Award-winning Southern author Sharyn McCrumb will discuss her newest novel, “The Ballad of Tom Dooley” at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 20, at Tusculum College. (Photograph by Randy Joyner)
Award-winning Southern author Sharyn McCrumb will discuss her new best-selling novel, “The Ballad of Tom Dooley” in a presentation Thursday, Oct. 20, at Tusculum College.
McCrumb will speak about the novel and the Appalachian history and folklore in her works at 7 p.m. in the Behan Arena Theatre on the lower level (side entrance) of the Annie Hogan Byrd Fine Arts Building on the Tusculum campus. The program is part of Tusculum Arts Outreach’s Acts, Arts, Academia 2011-12 performance and lecture series.
The Roanoke, Va., based author is best known for her Appalachian “Ballad” novels set in the Tennessee and North Carolina mountains that include the New York Times best sellers, “The Ballad of Frankie Silver” and “She Walks These Hills.” In her newest novel, McCrumb explores one of the most famous tales from Appalachia, the legend of Tom Dooley that has spread around the world via a popular folk song.
The song, made famous by the Kingston Trio, tells the story of a tragedy in the North Carolina mountains in the aftermath of the Civil War. It tells the story of the murder of simple country girl Laura Foster and her lover, Tom Dula, who was hanged for the crime. The sensational elements of the case garnered national attention: a man and his beautiful married lover accused of murdering the other woman, the former governor of North Carolina spearheading the defense on a pro bono basis, and a noble gesture from the prisoner on the eve of his execution, saving the woman he really loved.
McCrumb’s novel began as a fictional re-telling of the historical account but became an astonishing revelation of the real motives and the real culprit in the murder of Foster as she researched the story. With the help of Wilkes County (N.C.) historians, lawyers and researchers, the author visited the actual sites where the story took place, studied the legal evidence and uncovered a missing piece of the story that promises to shock those who think they already know what happened. What seemed at first to be a sordid tale of adultery and betrayal was transformed by the new discoveries into an Appalachian “Wuthering Heights.”
In her novel, McCrumb brings to life the star-crossed lovers of this mountain tragedy with the understanding and compassion she brings to her compelling tales of Appalachia, and with the information unearthed by her research, belated justice may be brought to an innocent man.
“The Ballad of Tom Dooley” was released last month and had reached the extended list of the New York Times Best Seller list by Oct. 2.
McCrumb has received numerous awards throughout her literary career, Her “St. Dale,” the “Canterbury Tales” in a NASCAR setting, was winner of a Library of Virginia Award and featured at the National Festival of the Book. In 2008, she was named a “Virginia Woman of History” for achievement in literature. In May of this year she received the Perry F. Kendig Award for Achievement in Literary Arts from the Blue Ridge Arts Council of southwest Virginia.
Her great-grandfathers were circuit preachers in North Carolina’s Smoky Mountains a hundred years ago, riding horseback over the ridges to preach in a different community each week. It is from them, she says, that she gets her regard for books, love of the Appalachian mountains and her gift of storytelling and public speaking.
Admission to the presentation is $6 per person, and tickets will be available at the door.
For more information, please contact Arts Outreach at 423-798-1620 or visit http://arts.tusculum.edu.