The Watauga County Public Library is proud to welcome Ron Rash, prolific and award- winning author best known for his writings about rural Appalachia, to The Appalachian Theatre of the High Country on August 7th at 6:00 PM. Mr. Rash will discuss his twentieth book, The Caretaker, set in Blowing Rock in 1951. Please join us for an enlightening talk followed by a book signing, with copies of The Caretaker and a selection of Mr. Rash’s other books available for purchase courtesy of the Appalachian State University Bookstore. Admission is free.
A long-revered presence in the landscape of American letters, Ron Rash’s work evokes the beauty and brutality of the land, the relentless tension between past and present, and the unquenchable human desire to be a little bit better than circumstances would seem to allow (to paraphrase Faulkner). A two-time PEN/Faulkner finalist, three- time O. Henry Short Story Prize winner, and Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award winner, whose fans include the likes of Alice Munro, Margaret Atwood, and Richard Russo and is currently published in seventeen languages, Rash burst onto the national scene with his 2008 New York Times bestseller Serena, which earned him comparisons to “John Steinbeck and Cormac McCarthy” (The New Yorker).
His twentieth book and first novel since 2017, The Caretaker celebrates the culmination of Rash’s oeuvre while simultaneously imparting all he’s learned about love, resilience, hope, and humanity over his seventy years and twenty books. Set in the heart of Appalachia—a region Rash has made his own the way Alice Munro is identified with Ontario or Annie Proulx claimed Wyoming—against the devastating backdrop of the Korean War, this is a breathtaking love story and a searing examination of the acts we seek to justify in the name of duty, family, and honor. It’s 1951 in Blowing Rock, North Carolina, and the politics of small-town social class and ambition threaten the marriage of Jacob, the son of successful local merchants, and his young wife Naomi, an outcast who works as a seasonal maid in the local hotel. When Jacob is conscripted to serve overseas, he tasks his best friend, Blackburn – shunned by the townsfolk after a childhood case of polio and condemned to spend his life among the dead as the sole caretaker of a hilltop cemetery – with watching over Naomi. But as the two grow closer, a shattering revelation throws everyone off course. Loyalties will be tested and boundaries will be pushed as Rash explores the intricacies of male friendship and rivalry and how a parent’s blinding love for their child can lead to unforgivable consequences.
Author John Grisham praises The Caretaker saying:
With each Ron Rash story, you expect flawed people trying desperately to survive against the odds, and a rich sense of place, and images that linger, and beautiful language that you catch yourself reading over and over. What you don’t always expect is a wicked plot. The Caretaker delivers all of the above in a story that becomes a race to the finish.
The library is grateful to the sponsors of this event, The Friends of the Watauga County Public Library, now celebrating their 50th year, and The Appalachian State University Libraries. The library also thanks The Appalachian Theatre of the High Country for providing a beautiful venue, and 828 Realty for assisting with accommodations.
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