Sarah’s Girls: A Chronicle of Big Ugly Creek

by Lenore Mccomas Coberly

Situated in a remote outpost in West Virginia at the turn of the last century, the story that Lenore McComas Coberly tells in Sarah’s Girls is one of place, people, and unquenchable spirit. In this fictionalized account of her recent ancestors, Coberly masterfully traces the journeys of their lives, their dreams, and their hardships over the course of the twentieth century. At its center is the story of Lena, who returns to care for her dead sister’s daughters, giving up the promise of a life that can spare her the adversity rural living guarantees. The author goes back to Big Ugly Creek, the place where her grandparents met—and the place whose memory she cannot leave. Using the stories she was told in her childhood as a bridge to the past, Coberly uncovers facts about her family history from documents that have made their way from one generation to another and the truth from the inherent understanding she has of these people who are so close to her. But Sarah’s Girls is not about the author; it is about the people and a place she loves. It is fiction written to tell the deeper truth about the hold West Virginia—its mountains and its valleys—has on its people.

168 pages, Paperback

First published December 5, 2006

Reviews

[Robynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

In a spare poetic manner the author has written in fiction form about her family and their love for each other and their home in the hills of West Virginia during the early part of the last century. Having a connection with Appalachia and West Virginia I enjoyed this look at the ways of the people of the generations before me.