Born in 1928, Mary Bremier has a remarkably keen eye, both for the beauty of her natural world and for the telling details of human frailty. The Shadows of Appalachia has a deft, musical voice that recalls the regional dialect as well as the songs, sayings, and prayers that shaped her Depression-era childhood. Her gentle irony lays bare the mindset of her hardworking, proud, ignorant, doomed-to-failure, beloved Appalachian family.

The Appalachian culture, the same subject as Hillbilly Elegy, is expanded upon in The Shadows of Appalachia with empathy, a rich cast of characters, and some laugh-out-loud humor. The action and setting have similarities to Little House on the Prairie, although it is more nuanced and at times dark, with adult themes.

This is a book about the power of language, and how education offers a route out and away from the limitations of narrow-mindedness. Young Mary, silenced and shamed by her mother, is also crippled by dyslexia. Her unconventional education results in her facile, engaging ability to play with words, and reveals how Mary ultimately thrives.

After the tragic loss of her husband and young daughter, Mary returns to Appalachia to resolve her conflict with her painful past, her family's shortcomings, and the death of a way of life.

Formato	Tapa suave
Número de Páginas	366
Lenguaje	Inglés
Editorial	Mary Bremier
Fecha de Publicación	2021-05-07
Dimensiones	9.0" x 6.0" x 0.76" pulgadas
Letra Grande	No
Con Ilustraciones	No
Temas	Femenino

Bremier, Mary O.

Mary Bremier was born in 1928 in Hillsville, Virginia which is located in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. Her ancestors were immigrants from England and Scotland who, rather than continue their journey westward, settled wherever spring water gushed out of the hillsides in the Appalachian region. There their culture prevailed in its persistent traits and beliefs. Mary and her siblings attended one-room country schools in their early grades. During those years Mary had difficulty learning to read. The problem continued to plague her for years before she discovered she was dyslexic. In 1951 Mary graduated from Berea College in Kentucky, a college dedicated to educating students who were most stricken by the pervasive poverty of the region. In 1969 Mary and her husband, George, and their daughter, Celia, moved to Washington, DC. They had established themselves there when George and Celia died in a car crash. At the time, Mary had begun a master's program with Antioch College based in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Feeling distraught from the loss of her family, her first impulse was to leave the place where she had her fondest memories with her family. But unable to move, she continued the program and received her master's degree in the spring of 1968. Soon after, she moved to California. There she taught while studying at California State University, Hayward and California State University, Northridge to complete a California credential as a reading specialist. Mary has taught reading skills to students at American University in Washington, DC, Colegio Roosevelt in Lima, Peru, Berea College in Kentucky, and in the Los Angeles School District and the Los Angeles Community College District in California. The Shadows of Appalachia is her first book.