Family of Earth: A Southern Mountain Childhood

Discovered as a typewritten manuscript only after her death in 2006,Family of Earth allows us to see into the mind of the young author andAppalachian native Wilma Dykeman (1920–2006), who would become oneof the American South’s most prolific and storied writers. Focusing on herchildhood in Buncombe County, Dykeman reveals a perceptive and sophisticatedunderstanding of human nature, the environment, and social justice.And yet, for her words’ remarkable polish, her voice still resonates as rawand vital. Against the backdrop of early twentieth-century life in Asheville,she chronicles the touching, at times harrowing, story of her family’s fortunes,plotting their rise and fall in uncertain economic times and endingwith her father’s sudden death in 1934 when she was fourteen years old. Featuring a foreword by fellow North Carolinian Robert Morgan, Familyof Earth stands as a new major literary work by a groundbreaking author.