We are delighted to announce that on Tuesday, October 20th at 7:00 p.m., City Lights will launch Horace Kephart's long-lost novel, entitled Smoky Mountain Magic. The evening's program will feature Kephart's great-granddaughter, Libby Kephart Hargrave, who worked to bring the book to print 80 years after the manuscript was completed, and artist Elizabeth Ellison, who painted the scene on the book's cover. (It's a beautiful piece of artwork, as you would expect from Elizabeth, but she had to paint it with her left hand because her right was injured during the time she had to work on the project!) Horace Kephart, one of the "founding fathers" of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, worked on Smoky Mountain Magic from 1920 to 1929, when it was rejected by the publisher to whom he had submitted it. The Great Smoky Mountains Association recently took on the project, and Smoky Mountain Magic is now available. Featuring an introduction by naturalist George Ellison, the book is a story of romance and adventure. While Kephart is well-known for his nature writings and role in helping to establish the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, his novel shows another facet of his many talents. Bestselling novelist and WCU professor Ron Rash has praised the book, calling in "a remarkable and illuminating read."

As George Ellison points out in his introduction, Kephart was an excellent listener, and in his time in the Hazel Creek community, he listened to residents tell about their lives. Both his ear for dialogue and his appreciation for a good story are revealed in the novel, which is set in Deep Creek, near Bryson City. The story features Cherokee lore, as well, and some fantastical elements. too. According to Ellison, "Creating a dreamscape is not the sort of stylistic device a reader familiar with Camping and Woodcraft and Our Southern Highlanders would have expected from Kephart, not even in a novel." But at its heart, Smoky Mountain Magic is a story of both romance and adventure.

At our Tuesday night program (October 20th), Hargrave will talk about bringing the manuscript to publication and will read selections from it. She and Elizabeth Ellison will also take questions from the audience. For more information, please don't hesitate to call the store at 586-9499.

Smoky Mountain Magic (Paperback)

By Horace Kephart, Elizabeth Ellison, George Ellison

$12.95

ISBN-13: 9780937207642
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Great Smoky Mountains Natural History Association, 10/2009

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