Autumn Bends the Rebel Tree
Jun 25, 2011
Author: Carolyn Guy
Pub. Date: May 2011
Publisher: Canterbury House Publishing, Limited
Format: Paperback , 264pp
ISBN-13: 9780982539699ISBN: 098253969X
Clarinda is one hell of a strong woman. Not only physically, but mentally.
She helped raise her siblings - at times the children actually lived alone in their mountain cabin - to marry at 14 and give birth to 17 children. Yes, that's right, 17. Her husband dies and she's left with 11 children at home and no way to earn money.
Eventually she marries up again to a man she thinks will provide only to find him mean spirited and not what the children need in a Daddy. So she packs up the kids and goes out on her own again.
In 1940s Appalachia, this is not the most sensible nor the easiest thing to do. But as I said, Clarinda is one tough woman.
This is her story.
The book is written as if it's a biography of her life and that, combined with the detailed description of living in those hardscrabble times in the mountains, makes for a compelling "historical" read.
A slim novel, but packed as full as a much larger book.
