Janice Holt Giles : A Writer's Life [Hardcover]

Dianne Watkins Stuart (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2, 1998

" In 1946, at the age of 41, Janice Holt Giles wrote her first novel. Although it took her only three months to complete the first draft, working at night so as not to conflict with her secretarial job, it was another four years before The Enduring Hills was published. Three years later, when her sixth novel appeared, Janice Holt Giles's works had accumulated sales of nearly two million copies. Between 1950 and 1975 she wrote twenty-four books, most of which were bestsellers, regularly reviewed in the New York Times, and selected for inclusion in popular book clubs. Her picture held pride of place in her literary agent's New York office, alongside those of Willa Cather, H.G. Wells, and Edith Wharton, yet until now there has been no biography of this immensely popular American writer. Humbly professing to be ""just a good storyteller,"" Giles was a keen observer of life with great sensitivity, an ear for language, and a superb imagination. Her artistic achievements become even more remarkable when placed in the context of her often difficult personal struggles. Dianne Watkins Stuart, for years the acknowledged expert on Giles's work, has traced the path of her unique life. Stuart walked around the small house where Giles's brother was born and The Kinta Years (1973) had its origin, wandered through the yard where The Plum Thicket (1954) grew, and made countless trips to Adair County, Kentucky, to trace the trails of the Piney Ridge trilogy (The Enduring Hills, Miss Willie, Tara's Healing) and seek out the day-to-day life of her later years. Stuart's long-anticipated biography provides both a narrative of Giles's life and an in-depth description of the art and commerce of American publishing in the middle years of the century. Dianne Watkins Stuart is former education curator of the Kentucky Museum and editor of Hello, Janice: The Wartime Letters of Henry Giles.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Although her numerous books sold in the millions, Janice Holt Giles (1909-79) is relatively unknown in American literature. An uncomplicated, religious person, her novels, beginning with The Enduring Hills (1950), and other writings reflect her observations of the simple life of Appalachia. In this admiring biography, Stuart, editor of Hello, Janice: The Wartime Letters of Henry Giles (Univ. of Kentucky, 1992), draws from Giles's personal papers to trace her progression from observer to chronicler. A native of Arkansas, Giles spent most of her life in rural Kentucky. Her keen sense of place captured local color in rustic, regional tales, lending insights to ordinary people and events and giving voice to the Appalachian character and spirit. This portrait of a master of the genre of regional/historical fiction is recommended for public and academic libraries.?Richard K. Burns, MSLS, Hatboro, PA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

This biography, which reads like a graduate thesis, contains everything readers ever wanted to know about mid-twentieth-century writer Giles, from the personalities of her grandparents to the details of what she ate for dinner. Giles is best known for her historical fiction set in the Eastern and Western frontiers and was considered a contemporary of Willa Cather, H. G. Wells, and Edith Wharton. She was a woman ahead of her time, as she divorced her first husband, was a single mother, and worked for a living in the conservative 1940s. Although the extreme detail in the biography is often tedious, it is obvious that Stuart is a big fan of Giles and wants others to be as well. It is interesting and inspiring to learn of the hardship Giles endured to become a writer, and that writing was as important as breathing to her. Ellie Barta-Moran

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 280 pages
• Publisher: The University Press of Kentucky; 1st edition (October 2, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813120950
• ISBN-13: 978-0813120959
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,655,506 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Writter's Life of Janice Holt Giles, April 18, 2011

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This review is from: Janice Holt Giles : A Writer's Life (Hardcover)

It is a very informative insight to Janice Holt Giles' life. It makes one to feel as if they really knew her.