bygone era, and a life lived so long ago.

About the Author:

Mary Lee Settle, author of the Beulah Quintet and many other works of fiction, won the National Book Award for her novel Blood Tie, and her most recent novel, Choices, was named one of Publishers Weekly's Best Books of the Year. She has received an Award for Literature from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, and awards from the Southern Regional Council, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the Merrill Foundation. She is also the founder of the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction.

About this edition

• Publisher: Berkley Trade
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0425174425
• ISBN 13: 9780425174425
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 304