Author Julia Franks will read and discuss her breathtaking

debut novel, “Over the Plain Houses,” at noon on Tuesday, Aug. 16 at the Lanier Library. Described as “a spellbinding story of witchcraft and disobedience” by NPR’s Carmen Machado, the novel was published in May by Hub City Press in Spartanburg.

“We were thrilled to get this book,” says Betsy Teter, executive director of Hub City Press. “Every now and then a jewel falls out of the hands of the big New York City publishers, and we were able to catch this one. It is gorgeous southern fiction.”

The story is set in the mountains around Asheville just prior to World War II, a time of change for the country and especially the mountain folk. It is such change that ignites the already smoldering spark of rebellion in Irenie Lambey, a farm wife dominated by a forbidding husband. As the story unfolds, Irenie has taken to wandering the surrounding woods at night contemplating her circumstances, creating a world of her own.

When Virginia Furman, an agent with Department of Agricultural Extension Services arrives, encouraging Irenie in her growth, Irenie’s husband feels threatened and descends into a downward spiral of religious dementia, leading to a point of no return for both husband and wife.

A literary thriller with terrific suspense, “Over the Plain Houses” is a timeless narrative that captures a moment in time before everything changes and tells the story of a woman re-establishing her identity.

Teter says that thanks to NPR’s glowing review, the book is selling well across the country, but particularly well in North Carolina where “thanks to sophisticated readers it has caught on like wildfire.” Already a 2016 Okra Pick by the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance, Teter says Hub City Press will be submitting “Over the Plain Houses” for a number of fiction prizes with hopes it will win at least one national award.

Raised with family ties in North Carolina and West Virginia, Franks earned degrees from Vassar College and Columbia University. She lives in Atlanta, Ga., where she teaches literature and currently runs loosecanon.com, a web service that fosters independent reading choice in the classroom. Books for signing will be available for cash or check at the reading.

– article submitted by Clare O’Sheel