Clay Bank County

"James Kibler understands that traditional stories endure because they are always new; they furnish the joys both of discovery and of rediscovery." --Fred Chappell, North Carolina poet laureate Acutely aware of lifetimes of missed opportunities and mistakes, the characters in James Everett Kibler's new novel unconsciously hold on to a persistent hope. Walking Toward Home presents snapshots of small-town people as they continue to care for the living while mourning the dead in ways that are not uniquely Southern, but universal in purpose. The magnetism of the local country store attracts a diverse group of neighbors who tell stories and impart wisdom that was earned the hard way. Walking Toward Home is set on the banks of the Tyger River in South Carolina, an area the author himself calls home. The trials and triumphs of Chauncey Doolittle and his friends and family are intimately shared among the members of their close community. Chauncey engages in a symbiotic relationship with both the land and the people of his home. He and his neighbors--cousin Kildee, who owns the local country store; Triggerfoot Tinsley, an independent cuss who gets into hilarious scrapes; and the two widow cousins who fish all day--are Southern eccentrics with a flair for the philosophical. Kibler's humor and poignancy are enhanced by the novel's lyrical language, which evokes the rhythm and music of Southern speech. The characters' stories of faith and mystery become a celebration of the world that has knocked them down but not completely out.

"This fine novel should have an honored place on the same shelf as the novels of Andrew Lytle and Wendell Berry." --Ron Rash, award-winning poet, short story writer, and author of Saints at the River "THE EDUCATION OF CHAUNCEY DOOLITTLE is the perfect companion for the December fireside and the July streamside, a book to be sipped and never gulped" --Fred Chappell, author of I Am One of You Forever "Kibler has provided readers with another refreshing stroll down a breezy country lane." --James Cantrell, author of How Celtic Culture Invented Southern Literature An eloquent advocate for the redemptive values of the agrarian society, James Kibler is a masterful storyteller with an uncanny talent for making his characters come alive through dialogue. Whether they are farmers, fishermen, or shopkeepers, Kibler's characters mind the land as well as their ancestors. In this expressive novel, Kibler presents the daily life of Chauncey Doolittle and his companions, small-town fellows who gather at a country store to wrestle with the powerful forces of modernity, the pull of the past, and their deep affection for one another and the land they call home. Spanning a cycle of four seasons, this third book in the Clay Bank County Series brings protagonist Chauncey Doolittle into his own as a poet and student of Latin, language, and the wonderfully rich humanity around him. Told with gentle humor and warmth, this perceptive novel is as much a study of the landscape itself as it is a tribute to those men and women who live in solidarity with the land. A collection of Chauncey's poems follows at the end of the work, providing a softly cadenced close to a bittersweet story of endurance, remembrance, and transition.