Sharyn McCrumb – författare

A haunting tale of murder and injustice in the Appalachian wilderness, blending fact and folklore.Set in the lush hills of the Appalachian wilderness, The Ballad of Frankie Silver blends legends and folklore with high suspense in this stellar novel, considered one of Sharyn McCrumb''s crowning achievements.In 1833, eighteen-year-old Frankie Silver was convicted of murder in Burke County, North Carolina. Through a detailed investigation, the local sheriff and townsfolk began to question her guilt, but the wheels of justice were mercilessly unstoppable, and she was hanged.More than a century later, another woman is convicted of murder in Tennessee. Her life rests in the hands of Spencer Arrowood, a man who discovers haunting parallels between the two convictions. While Frankie''s fate is sealed, there may still be time to save an innocent woman.With lyrical prose and rich Appalachian history, The Ballad of Frankie Silver breathes life into generations of characters against an unforgettable Southern canvas. This densely plotted novel from New York Times bestselling author Sharyn McCrumb is a must-read for fans of historical fiction and suspenseful storytelling.

"Ms. McCrumb writes with quiet fire and maybe a little mountain magic. . . . She plucks the mysteries from people''s lives and works these dark narrative threads into Appalachian legends older than the hills. Like every true storyteller, she has the Sight."—The New York Times Book ReviewIn 1935, a beautiful young schoolteacher is accused of murdering her coal-miner father ina Virginia mountain community.National journalists descend on Wise County, intent upon exonerating the defendant, and on stereotyping the mountain community to satisfy their Depression-era readers.But local cub reporter Carl Jennings writes what he sees: an ordinary town and a defendant who is probably guilty.The novel resonates with the present: an economic depression; a deadly Japanese earthquake; the rise of political fanatics; and a media culture turning news stories into soap operas for the diversion of the masses.A literary tour de force, The Devil Amongst the Lawyers continues the Ballard saga by examining social issues that go well beyond the fate of one defendant. It is a testament to Sharyn McCrumb''s lyrical and poetic writing about the mountain South.

In 1935, when Erma Morton, a beautiful young woman with a teaching degree, is charged with the murder of her father in a remote Virginia mountain community, the case becomes a cause célèbre for the national press.

Eager for a case to replace the Lindbergh trial in the public''s imagination, the journalists descend on the mountain county intent on infusing their stories with quaint local color: horse-drawn buggies, rundown shacks, children in threadbare clothes. They need tales of rural poverty to give their Depression-era readers people whom they can feel superior to. The untruth of these cultural stereotypes did not deter the big-city reporters, but a local journalist, Carl Jennings, fresh out of college and covering his first major story, reports what he sees: an ordinary town and a defendant who is probably guilty.

This journey to a distant time and place summons up ghosts from the reporters'' pasts: Henry Jernigan''s sojourn in Japan that ended in tragedy, Shade Baker''s hardscrabble childhood on the Iowa prairie, and Rose Hanelon''s brittle sophistication, a shield for her hopeless love affair. While they spin their manufactured tales of squalor, Carl tries to discover the truth in the Morton trial with the help of his young cousin Nora, who has the Sight. But who will believe a local cub reporter whose stories contradict the nation''s star journalists? For the reader, the novel resonates with the present: an economic depression, a deadly flu epidemic, a world contending with the rise of political fanatics, and a media culture determined to turn news stories into soap operas for the diversion of the masses.

A stunning return to the lands, ballads, and characters upon which she made her name, The Devil Amongst the Lawyers is a testament to Sharyn McCrumb''s lyrical and evocative writing.

The Ballad of Tom Dooley is a literary triumph—what began as a fictional re-telling of the historical account of one of the most famous mountain ballads of all time became an astonishing revelation of the real culprit responsible for the murder of Laura Foster

Hang down your head, Tom Dooley...The folk song, made famous by the Kingston Trio, recounts a tragedy in the North Carolina mountains after the Civil War. Laura Foster, a simple country girl, was murdered and her lover Tom Dula was hanged for the crime. The sensational elements in the case attracted national attention: a man and his beautiful, married lover accused of murdering the other-woman; the former governor of North Carolina spearheading the defense; and a noble gesture from the prisoner on the eve of his execution, saving the woman he really loved.

With the help of historians, lawyers, and researchers, Sharyn McCrumb visited the actual sites, studied the legal evidence, and uncovered a missing piece of the story that will shock those who think they already know what happened—and may also bring belated justice to an innocent man. What seemed at first to be a sordid tale of adultery and betrayal was transformed by the new discoveries into an Appalachian Wuthering Heights. Tom Dula and Ann Melton had a profound romance spoiled by the machinations of their servant, Pauline Foster.

Bringing to life the star-crossed lovers of this mountain tragedy, Sharyn McCrumb gifts understanding and compassion to her compelling tales of Appalachia, and solidifies her status as one of today''s great Southern writers.