Backroads 2: The Road to Chicken Holler

In Backroads 2: The Road to Chicken Holler, Lynn Coffey is back with another remarkable journey into the lives of the elder people of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains. In her first book, Backroads: Plain Folk and Simple Livin’, she revealed the charm of the old ways as she told the stories of the native residents living in and around the little hamlet of Love, Virginia, where the author makes her home. In her second volume, we are once again taken back to this beautiful country setting, beginning with an interview with Doris Giannini Hamner, the real Olivia of the popular TV series, The Waltons. From there, it’s on to river baptizing, pickling beets, midwives and home births, bear hunting, mountain music and those wonderful recipes. Each story is enhanced with a multitude of photos of early ancestors, craftwork and breathtaking scenery that only the Blue Ridge Mountains can afford. No one tells the story of the Appalachian culture with such heart, warmth, and respect as Lynn Coffey because this is her life and these are her people. Or as Brad Herzog, the best-selling author of the American travel memoir, States of Mind, says, Like its predecessor, this book is a celebration-of the people and pastimes of a bygone era and a magical place. It is a snapshot of a flickering candle before it burns out, and Lynn Coffey is the keeper of the flame.