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A Parchment of Leaves (Ballantine Reader's Circle)

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Following his well-received Clay's Quilt, Silas House continues to explore the meaning of family, love, home, and belonging. Unlike many popular novels today, House is never heavy-handed in his themes. A Parchment of Leaves unfolds itself as naturally to the reader as own lives unfold to us. His clear prose is welcoming and contains an undercurrent of description that reveals the simple beauties of the landscape and human relationships. The characters of Vine and Serena are so three-dimensional that you'll convince yourself they're real people. Curl up with your quilt, a cup of hot chocolate, and this book. Recommended for all readers, not just devotees of Southern literature.

A beautifully written book by the author of CLAY'S QUILT, A PARCHMENT OF LEAVES takes us back to the early 1900's and the mountains of Appalachia. Vine, a young Cherokee girl, is rumored to have sent men to their graves by casting spells on them, for she is reputed to have special magical powers. The white men of the area fear her, especially as they pass her home on the way up the mountains to work on the construction of a mansion being built for a rich man named Tate Masters.

One day, Saul Sullivan and his brother Aaron are on their way up the mountain to help with the construction, and they pass Vine's house. Saul sees Vine for the first time and is instantly smitten, but she ignores him. A while later, she hears screams and finds that Aaron has been bitten by a poisonous snake. With her knowledge of Indian medicine, she saves his life.

Vine's life is changed forever. No longer does she live within the confines of the Cherokee community. The snakebite that nearly kills Aaron paves the way for Saul and Vine's courtship and soon they are married. She moves away from Redbud Camp and the Cherokee people, and moves in with her new husband and mother-in-law Esme, who live in a place called God's Creek.

Although Vine and Saul love each other, she misses her family terribly. However, her mother-in-law is very supportive of them, despite the rumors that have spread about Vine and her evil spells and the fact that she is a Cherokee. The two women become close, which helps to ease Vine's homesickness. She befriends the local midwife, Serena, who Saul mentions, is "crackerjack", but Vine ignores the comment and soon the two women are the closest of friends.

The people at God's Creek also accept Vine as part of their community. She learns their ways, sings their songs, dances their Irish jigs, and eats their food. She creates a loving home for her husband and new baby. But she is not completely happy. She finds that Saul is not as talkative as she would have liked, and is upset that he keeps things to himself, failing to open himself up to her.

At the same time, Aaron develops an obsession for Vine, which begins to scare her. She tries to ignore what is happening, and one day she finds that he is following her, hiding behind trees as he spies on her. She keeps this from Saul, knowing that he will never believe her and will always come to the defense of his family.

With Saul by her side, Vine feels protected, but one day he tells her that he has decided to temporarily move to a neighboring county to help with the war effort. It'll help bring in more money and give them the type of life they can only dream of. As soon as Saul leaves God's Creek, Aaron approaches Vine and professes his love for her, coming on so strong that she screams at him to leave. He disappears, leaving Esme and Vine to fend for themselves, only to return months later with a new wife, Aidia, who happens to physically resemble Vine.

With Aaron back in their lives with a new wife, Vine at first thinks that everything is going to be all right. But as Aidia begins to confide in Vine, she finds out that Aaron's return to God's Creek spells trouble. What later happens between Vine and Aaron is so horrible that no one learns the truth except Vine's closest friend Serena. With this weighing heavy on her mind, Vine finds life intolerable and dreads the day of Saul's return, knowing that she can never keep this secret from him.

Like a series of musical notes, Silas House creates in A PARCHMENT OF LEAVES a lyrical work of art as he tells the story of Vine and her life away from her Cherokee roots. The beauty of the story is found not only in the story itself, but also in the way that House lays down his words on paper and paints the world of early 20th century Appalachia. Although several important themes run through the story, I feel the most important component of this book is how House chose to tell his story, with a lot of imagery and descriptive passages that helped take me back to the home of his ancestors.

The word pictures in A Parchment of Leaves drew me into the story so deeply I could barely breathe. Through the transitions of time and place I became a part of Vine, sharing her life, wanting to be with her. Redbud Camp and God's Creek became my world. I know these people through the heart of Silas House.

A Parchment of Leaves is a beautifully woven story of life in the backwoods of Kentucky at the beginning of WWI. It is a story of a young white man who falls in love with a beautiful Cherokee girl. When they decide to marry, it is inevitable that she must leave her people and that they must go and make their life among his. Silas House tells their story of love, acceptance, prejudice, secrets and betrayals in an intricate manner, told in the voices of the people themselves. The ultimate search for love and forgiveness is a poignant tale. The decisions of which secrets are revealed and which ones are locked away and the friction that results is deftly revealed. The fear and the loneliness is so striking and intense, the pure love is so vibrant and the story so well imagined that this is a novel that stays in your heart.

Silas House can tell a story better than just about anybody writing today. He paints pictures with his words. His characters are real and heartbreaking and full of joy. I said all that when I read his first book, CLAY'S QUILT. But now that I've read his new one, A PARCHMENT OF LEAVES, I am absolutely stunned. It's the best book I've read in FOREVER and I've recommended it to everyone I know (and also bought copies for all my closest friends for Christmas) and everyone just absolutely loves it. So I think I'm safe in recommending it to you, Amazon customer, too. Silas House will be famous someday, but he should be already. I don't understand why this book hasn't been a blockbuster...it should be chosen by one of the talk shows (not because they choose the best books but because it gets some good books some well-deserved attention). READ THIS BOOK. It's beautiful

This book is beautiful. If this doesn't win House the national awards and wide readership he deserves, then something is very wrong. It's rare that an author is able to not only present a great story but also tell it in a style that is like poetry...STUNNING, INTERESTING poetry. The story is full of twists and turns and the ending will leave you breathless...simply the best, most perfect ending I've ever seen. Usually literary/lyrical books become bogged down in style. But House never bores the reader, never second-guesses the reader. This one goes on the Best Books of My Lifetime shelf.

I've been hearing about Silas House ever since the debut of his first novel, CLAY'S QUILT and finally decided to see what all the fuss was about when everyone started telling me PARCHMENT was even better than CLAY. If CLAY is half as good as this book, I don't know if I'll be able to stand it. PARCHMENT is one of the best-written books I've ever had the pleasure of reading. Not only that, but I was immediately immersed in this world. I came to care for these characters and felt as everytime I opened the book I was being transported back in time. This book has it all: beautiful prose, a surprising and twisting plot, vivid characters, and a perfect ending. Best of all, I also learned about an important lost history: that of the Cherokee people who escaped the Trail of Tears and hid out in the mountains to avoid being removed from the place they loved so much. I recommend this book to everyone now. In fact, I've bought four copies for friends of mine in the last month.

I discovered this author after reading an interview with him in _Newsday_. I can't begin to say how glad I am that the article moved me to purchase both his books. _A Parchment of Leaves_ is the best book I read in 2002. The holidays intervened but on Christmas night I treated myself. I was so moved and taken away by this novel that I sat up until 4 AM to finish it. Now, weeks later, I am still thinking about it and wanted other readers to know about this discovery. I came to know--and care for--these characters. It was mesmerizing. Vine, Saul, Serena, Esme, Aidia, and even Aaron will stay with me for a very long time. This one's going on my favorite books shelf. I can't recommend it highly enough.

My hands trembled as I tearfully read the final pages. Silas has a gift for resonating with the reader. At times, I simply stopped reading and stared out the window and reflected on my own life experiences. He possess a profound and intense awaresness and understanding of the emotions, fear and love. The characters are beautifully developed. Parchment is an outstanding read.

No matter how original its theme, or innovative its structure, or stunning its prose, its the story that makes a novel a good, satisfying read. Not to take away from his other skills, but I believe it is Silas Houses commitment to the art of storytelling that will keep us reading his novels as fast as he can write them for years to come. In the first sentence or two of A Parchment of Leaves he hooks us. The beautiful Vine, Cherokee girl of Redbud Camp, is said to bring ruination to every man who looks at her. Houses deft characterization quickly transforms this mountain Siren into a flesh and blood woman who is a complex, surprisingly believable female protagonist to come from the pen of a male writer. We are invested in her fate right from the beginning. The tragedy that we can see coming but keep hoping against hope will be avoided has a Shakespearean feel to it, it seems so inevitable.
As was his first book, Clays Quilt, this book is a celebration of the family and of the land, the music, and the culture of Appalachia. It is much to Silas Houses credit that he can treat even those themes students of regional literature might discount as stereotypical with such freshness and originality that they give all of us, regional and beyond, new ways of looking at them.