Mansions in Your Memory

Jack McCall owes his exceptional memory to his mother’s side of the family, and many of his fondest reminiscences revolve around his maternal grandparents’ home of Brim Hollow. Even now, decades after his childhood in the rural South, he returns to “the hollow”—sometimes in person, sometimes in his mind.

In McCall’s mind, sounds and activity of the tobacco farms spring back to life along gravel roads long paved over with more durable but less evocative tarmac. Owls hoot mournfully over fresh-fallen snow, and the dull sound of axes chopping much-needed firewood reverberates through the forests. Old friends and lost family come to life again, bringing with them their love, their wisdom, and their quirks.

A collection of short stories from the 1950s and 1960s, Mansions in Your Memory recalls scenes once commonplace in Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and the Carolinas. Join McCall as he brings these warm, wholesome scenes back to life. Everyone has their own stash of memories—mansions of the mind that we revisit again and again. McCall hopes his stories bring to mind your own. And remember, while some memories fade with time, the best grow ever more vivid.

Jack McCall is an award-winning newspaper columnist who has worked in positions ranging from livestock-market operator to health care executive. In addition to Mansions in Your Memory, he is the author of Fireflies in Winter, Snowflakes in Summertime, Daffodils in Autumn, and Falling Leaves and Spring Time. McCall received his BS in agriculture from the University of Tennessee and his master’s degree from the Graduate School of Banking of the South at Louisiana State University. He and his wife, Kathy, live in Hartsville, Tennessee. They have three sons—J. Brim, Jonathan, and Joseph—and seven grandchildren.