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Shady Grove
Broke Neck, Kentucky, lies deep in Appalachia. Its people are descendents of the men and women who settled the country during the Revolutionary War, and their ways have not changed much in the past two hundred years.
Shady Grove chronicles the riotous adventures and misadventures of Broke Neck's Fowler clan, among them Frony, the feisty and articulate widow who narrates the tale, and Sudley, the thrice-married farmer and quintessential "ridge man." Sudley, who wields considerable political influence among his kin and community, isn't happy when a new preacher from "outside" comes in from his city-based denomination with ideas about what's wrong in Broke Neck. What follows is a compelling example of the tension between urban viewpoints and rural traditions, a central conflict in Appalachia.
The town's delicate balance is disturbed when other outsiders―federal revenue officials and four suitors responding to a personal ad―converge in an unlikely climax that is both comic and telling. In her last book of fiction about her adopted Kentucky homeland, Janice Holt Giles cleverly dispels the common stereotypes of rural peoples by creating honest, believable characters who cherish their soil, churches, songs, and lines of kin. Shady Grove is a novel that makes us laugh and touches our hearts.
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 A Writer's Life .
Shady Grove chronicles the riotous adventures and misadventures of Broke Neck's Fowler clan, among them Frony, the feisty and articulate widow who narrates the tale, and Sudley, the thrice-married farmer and quintessential "ridge man." Sudley, who wields considerable political influence among his kin and community, isn't happy when a new preacher from "outside" comes in from his city-based denomination with ideas about what's wrong in Broke Neck. What follows is a compelling example of the tension between urban viewpoints and rural traditions, a central conflict in Appalachia.
The town's delicate balance is disturbed when other outsiders―federal revenue officials and four suitors responding to a personal ad―converge in an unlikely climax that is both comic and telling. In her last book of fiction about her adopted Kentucky homeland, Janice Holt Giles cleverly dispels the common stereotypes of rural peoples by creating honest, believable characters who cherish their soil, churches, songs, and lines of kin. Shady Grove is a novel that makes us laugh and touches our hearts.
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 A Writer's Life .
272 pages, Paperback
First published December 12, 1978
81 people want to read
About the author
Janice Holt Giles
43 books45 followersJanice Holt Giles was an American writer best known for her series of pseudo historical novels focusing on life on the American frontier, particularly within Kentucky.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
February 12, 2020
Appalachian and Ozark Humor
I was happy to find that there is an author has written a lot of books on Appalachia. I picked this title because I used to play the guitar and sing folk songs, like Shady Grove. Well, it was a humorous book, but not actually that funny to me.
How does this book start out? Well, it isn’t with a folk song, well, maybe it is. I think the lyrics of Shady Grove were written down. Or, as I would say, I believe I heard the narrator try to sing it.
It began in some Appalachian town, probably Shady Grove. A man came to someone’s home and they all thought that he was a salesman and begin putting him down, making fun of him and whatever else; I don’t recall. Then they learned that he was the new preacher in town, but this household didn’t believe in church going-ons. They didn’t believe that the Bible taught this. All you needed was the Bible. So contrary to what you may have thought, they were not snake handlers or holy rollers. Or even Baptists. They had some common sense. Just that they missed out on a lot of pot lucks.
After learning that he was a minister, and that he wanted to meet the lady in the house, they invited in, yet, it was very improper for a man to be alone with a woman, not that they would go into the house to make it proper. What? Get out of their chairs?
As the preacher was talking to her, they could hear the dogs barking outside, and soon they could smell a skunk. The dogs came running through the doggie door and into the house, and they really stank high up to heaven. The skunk did not follow. It didn’t have to. What the dogs did next could have been funny; they jumped all over the minster, had him on the floor in no time flat. Their greeting made the preacjer vomit. Skunk stint can do that to a person. He left the house as soon as he could.
Now this isn’t too far-fetched. When I was in my teens, we had a preacher come to our house back in Paso Robles, CA, and he was talking to us out on our front lawn when our dog decided to hump him. Now that was funny.
Now I know that the smell can make a person vomit. This doesn’t sit well with me, because we have a doggie door, but now that we don’t have a dog, just cats, we get racoons coming into the house to eat the cat food. We don’t mind that too much, just that we need to put the food up at night, if we remember.
Living in the Ozarks, we have our own issues: One evening when my husband was up late reading at his desk near the doggie door, he saw a little head poke through the doggie door. He got up and shooed it away with his hand and put the security door in place. Then he heard scratching at the doggie door. He turned on the porch light and looked outside. It was a large skunk. He would have come into the house knowing that my husband was awake and in the kitchen. He had no fear. Like this book, I could see the skunk tearing around after the cats, if they chase cats to eat, and I could see us getting sprayed some night. Then what? How do you clean a house? How do you do it if you are vomiting? We learned that you can’t wash your clothing. Someone who had said that their washing machine and dryer stunk bad afterwards. So, now we close the cat door which is a pain at night because the cats want in and they want out and in and out.
One night we left it open, and my husband was sitting in the living room in plain view of the cat bowl. A racoon was eating the food. He chased it out. What if it had been a skunk? I asked. I would tell you to just sit quietly, and we would wait for it to leave.
If you like silly stories like Shady Grove, you might like this book, and for all I know, it could have been based on facts.
I was happy to find that there is an author has written a lot of books on Appalachia. I picked this title because I used to play the guitar and sing folk songs, like Shady Grove. Well, it was a humorous book, but not actually that funny to me.
How does this book start out? Well, it isn’t with a folk song, well, maybe it is. I think the lyrics of Shady Grove were written down. Or, as I would say, I believe I heard the narrator try to sing it.
It began in some Appalachian town, probably Shady Grove. A man came to someone’s home and they all thought that he was a salesman and begin putting him down, making fun of him and whatever else; I don’t recall. Then they learned that he was the new preacher in town, but this household didn’t believe in church going-ons. They didn’t believe that the Bible taught this. All you needed was the Bible. So contrary to what you may have thought, they were not snake handlers or holy rollers. Or even Baptists. They had some common sense. Just that they missed out on a lot of pot lucks.
After learning that he was a minister, and that he wanted to meet the lady in the house, they invited in, yet, it was very improper for a man to be alone with a woman, not that they would go into the house to make it proper. What? Get out of their chairs?
As the preacher was talking to her, they could hear the dogs barking outside, and soon they could smell a skunk. The dogs came running through the doggie door and into the house, and they really stank high up to heaven. The skunk did not follow. It didn’t have to. What the dogs did next could have been funny; they jumped all over the minster, had him on the floor in no time flat. Their greeting made the preacjer vomit. Skunk stint can do that to a person. He left the house as soon as he could.
Now this isn’t too far-fetched. When I was in my teens, we had a preacher come to our house back in Paso Robles, CA, and he was talking to us out on our front lawn when our dog decided to hump him. Now that was funny.
Now I know that the smell can make a person vomit. This doesn’t sit well with me, because we have a doggie door, but now that we don’t have a dog, just cats, we get racoons coming into the house to eat the cat food. We don’t mind that too much, just that we need to put the food up at night, if we remember.
Living in the Ozarks, we have our own issues: One evening when my husband was up late reading at his desk near the doggie door, he saw a little head poke through the doggie door. He got up and shooed it away with his hand and put the security door in place. Then he heard scratching at the doggie door. He turned on the porch light and looked outside. It was a large skunk. He would have come into the house knowing that my husband was awake and in the kitchen. He had no fear. Like this book, I could see the skunk tearing around after the cats, if they chase cats to eat, and I could see us getting sprayed some night. Then what? How do you clean a house? How do you do it if you are vomiting? We learned that you can’t wash your clothing. Someone who had said that their washing machine and dryer stunk bad afterwards. So, now we close the cat door which is a pain at night because the cats want in and they want out and in and out.
One night we left it open, and my husband was sitting in the living room in plain view of the cat bowl. A racoon was eating the food. He chased it out. What if it had been a skunk? I asked. I would tell you to just sit quietly, and we would wait for it to leave.
If you like silly stories like Shady Grove, you might like this book, and for all I know, it could have been based on facts.
March 29, 2015
Another fun read from JHG... In this one I think she was really trying to show outsiders the Appalachian culture, while telling a purely great yarn. She succeeded on both counts!
April 11, 2018
I love Southern fiction; I love strong characters that were able to make a living in harsh conditions because that is the legacy of my ancestors. I hate it when books like this showcase characters whose only purpose in life is to gain a government check so they can sit around all day, make and drink moonshine (well, I am a bit guilty of that myself!), have illegitimate babies, and insult anyone who is not part of their community. The main character, Sudley spends every waking moment getting his family a government check by any means that he can find, and he's darned proud of it. Even when an "outsider" preacher tries to tell him how honorable it is to work, Sudley just rolls his eyes and chastises the preacher for his ignorance. I appreciate the closeness of the family, and could admire some of their ways that would seem strange to outsiders, but otherwise, I'm glad I'm only out a quarter from McKay's. I'm a-gonna try to get it back and get a better read.
Read
April 1, 2024I'm thankful to Richard Gibson for sharing this one. He was born in Barbourville, Kentucky, and my husband, Jim May, was born in Worthville, Kentucky, so this means lots to them. Although their people weren't at all like these folks, they surely knew people like this.
"Generally, if a man marries more than a hill and a holler away he is in trouble."
"Sudley sort of grinned. 'I wouldn't say this, Preacher, if you hadn't brought it up and I don't mean it unkindly. But ain't preaching for pay taking public relief? Way we look at it around here, it's the biggest kind of welfare there is.'"
"'You are being plain wearisome.'" -- Oh, how I'd love to say that occasionally!
"'I'd just as soon be pecked to death by a duck as to have any dealings with 'em.'"
Educated fools -- "That kind is going to blow us all right off the face of the earth some day.'"
The voice of Frony is so engaging and endearing!
"Generally, if a man marries more than a hill and a holler away he is in trouble."
"Sudley sort of grinned. 'I wouldn't say this, Preacher, if you hadn't brought it up and I don't mean it unkindly. But ain't preaching for pay taking public relief? Way we look at it around here, it's the biggest kind of welfare there is.'"
"'You are being plain wearisome.'" -- Oh, how I'd love to say that occasionally!
"'I'd just as soon be pecked to death by a duck as to have any dealings with 'em.'"
Educated fools -- "That kind is going to blow us all right off the face of the earth some day.'"
The voice of Frony is so engaging and endearing!
March 8, 2022
This book is difficult to honestly review because it feels like such a unique piece of local writing, but suffice it to say I really enjoyed it! The characters were so colorful and the action often had me laughing out loud. I loved Giles' poignant observations about the locals and their feelings toward outsiders. I definitely want to read more of her work!
July 8, 2018
Story of a family in Kentucky. Fun use of words mostly no longer in use. Takes place in the 60's.
Read
February 3, 2016I don't remember this story in particular--just that I enjoyed all of Janice Holt Giles' books. They are mostly based in Kentucky, which is not far from where I live, and from a long-ago era that interests me. Also, her style is slow and descriptive in a way that makes me feel like I'm living that slower-paced life.
September 28, 2012
Many years ago I read a number of Janice Holt Giles' historical novels, so I was intrigued when I found this book. It is a humorous look at an Appalacian family in the 1960s, "told" by one of the family. Fun to read, with plenty of memorable characters.
February 4, 2014
Come to Shady Grove and learn how these folks waged the War on Poverty back in 1967. Perhaps such attitudes as depicted here are purely fictional, and have changed some since, but I a little doubt they ain't.
March 29, 2015
This isn't my favorite Janice Holt Giles novel, but it's still a beautifully written, humorous story that is full of heart and shows respect for the legacy of the often misunderstood people of rural Kentucky.
August 19, 2009
Humorous, pokes fun of welfare, romance, etc. Set in Kentucky. Very good.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews