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Mountain Author and Her Mom Pen Southern Story Inside the Library By Mary Scott Norris
It has been a year since I first met Jennifer Leigh Youngblood. She had just moved back to the mountains and was in the Library’s children’s room, choosing books with her two young sons. The radiant young author, who immediately impressed me with her friendliness and gracious manner, revealed that she and her mother, Sandra Poole, had written a book that was to be published in the summer. From that moment, I looked forward to reading Livin’ in High Cotton, set in the little town of Alder Springs, Alabama, a stone’s throw (or so) south of the Tennessee line. The time is the late 1920’s. Smart and gentle Shelby Collins was ruthlessly taken by her own papa from the house she shared with him, her mother and siblings in Cartersville, Georgia, and deposited in a home for abandoned girls in the neighboring state of Alabama. After the shock of this event, following a past of treachery and deceit, Shelby begins to put her life back together. She meets Harlan, and they fall in love. The road to happiness is not easy and takes the reader on a roller-coaster ride. This narrative dispels the Tobacco Road image of the old rural South. Strong values and principles are presented. The characters are innovative and stay with the reader long after the last page – even the villains. For instance, take Bobby Ray Ledford, moonshiner and bootlegger. From Chapter 24, “No one really knew for sure where Bobby Ray Ledford had come from…Like the sneaky snake slithering on the ground, Bobby appeared perfectly harmless, until you picked him up and put him in your pocket…The last person who crossed him ended up on the bottom of the Tennessee River.” Aunt Sadie Bean is hilarious, and Bird as mean as they come. I was caught up in the action involving these culprits and enjoyed the local color. Sandra Poole was raised in Alder Springs. She was brought up on the family stories that mothers and grandmothers tell, which is the source of many of the ideas for book. Poole, educated in a two-room schoolhouse, is well versed in the classics. She later received a master’s degree in business, but she has retained her love for literature and writing and passed it on to her daughter. Sandra and Jennifer have fun with their work and collaborate beautifully. After Jennifer and Patrick (Youngblood) married, the couple owned a newspaper, with Jennifer as editor. When their first child was born, Jennifer became a full-time homemaker, until she and her mom embarked on a career in writing. Youngblood and Poole are currently at work on another novel, which also takes place in Alabama, but is set in the present. If you love romance, a local setting and inspiration, all combined, look for Livin’ in High Cotton, an enjoyable and uplifting first novel. |
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