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Growing Season
Book by Jan Cox Speas
- GenresRomance
255 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1963
38 people want to read
About the author
Jan Cox Speas
7 books28 followersFrom here:
Jan Cox Speas was born November 5, 1925 in Raleigh, North Carolina. She attended the Women’s College of the University of North Carolina (women could not go to UNC-Chapel Hill until junior year) from1942-46, where she studied creative writing under Hiram Hayden. UNC had a special association with Jan's family: her mother, Francis Howard Cox, who had studied as a high schooler at home in tiny Richlands, NC, was the first in the family to come to the college, taking the train in 1914 to Greensboro to study to be a teacher, and years later Jan’s daughter, Cindy, attended UNC-Chapel Hill in the first year freshmen women were allowed to enroll.
Near the end of the war Jan met and married John Speas on his return from the European theater. Their first child, Cindy, was born in 1948, right after John graduated from Colorado State University.
After several years of traveling, the Speas family settled back in Greensboro in 1954 to be near Jan’s mother, who suffered from chronic ill health. During that time Jan wrote multiple short stories for the widely read “slick” magazine market, including The Post, Ladies Home Journal, McCall’s, Cosmopolitan, and others.
Cindy Speas recalls, “Mom learned to write from reading--and that's what we did as a family every night.” Jan's favorite authors included Daphne DuMaurier, Mary Stewart, Nevil Shute, Elswyth Thane, Inglis Fletcher, Helen MacInnis, Elisabeth Ogilvie, Elizabeth Goudge, Dorothy Sayer and Josephine Tey. “But the most fun Mom and I had,” Cindy confesses, “was with Georgette Heyer's Regency romances--we collected all of the original hardbacks.”
Jan's own first novel, Bride of the McHugh, was published the same month her second child, Greg, was born, in 1954. The Indiana firm Bobbs-Merrill, where her UNC mentor Hiram Hayden was an editor, was the publisher. She published two more historical novels, My Lord Monleigh in 1956, and My Love, My Enemy in 1961, before going back to graduate school in 1962, where she received her Master of Fine Arts under southern poet Randall Jarrell at UNC-Greensboro, writing The Growing Season as her thesis. The Growing Season, published in 1963, was the first thesis accepted in non-standard thesis form for the university library, and is still on their shelves as the actual published book. (UNC-Greensboro also holds the original manuscript of Bride of the MacHugh)
Jan went on to teach English and creative writing as well as American literature and poetry at Guilford College in Greensboro . Her favorite poets were T.S. Elliott and Robert Frost. Sadly, she died of a heart attack in late October 1971 while on the west coast visiting her brother who was dying from a brain tumor, a double tragedy for their mother. “None of us expected it,” says Cindy. “It was a huge personal loss, but also a loss to all her fans.”
At the time of her death, Jan was working on a novel that remains unfinished.
Jan Cox Speas was born November 5, 1925 in Raleigh, North Carolina. She attended the Women’s College of the University of North Carolina (women could not go to UNC-Chapel Hill until junior year) from1942-46, where she studied creative writing under Hiram Hayden. UNC had a special association with Jan's family: her mother, Francis Howard Cox, who had studied as a high schooler at home in tiny Richlands, NC, was the first in the family to come to the college, taking the train in 1914 to Greensboro to study to be a teacher, and years later Jan’s daughter, Cindy, attended UNC-Chapel Hill in the first year freshmen women were allowed to enroll.
Near the end of the war Jan met and married John Speas on his return from the European theater. Their first child, Cindy, was born in 1948, right after John graduated from Colorado State University.
After several years of traveling, the Speas family settled back in Greensboro in 1954 to be near Jan’s mother, who suffered from chronic ill health. During that time Jan wrote multiple short stories for the widely read “slick” magazine market, including The Post, Ladies Home Journal, McCall’s, Cosmopolitan, and others.
Cindy Speas recalls, “Mom learned to write from reading--and that's what we did as a family every night.” Jan's favorite authors included Daphne DuMaurier, Mary Stewart, Nevil Shute, Elswyth Thane, Inglis Fletcher, Helen MacInnis, Elisabeth Ogilvie, Elizabeth Goudge, Dorothy Sayer and Josephine Tey. “But the most fun Mom and I had,” Cindy confesses, “was with Georgette Heyer's Regency romances--we collected all of the original hardbacks.”
Jan's own first novel, Bride of the McHugh, was published the same month her second child, Greg, was born, in 1954. The Indiana firm Bobbs-Merrill, where her UNC mentor Hiram Hayden was an editor, was the publisher. She published two more historical novels, My Lord Monleigh in 1956, and My Love, My Enemy in 1961, before going back to graduate school in 1962, where she received her Master of Fine Arts under southern poet Randall Jarrell at UNC-Greensboro, writing The Growing Season as her thesis. The Growing Season, published in 1963, was the first thesis accepted in non-standard thesis form for the university library, and is still on their shelves as the actual published book. (UNC-Greensboro also holds the original manuscript of Bride of the MacHugh)
Jan went on to teach English and creative writing as well as American literature and poetry at Guilford College in Greensboro . Her favorite poets were T.S. Elliott and Robert Frost. Sadly, she died of a heart attack in late October 1971 while on the west coast visiting her brother who was dying from a brain tumor, a double tragedy for their mother. “None of us expected it,” says Cindy. “It was a huge personal loss, but also a loss to all her fans.”
At the time of her death, Jan was working on a novel that remains unfinished.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 18, 2009
Speas' three historicals are outstanding but this one is from a very different genre and might disappoint fans of her other books. The setting is a 20th century Carolina mill town with protagonists who are alienated from their community.
December 4, 2013
To rate one of my favorite authors this low hurts, but this one I just didn't like. I tried, I really tried, and I confess I own a copy and will keep it, but I felt like Ms Speas was experimenting with a new style of writing. The characters aren't that appealing, the setting is very dysfunctional, everybody in the book has problems and that much angst was too much for me.
Jan Cox Speas is a very talented writer, she is the author of My Love, My Enemy, a book I would grab on my way out of a burning house, but this book was probably written more for a younger market. Teens for some strange reason seem to thrive on agony, and this book has it in spades. Everything a teen wants: a boyfriend no one trusts but with a good heart, an abusive stepfather her mother won't leave, a wacko neighbor who oddly is one of the more appealing characters in the book, and just as a topper, running away.
So, sorry, but this book was just not for me.
Jan Cox Speas is a very talented writer, she is the author of My Love, My Enemy, a book I would grab on my way out of a burning house, but this book was probably written more for a younger market. Teens for some strange reason seem to thrive on agony, and this book has it in spades. Everything a teen wants: a boyfriend no one trusts but with a good heart, an abusive stepfather her mother won't leave, a wacko neighbor who oddly is one of the more appealing characters in the book, and just as a topper, running away.
So, sorry, but this book was just not for me.
October 27, 2013
I found this book at a garage sale for 25 cents and read it twice in a span of a few years. It's a sweet love story that like one of the other reviewers said has just stuck in my mind for the last twenty years. I still have the battered paperback that I bought at the garage sale. If you get a chance, you should read this book. If you like bodice rippers this book is not for you, but if you like bad boy makes good when he meets a nice girl in a bad situation then you will love this book.
September 6, 2017
Ms. Speas is one of my favorite authors. Even though she has three other novels written as historical novels which I would highly recommend I found that I liked this one as well. This is written in a different style and time frame but still very enjoyable reading. The characters are "real people" who are not perfect and have a good back story.
May 4, 2019
A small town with people living on The Hill, in houses once company-owned. Jody keeps the house clean, washes and irons the clothes, and looks after her younger half-siblings. She’s wary of her step-brother and step-father. Then comes the breaking point and she runs away. She meets up with Tay Brannon, who’d briefly been at the house with her step-brother, Marv. Tay’s injured and on the run, too. They decide to stick together.
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August 11, 2012It's a coming of age story that doesn't have the typical HEA. I read this book as a teenager and it just stuck with me. I pull it out and re-read it every year or so.
February 14, 2016
I read this once as a teenager and then lost my copy, then read it again as an adult. Really liked it both times.
April 30, 2016
read this one a couple of times - it is one of my faves
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews