Janice Holt Giles

""Thomas R. Mullen, Jr.: A Biography By His Father"" is a book written by Janice Holt Giles, chronicling the life of her son, Thomas R. Mullen Jr. The book is a personal account of Thomas' life, from his childhood to his untimely death at the age of 27. The book is divided into chapters that cover different periods of Thomas' life, including his childhood in Kentucky, his time at the University of Kentucky, and his work as a journalist in Washington, D.C. The author draws from her own memories, as well as interviews with friends and family members, to paint a vivid picture of Thomas' life and personality. Throughout the book, the author explores Thomas' struggles with addiction and mental illness, as well as his successes as a writer and journalist. The book also offers insight into the author's own experiences as a mother and her grief over the loss of her son. Overall, ""Thomas R. Mullen, Jr.: A Biography By His Father"" is a heartfelt and intimate portrait of a young man's life, as well as a moving tribute from a mother to her son.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.

Hill Man, set in the Kentucky Hills, is the story of the ambitious and lustful Rady Cromwell and three women. According to Giles, Rady was emblematic of men in his time and place, "men who know no law but their own wills and desires, and have no evidence of conscience. Rady is no fiction. He is fact." Hill Man was the only novel Janice Holt Giles wrote using a pseudonym. Although appreciative of her first publisher, the religiously oriented Westminster Press, she became increasingly dismayed that editors trimmed her books down "to pure sweetness and light." Hill Man was her most provocative work and also allowed her to experiment in the racier mass market paperback genre. Citing concern for her burgeoning reputation (having published her first four books with a religious publisher and the last with Houghton Mifflin), Janice elected to use the pseudonym John Garth. After Hill Man, she settled in to producing the historical fiction that for the most part defined her literary career.

The Enduring Hills is a novel by Janice Holt Giles set in the Appalachian Mountains during the early 1900s. The story follows the lives of the Baldridge family, who are struggling to make a living on their farm in the rugged hills. The family is led by the strong and determined Grandma Baldridge, who is fiercely protective of her family and their way of life. The novel explores themes of family, love, and the struggle to survive in a harsh and unforgiving environment. The characters face many challenges, including poverty, illness, and natural disasters, but they persevere through their faith and resilience. As the story unfolds, the Baldridge family must navigate the changing world around them, including the arrival of new technology and the encroachment of outsiders into their community. The novel also touches on the tensions between traditional ways of life and modernization, as well as the importance of preserving cultural heritage.Overall, The Enduring Hills is a powerful and moving novel that captures the spirit of the Appalachian Mountains and the people who call it home. It is a timeless story of love, loss, and the enduring strength of the human spirit.This is a new release of the original 1950 edition.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.

The rich history of river life in Kentucky permeates Janice Holt Giles's novel Run Me a River. Set in 1861, at the beginning of Kentucky's reluctant entry into the Civil War, the novel tells the story of a five-day adventure on the Green River. Aboard the Rambler, a ramshackle steamboat, Captain Bohannon Cartwright and his crew journey 184 miles and pick up two extra passengers along the way. The boatmenrescue "Sir Henry" Cole, a former Shakespearean actor, and his granddaughter Phoebe from their skiff when it overruns in a squall. As romance blossoms between Phoebe and Captain Bo, a conflict escalates between Confederate and Union forces fighting for control of the river. Janice Holt Giles (1905-1979), author of nineteen books, lived and wrote near Knifley, Kentucky, for thirty-four years. Her biography is told in Janice Holt Giles: A Writer's Life.

Janice Holt Giles had a life before her marriage and writing career in Kentucky. Born in Altus, Arkansas, Giles spent many childhood summers visiting her grandparents there. After the success of her historical novel The Kentuckians in 1953, she planned to write a second frontier romance. But a visit to Altus caused her imagination to drift from Kentucky in 1780 to western Arkansas in 1913. At age forty-eight -- the same age as Giles at the writing of the novel -- the heroine Katie Rogers recalls her first visit alone to her grandparent's home in Stanwick, Arkansas. Eight-year-old Katie spends her summer climbing the huge mulberry tree and walking with her wise grandfather, a veteran of bloody Shiloh. She is fascinated, not frightened, by the grave of an unknown child in the nearby plum thicket. Throughout the visit Katie helps Aunt Maggie plan her wedding and looks forward to the three-day Confederate Reunion. But the Reunion -- and the summer -- end violently, as guilt, repression, and miscegenation are unearthed. "That summer was the end of a whole way of life," Katie realizes, for she can never again dwell in the paradise of childhood. In Katie Rogers, Giles voiced her own lament for "the beautiful and the unrecoverable past." To her publisher Giles wrote, "Out of my forty-odd years of living, much of whatever wisdom I have acquired has been distilled into this book." This new edition of The Plum Thicket gives Giles's many fans a powerful, moving glimpse into the mind and heart of this beloved author. Janice Holt Giles (1905-1979), author of nineteen books, lived and wrote near Knifley, Kentucky, for thirty-four years. Her biography is told in Janice Holt Giles: A Writer's Life.

In the novel Hannah Fowler, Janice Holt Giles created a pioneer woman who would, In Giles's words, "endow her own physical seed with her strength and courage, and her own tenderness and love." First published in 1956, this work is the second in Giles's series of historical novels on Kentucky, which includes The Kentuckians and The Believers. Samuel Moore and his daughter Hannah set out for the border country with a party led by George Rogers Clark but left to follow the Kentucky River to Boones' Fort. As the story opens, Hannah is nursing her father, injured when an axe slips and cuts his leg. By the time Tice Fowler, on his way to Logan's Fort, stumbles upon them alone in the wilderness, Samuel is dying from blood poisoning. When Samuel dies, Tice takes Hannah to the fort, where women are scarce, and Hannah finds herself besieged by suitors. Only with Tice, as silent and downright as herself, does Hannah feel at ease. Finally, she turns to the bashful Tice and asks him to marry her and take her away from the crowded fort. Together, they take their claim to land, build a cabin, and start a family. They endure the harsh frontier life, the threat of hungry wolves, a killing blizzard, and Indian raids. Hannah is an unforgettable character -- tall, physically and psychologically strong, the epitome of frontier womanhood -- brought to life by a woman who knew and loved the Kentucky people and setting about which she wrote. Janice Holt Giles (1905-1979), author of nineteen books, lived and wrote near Knifley, Kentucky, for thirty-four years. Her biography is told in Janice Holt Giles: A Writer's Life.

Originally published in 1950, The Enduring Hills was Janice Holt Giles's first novel. It is based in part on her own courtship and introduction to the Kentucky mountain country. Here, Giles introduces Hod and Mary Pierce and begins her Appalachian trilogy.Hod Pierce, a boy not unlike Henry Giles, who grows up on Piney Ridge, where generations of Pierces have made a living from the stubborn soil. Hod loves his people and the land but longs also for wider horizons, for more education, and for the freedom he imagines can be found in the outside world. It takes World War II to carry Hod away from the Ridge and out into the great world, and it is a long time before he comes back. After the war is over, Hod settles into marriage and a factory job in the city. Finally it is Mary, his city-bred wife, who sees at last that to Hod, Piney Ridge will always be home.In her preface to the second edition, Mrs. Giles wrote, "I believe [the story] is timeless and as the hands of the clock have turned and turned, people are turning back to the earth, knowing now that saving this earth is the most important work in the world, that we must all become, as Hod and Mary Pierce did, a man and woman with faith in the earth."Janice Holt Giles (1905-1979), author of nineteen books, lived and wrote near Knifley, Kentucky, for thirty-four years. Her biography is told in Janice Holt Giles: A Writer's Life.