Blue Ridge Shadows by Julia Nunnally Duncan is a collection of fifteen short stories set in the rural Blue Ridge Mountains of northwestern North Carolina. These stories are skillfully woven into an emotional landscape of the region, with effects of poverty and economic blight never far from the surface. The stories are of proud and indpendent people facing difficult times in the best way they can. They deal with the rural South with great impact and effectiveness. Without resorting to stereotypes, Duncan's stories show the psychological effect of isolation and poverty and on people, particularly women. These are stories that will linger in the memory.