Refuge [Paperback]

Early one morning in 1929, Mary Seneca Steele spontaneously packs a suitcase, gathers up her son and daughter, and steals away in her abusive and dissolute husband’s brand new Auburn Phaeton automobile leaving her privileged life in Charleston behind. It is the beginning of a journey of enlightenment that leads Mary “Sen” to the mountains and mysteries of Appalachia where she will learn unexpected family secrets, create a new life for herself and her children, and finally experience love and happiness before tragedy will once again test her.

Written by an authentic Southern voice, Dot Jackson has spun a story that will captivate readers looking for an entertaining saga of self-discovery, family, love, loss and redemption.Dot Jackson spent many years as a prizewinning reporter and columnist at the Charlotte Observer. During that time, she was also hard at work collecting a wealth of Appalachian stories and folklore and weaving them into a novel that she began on an ancient typewriter in a haunted basement. That novel, Refuge, is her first.“Refugeis a wonderful story about the need to find one’s place in the world—and the price paid to remain there. With her narrative gift and keen ear for Appalachian speech, Dot Jackson gives her readers a beautifully rendered portrait of a lost time and place.” —Ron Rash, author ofSerenaandThe Cove

“With its descriptions of the hardships of rural mountain life in an historical setting and a strong Southern woman survivor theme, this new voice in Appalachian fiction echoes Robert Morgan (Gap Creek) and Charles Frazier… Amidst family dramas of life and death, love interests, storms, and deprivation, this regional tale with a thick local accent develops into an entertaining saga. It should find an appreciative audience in Southern fiction fans.” —Library Journal

“Refugeis an intensely readable l“9