Patsy Hallman

Finding Love in a Bread Bowl, Patsy Hallman’s collection of East Texas folk tales, vignettes, and memories is a delightful foray into times past. Readers will discover courtships determined by the washing of bread bowls, hear about Sam Houston’s baptism and amorist pursuits that took place in Nacogdoches, find out what role Nacogdoches played in the Civil War South, and learn about how higher education became a central concern for the East Texas community, among a wide range of other topics. The work is not merely a nostalgic look at an era long lost, however. It is also a collection that rings of universality, including as it does tales of tragedy, of humor and joy, of family, and of the conflicts that life makes for all and how endurance settles the argument. This book threads together a compelling and memorable feast for readers not only of the East Texas region but from the piney woods as well.

The II5 letters in this book were written by a woman whose life spanned the center of the twentieth century. Hers is a story of ordinary people - how they lived and loved and worked and died - during a period of extraordinary change. As Miss Edna's life unfolds, she is caught up in the abnormal rate of change that moved the world through the century. Her experiences move from slates to computers, from travel in buggies to airplanes, from homes with wood cook stoves to modern electric facilities. Read about the trials of The Great Depression, the tragedies of World War II, the horror of death by cancer. Feel the love of family and the value of friendships.