True Stories at the Smoky View: A Novel

(Paperback)

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Description

IPPY Gold Medal for Regional Fiction (South)

True Stories at the Smoky View is a wry, intricate novel about family and friendship, tyranny and justice. Although Vrai (short for Vraiment), an art history librarian in Baltimore, has not spoken to her friend Skip for over a year, after his sudden death, she dutifully takes his ashes and his dog home to his mother in Knoxville, Tennessee. Vrai has no idea why Skip stepped into traffic in Baltimore with his hands over his eyes, or why he so abruptly ended their longtime friendship.

After Skips service, Vrai rescues ten-year-old Jonathan, who has been abandoned in the funeral home parking lot. The Blizzard of 1993 soon strands this unlikely duo at the Smoky View Motel, where Jonathan, whose parents were assassinated by Pinochets henchmen, comes across clues pointing to a possible suspect in Skips death.

By the end of this story of mutual rescue, both Vrais and Jonathans lives have been changed forever.

Reviews

This debut author has a knack for storytelling and great characters. Booklist With intricate story lines involving murder, library research, road trips, and [a] quest for justice, and motifs including motherhood, love, marriage, betrayal, and true friendship, there is something for everyone in this light/dark Southern novel by a writer to watch. Library Journal True Stories at the Smoky View is a riveting literary mystery you wont soon forget. Jill McCroskey Coupe handles this complex tale of troubled romance, broken families, redeeming friendship, and inexplicable evil with intelligence, grace, and grit. This exhilarating debut novel brims with honesty, charm, heart, and good humor. John Dufresne, author of I Don't Like Where This is Going Intrigue abounds in True Stories at the Smoky View, but this wonderful first novel is above all testament to Eudora Weltys observation that all serious daring starts from within. With an abundance of wit and accuracy of feeling, Jill Coupe beautifully charts both the complexities of loyalty and the internal growth of Vrai Lynde, her central character, and she does so in clear, precise prose. Jane Brox, author of Brilliant: The Evolution of Artificial Light Skillfully written, with careful attention to detail and a liberal sprinkling of humor, this novel by a librarian and with a librarian protagonist combines mystery and suspense with a womans journey toward fulfillment in middle age. Teddy Jones, author of Jacksons Pond, Texas This is a thoroughly absorbing book that I found difficult to put down. The personalities Coupe conjured stayed with me long after I finished reading. The writing is beautiful: spare and funny. A most enjoyable read. Maureen Beck, former Director of Library Services, Stevenson University "True Stories at the Smoky View examines the mysteries and complexities of family, friendship, love and romance, and evil both grandiose and petty. In Vrai Lynde, in particular, Coupe has given us a vivid portrait of a complicated woman torn in many directions by her loves and her loyalties." Smoky Mountain News

Author Bio

Award-winning author Jill McCroskey Coupes novels, Beginning with Cannonballs (2020) and True Stories at the Smoky View (2016), depict unlikely friendships and have been reviewed in such disparate sources as Library Journal, Booklist, Necessary Fiction, and Smoky Mountain Living. Her master's degreesan MFA in Fiction and an MLS (Library Science)are dead giveaways: she has always loved books. A former librarian at Johns Hopkins University, Jill recently moved from Maryland to Vermont.Please visit her online at jillmcoupe.com