Dear Beast Author:Nancy Hale A slight disturbance is troubling the velvety smooth surface of life in Starkeyville, Virginia. The ladies gather as usual in Mrs. Starkey's dining room sipping tea and talking kin--"I don't see how people stand it who haven't got any!" Miss Lilybud Carter declares. And the men, when they come in from work, talk horses over their drinkin' whiske... more »y and branch water.
But an anonymous someone has written a book, "The Rose That Died," about a town very much like Starkeyville. It is a gentle, well-mannered book; but still, an invasion of privacy has been committed. And to compound the injury, a photographer from New York City is marching upon the town to take pictures for a feature article on the best-selling novel.
Only little Abby Daniel seems unaffected by this commotion. But then, Abby is always quiet, mousy and eager to please; you would hardly suspect she was a Yankee, a Southerner only by the dubious virtue of her marriage to pompous Boogher Daniel. When Mrs. Starkey assigns to her the tiresome task of escorting the young man from "Life" magazine on his tour of Starkeyville "to see he doesn't break china or steal anything," Abby accepts with her customary docility. Does she suspect that the outcome of this encounter will cause serious ructions; the very mildest, a reversal of her reputation for mousiness?
This ingriguing story about the precarious relationship between a young woman from Vermont and a Southern community which sometimes acts as if the Civil War never happened will prove to the many fans of Nancy Hale that her own years away from New England have not been wasted. Her matchless wit, her gentle but shrewd eye for mannerisms and affectations, and her evocative style make the small world of Starkeyville, Virginia as vivid and revealing as the settings of "A New England Girlhood" and "Heaven and Hardpan Farm."
Ex-library copy in nice condition for age. Has jacket. Not yellowing.« less