Customer Reviews

Refuge

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Those who are lucky to know Dot Jackson's writing as a journalist and columnist have long awaited this, her first novel, and she does not disappoint. Luminously written, evocative, and filled with a deep love for her Appalachian roots, Refuge is a new American masterpiece. You will be homesick for the Carolina Hills even if you have never been there.

Damon Lee Fowler, author of Damon Lee Fowler's New Southern Baking

If you have ever suffered loss, if you have ever experienced joy tinged with grief, if you have ever longed to break free of social expectations and embark on the perilous journey of finding out who you really are, Dot Jackson's Refuge will make an excellent companion. Set in the Appalachian South, the story offers haunting descriptions, fascinating and inspiring characters, and pitch-perfect dialogue. Jackson so deftly and gracefully shapes the plot - which centers on a family mystery -- that you won't be able to set this story down. For anyone who seeks refuge (be it physical, emotional, or spiritual), and for anyone who aspires to live faithfully and with integrity, this book will enlarge and deepen your life and give it meaning and hope.

Refuge by Dot Jackson is an engaging novel depicting the spontaneous escape of Mary Seneca Steele with her children from the life of unhappiness in the South. Captivating as it carries readers through the intimate tale of discovery of self, life, and family, Refuge brings Mary to the family she had never known in the mountain cove and birch forest where she connects with Ben Aron, her cousin, Panama, her aunt, and enters a love affair which results in several tragic and intricately plotted events. Exceptionally well written, Refuge is very strongly recommended for the readers seeking a vivid tale of love, intimacy, fate, and an evocative mystery.

Once in a while you come across writing that resonates so clearly within your soul that you read and re-read passages just to savor the language. Dot Jackson's REFUGE is filled with that kind of luminous vernacular, pitch-perfect and insightful, carried along by a dark undercurrent of disquietude revealed through the voice of protagonist Mary Seneca Steele.

Like fellow Southern Appalachian author Charles Frazier, Jackson knows that storytelling should be unhurried, that for ultimate enjoyment the reader should experience the intertwined nuances of character and plot and language in smooth and satisfying sips, and she supplies that lingering enjoyment in spades.

All is not wisteria and mint juleps in Caney Fork, though, or poke sallet and white likker either. Whether in bustling Charleston or the secluded mountain cove where she seeks refuge, Mary Seneca knows that searching for her rightful place in the world is all a feeling person can do. Such an odyssey is her destiny, even if it leads to tragedy for herself and for the people she loves.

Mary Seneca is willing to pay the price, any price, to learn her family's hidden secrets and to find salvation and redemption for her own self. Throughout her long and eventful life, she learns that family matters, that blood runs true, and that a place to belong is at the heart of living and loving.

REFUGE is a wonderful, beautiful story. Highly recommended.

Refuge is an excellent novel depicting life in the mountains of Appalachia. From the use of the area's colloquilisms to the deep bonds of family, the author presents characters rich in strength and compassion and narratives true to the lives they share. It is a superlative love story that stayed with me months after I read it. It would surely make a wonderful movie.

Rich in character and characters, Refuge is a grand tour through the life of a young girl who bounces between Charleston aristocracy and the good and hard times of Appalachian mountain life early in the 20th century. The author has a great feel for this place and this time.

This is a beautiful story. Just beautiful. I loved the characters & felt their sorrows & their joys. Please don't miss this book & I eagerly await more like this from Dot Jackson.

"Refuge" has become one of my all-time favorite books. The story has remained with me long after reading the book. Jackson weaves a very poetic and heartbreaking tale of forbidden love and family prejudice. Yet "Refuge" is far more than just a love story; it is also a family saga, historical fiction, and mystery all rolled into one. And it is based on a true story from the author's own family history. Jackson evokes the beauty and isolation of the mountain setting so well that you feel transported there. Her characters are well-drawn, believable, and in some cases, larger than life. Their dialogue is authentic throughout. This is southern fiction at it's finest. I purchased my copy after I had already read the book from my library, but I loved it so much that I wanted to own it.

RefugeI sent this book, likewise from Amazon, to my closest cousin. I told her several of our long-gone relatives appear in the pages -- not literally, of course, but in spirit. I was hard put to finish reading it ... enjoying the visit. I finally forced myself to read the last chapter. My cousin's first response was the exact same. She, too, had delayed the ending not wanting it to be over. Masterful character creation drives this solid story. Faithful to our fading mountain vernacular won me over. At times I laughed out loud; other times I ached with empathetic loss. Dot Jackson is a treasure; not every author has that ability.

In a moment of sudden resolve, Mary Seneca Steele, who scarcely knows how to drive, piles her two young children into the 1928 Auburn Phaeton her abusive and irresponsible husband has just bought with her inheritance money. With very little sense of direction, she abandons the polite society of Charleston and strikes out in search of her father's family in the Blue Ridge Mountains, in a place he had apparently loved, yet had mysteriously left, never to return. In a tantalizing prologue, Jackson hints at what Mary Steele finds there, how as an old woman, Steele looks back on her life and admits to herself, "I did a dreadful thing. I came here desperate, and I thought my heart would break for the love of what I found. And then I would not rest until I destroyed it. And you want to hear the worst? I would do it again. Oh yes, oh yes, I would do it. God forgive my soul, but I don't think I could help it."

Jackson courageously takes on the subject of forbidden love. She also imparts a haunting sense of place. I first read "Refuge" during a long, dreary winter, and it was like a walk in early springtime, or a warm summer day that you wish would go on forever. Jackson has an excellent ear for dialogue and manages, with an economy of words, to make you "see" characters vividly. Here is humor and sadness and a clarity that makes you remember "Refuge" long after you have finished it. If I were to choose six books I consider the best I've ever read, "Refuge" would be one of them. It would make a great film.

I understand Dot Jackson kept the manuscript hidden under her bed for fifteen years. Thank you, Dot. I'm grateful you finally chose to share it with the world.