Sharyn McCrumb

Now Available ~ The new edition of my New York Times bestselling novel "She Walks These Hills" is here. It contains a new introduction analyzing the structure and symbolism of the book, and the essay "The Serpentine Chain," discussing the ties between the culture of Appalachia and Britain. If you are teaching this book, or featuring it in your book club, this is the edition you need.

To order, scroll down to the bottom of the page where the books are listed, and click on "She Walks These Hills."

"The Marvin Chronicles," a collection of the stories told by a "raccoonteur" called John of Gaunt, has been published by Blackacre Press, and signed copies are available from this website. The stories report on the adventures of the Glorrifat tribe of raccoons on Sharyn McCrumb's Blue Ridge Mountain farm. Marvin and his family have become reader favorites, receiving Christmas cards, care packages for the winter, and artwork from talented readers.

A new book on the further adventures of the Glorrifats, including Flora, Kudzu and Sue-Mack will be available in August. Meanwhile, Marvin, Major the Bear, Frostkin the Possum, their great-grandmother The Duchess and the other inhabitants of the woods appear each Tuesday on Sharyn McCrumb's FaceBook author page. https://www.facebook.com/SharynMcCrumbAuthor

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NOW ON KINDLE ~ The new edition of "She Walks These Hills," with a new detailed introduction and the "Serpentine Chain" essay comparing Appalachian culture to Britain, is now available as an eBook on Amazon. Click on the link below to order. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B014LH28TS/ref=redir_mobile_desktop?_encoding=UTF8&fbclid=IwAR1TOEwnNa1k5xYojCyvmoc3jVEse--E6y3bpWsfjL1rx6OdgYQ74YLONps&qid=1651717508&ref_=tmm_kin_swatch_0&sr=8-1 * HOWEVER: You cannot order the PRINT version of the new edition of the book from Amazon. The books they sell are the old editions without the new material. If you want the print version of the new edition of "She Walks These Hills," it is only available from this website.

This new Kindle edition of the New York Times bestselling novel "She Walks These Hills" contains a new introduction analyzing the structure and symbolism of the book, and the essay "The Serpentine Chain," discussing the ties between the culture of Appalachia and Britain. If you are teaching the book, or featuring it in your book club, this is the edition you need.

Nora Bonesteel's necklace now comes with a new brochure, telling the story of how young Nora received the necklace when she "wandered off the path of time." The necklace, made of Appalachian minerals: serpentine for the Serpentine Chain; unakite, the seer's stone & state stone of Virginia; and a southwest Virginia fairystone (staurolite) pendant is available in very limited quantities. The mineral occurs naturally, embedded in the surrounding rock in a twinned crystal formation in the shape of a cross. Mountain legends attribute them to the little people, the magic beings in Cherokee lore.

Each necklace (ca. 20") comes with the new brochure explaining the minerals it is made of and telling the story of nora Bonesteel's necklace. $40 plus $4 shipping. Expect delivery in 1 to 2 weeks.

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A Tale of Two Frankies: Two 19th century American murder cases involved female defendants nicknamed "Frankie." The resemblance ends there, but that doesn't stop people who ought to know better from getting the two women mixed up. Eighteen-year old Frankie (Frances Stewart) Silver, the first woman hanged for murder in the state of North Carolina, lived in a log cabin in what-is-now Mitchell County. She was convicted of the 1831 murder of her husband Charlie, and she is the subject of my New York Times Bestselling novel "The Ballad of Frankie Silver." Frankie Baker, a 21-year old African-American woman from St. Louis, was tried for murder in the shooting death of her lover Al Britt in 1899. She was acquitted, and died in a mental institution in 1952. The song "Frankie and Johnny " is about Frankie BAKER, not Frankie SILVER.

It is obvious from the lyrics that the story is about an urban incident, rather than one that took place in a frontier log cabin. In some versions of the song, Frankie asks the bartender where her lover is, and she is told that he is upstairs with another woman. Lyrics: "Frankie looked over the transom" ... "Frankie pulled back her kimono, took out a big .44..." I explained all this in a chapter of "The Ballad of Frankie Silver," but the confusion will not go away.

While supplies last, when we send out orders from this website (www.SharynMcCrumb.com), we will enclose, as a thank you, a card with Nora Bonesteel’s Scripture Cake recipe on it. The Scripture cake is an old frontier tradition. In "The Rosewood Casket" Nora Bonesteel bakes the cake to take to a funeral.

In the old days a prospective bride was given the recipe and told to make the cake, but instead of having ingredients written down, the recipe consisted of a series of Bible verses. The bride had to look up each verse to learn which ingredient was needed. (Example: 4 ½ cups of- 1st Kings 4:22- “And Solomon’s provision for one day was thirty measures of fine flour and threescore measures of meal…” When the bride made the cake, her future mother- in-law learned two things: whether she could read and whether she could cook.

Charlotte Ross, the Appalachian scholar and storyteller who was the inspiration for Nora Bonesteel, passed away on April 5, 2021 at her home in Boone, North Carolina. Charlotte Ross and Sharyn McCrumb shared many years of adventures, from Ireland to the Kentucky moonbow, and on the research trail for many of the Ballad novels. Charlotte could never be persuaded to write a book, but some of her stories were recorded on CD so that this keeper of the legends would live on.

CHARLOTTE ROSS, THE LEGEND LADY CD Stories told by the real Nora Bonesteel. This CD features 4 stories told by Charlotte Ross, the inspiration for Sharyn's famous character. Includes: Nancy Black, Clara's Ring, Long Dog and Dorcas Henry ~ Order on the SHE WALKS THESE HILLS page: http://www.sharynmccrumb.com/she_walks.html $7.50 plus $4 domestic shipping. Virginia state sales tax added to orders shipped to Virginia addresses.

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Frankie Silver was executed 189 years ago, but her tragic story is being recognized in an oratorio by two American composers, Craig Fields and Craig Carnahan, whose requiem for the mountain girl will debut in 2020. Performances will take place in Minneapolis and in at least one city in North Carolina or Virginia. (An oratorio is a large-scale musical work for orchestra and voices, typically a narrative on a religious theme, performed without the use of costumes, scenery, or action. Well-known examples include Bach's Christmas Oratorio, Handel's Messiah, and Haydn's The Creation.)

The creators of the musical drama "Requiem for Frankie Silver," inspired by Sharyn McCrumb's novel has a new website giving information about the work and its upcoming debut. The premiere has been delayed for many months by Covid, but plans are underway for fall 2022. http://www.requiemforfrankiesilver.org/

• Website: Requiem for Frankie Silver

The first of the Ballad novels, "If Ever I Return, Pretty Peggy-O," is now available on Kindle. The award-winning, novel, a New York Times Notable Book, introduces Tennessee Sheriff Spencer Arrowood in a tale of haunted pasts and memories of the 60's in the mountain town of Hamelin, TN.

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