Terri Fisher and Kirsten Sparenborg. Lost Communities of Virginia. Earlysville, VA: Albemarle Books, 2011.

From Virginia Tech News

Here is something that I will only say once, and if it weren’t for the eternal nature of blogs, I would deny ever uttering (writing) it from here on out. So all of you out there who bleed maroon and orange, listen up! Here it is: reading Lost Communities of Virginia made me wish that I had gone to Virginia Tech. If I had become a Hokie, I would have gotten involved in the Community Design Assistance Center and the Lost Communities of Virginia Project.

Alas, I didn’t. I went to the University of Virginia, where I got a phenomenal education in architectural history and where I got placed in my first job after college, Patrick County, probably my favorite place on the planet. So not going to VT wasn’t the worst decision of my life, but I am still pretty jealous of the Hokies who got to perform all of the research and write the beautiful book that is Lost Communities of Virginia.

In 2011, the CDAC put out a handsome publication compiling information about thirty of the 2,600 small communities that “[cover] the breadth of Virginia’s geography, history, and community types” (Lost Communities of Virginia Project). What makes these places unique? They have been lost to the hands of time.

Herman Melton. Southside Virginia, 1750-1950: Echoing Through History. Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2006.

From Mitchells Publications.

Reading Herman Melton's latest book about Southside Virginia is almost like spending an afternoon with someone who experienced the events firsthand. You get a good overview of episodes in our history, but without the heavy, intricate details that often (but not always) weigh down those stories. These clips are valuable because Melton expounds upon occurrences that may be little known to most people.

Barbara Hall. The Music Teacher. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books, 2009.

From Fantastic Fiction.

At its heart, Chatham, Virginia, native Barbara Hall's novel The Music Teacher is about relationships. A teacher's relationship with her student. A wife's relationship with her (ex)husband. A daughter's relationship with her father. A musician's relationship with her instrument. A woman's relationship with her co-workers. A human's relationship to the earth. A person's relationship with herself.

Sharyn McCrumb. If I'd Killed Him When I Met Him... New York: Ballentine, 1995.

Tomorrow is the last day of May, and I'm sure that all of the mystery readers out there know what that means - the Agatha Awards were announced earlier this month! (For those of you who did not know that, the Agathas are awarded by Malice Domestic, which holds a "fan fun" convention each May). North Carolina author Maragret Maron won the 2011 Agatha Award for Three Day Town, but way back in 1995, Sharyn McCrumb took home that honor with If I'd Killed Him When I Met Him... Besides putting the spotlight on a very talented Virginia author, this prize highlighted Southside Virginia!

With a title like If I'd Kill Him When I Met Him..., what could make you not want to read McCrumb's winning mystery?! Luckily for readers, this book is not just a clever cover. In the opening scenes, we meet a variety of characters in Danville, Virginia, across a few decades. First there is Lucy Todhunter, a Southern Belle who landed a wealthy Yankee (carpetbagger, if you ask the locals) with a mean streak after the Civil War. Then there's Eleanor Royden, the disgruntled ex-wife of a highly successful Roanoke lawyer who, in response to his midlife crisis, went out and married a bimbo. Finally we meet poor Donna Jean Morgan, the long-suffering wife of the Reverend Chevry Morgan who has just taken a second wife, the child bride Tanya Faith Reinhardt (the Lord told him to, after all).

What do each of these women have in common? Their husbands are dead, and everyone suspects the women. One is gloatingly guilty, one is completely innocent, and the last is very clever. Luckily for Eleanor and Donna Jean, they have the law office of MacPherson and Hill to represent them in any legal proceedings. And Elizabeth MacPherson, heroine of McCrumb's series and forensic anthropologist for the law firm, solves a related puzzling mystery, all while learning more about her zany family.

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Find If I'd Killed Him When I Met Him... in the Charlotte County Library catalog.

Have you read If I'd Killed Him When I Met Him...? Please share your opinion about the book and this summary.

James Fox. Five Sisters: The Langhornes of Virginia. New York: Touchstone, 2000.

Watching the wildly popular PBS  period drama Downton Abbey, it may be hard to believe that there could be any connection to Southside Virginia. The outfits! The accents! The architecture! The dichotomy of servants and aristocrats! The stares! MAGGIE SMITH! How could there be any connection to the tobacco fields of early twentieth century Southside Virginia?

As it turns out, the Langhorne sisters of Danville were the real thing. After becoming famous in the United States as Southern Belles, they became acclaimed in England. Their story, written by James Fox (a grandson of Phyllis and great nephew of the others), is extremely intriguing - after all, one of them was the first female in the British House of Commons, another was the Gibson Girl, yet another was the mother of beloved English comedienne Joyce Grenfell.