True as True Can Be

Lucinda Mae lives with her family and their homestead animals in Painter Creek Hollow, a secluded nook of the Blue Ridge Escarpment in upstate South Carolina that people call the Gorges. . . . True as True Can Be is a novel that explores persistence, curiosity, wonder, fortitude, friendship, secrets, morality, and intimacy with place. It is largely inspired by the novels of Jean Craighead George. The story also explores the lifeways of rural mountain families who remain tied to traditional ways of living, such as raising hogs, poultry, hunting squirrels, and using local plants for medicine, among others. The winter holiday season, the warming earth, and the ways misunderstanding and prejudice can color relationships between friends and between generations are also themes in the novel.

Thorpe Moeckel of Roanoke, VA

Thorpe Moeckel teaches in the writing program at Hollins University. His work has appeared in Field, Open City, The Antioch Review, Poetry Daily, Orion, Poetry, The Southern Review, andVirginia Quarterly Review, among others. He is the author of a nonfiction book, Watershed Days, and four books of poems -- Odd Botany, Making a Map of the River, Venison: a poem, and Arcadia Road: A Trilogy. Chapbooks include Meltlines, Off Owl’s Head, and The Guessing Land. His work has been recipient of NEA, Javits, Hoyns, Sustainable Arts, and Kenan Fellowships.