Janice Holt Giles : A Writer's Life (Hardcover)

by Dianne Watkins Stuart (Author) "In the fall of 1960, Janice Holt Giles, successful author of twelve books, was invited to return to her native state of Arkansas to address..." (more)
Key Phrases: ridge trilogy, little better than plumb, damned engineers, Houghton Mifflin, Fort Smith, Janice Holt Giles (more...)

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: 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: No customer reviews yet. Be the first.
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,522,772 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)