Union, WV - Softcover

Abraham, Michael

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0926487531 ISBN 13: 9780926487536

Publisher: Pileated Press, 2010

Synopsis

Wayne Derek Quarles wins no sainthood awards. A resident of bustling, polyglot Northern Virginia, Quarles is self-centered, egotistical, and cantankerous - an equal opportunity bigot. Within the span of a week, his malevolence causes him to lose everything that has ever been important. But his life seemingly turns even more wretched when, on a visit to tiny Union, West Virginia, he becomes an accidental long-term visitor. Through family lore, Quarles finds that his troubles, as well as his recovery process, mirror those of his ancestor, Confederate veteran Andrew Jackson McGranahan, whose likeness was memorialized in a statue in a cow pasture at the end of Main Street. Union, WV is a novel of loss, healing, and redemption in contemporary Appalachia.

About this title

From the Author:

Appalachia is a deeply misunderstood place, where outsiders view it as tragic, insular, ignorant, and hostile. Every stereotype has some basis in reality, I suppose, but characterizing any particular individual based upon his or her race, religion, nationality, or in this case region of origin, is a disservice to everyone.
Union, WV began in a quirky way. I was writing my first book, The Spine of the Virginias, a non-fiction look at the people, history, and culture along the border of Virginia and West Virginia. I happened upon a strange statue, a memorial to the Confederate soldiers of Monroe County, West Virginia. It was in Union, the county seat. I knew that West Virginia was born during the Civil War, split from Virginia by Union sympathizers in the northwestern part of the state. But still, this struck me as damn peculiar; here was a monument to Confederate soldiers in a Union state in a town called Union. Furthermore, it was not in the center of town where any self-respecting monument belongs, but literally in a cow pasture 100 yards off Main Street at the north end of town. Passing motorist would barely notice it, and if they did would invariably be puzzled.
A story began to form in my head of a Civil War soldier from Monroe County who would ultimately become the model for the statue. Andrew Jackson McGranahan mustered into General Lee's army in defense of his beloved Virginia, only to return home from war wounded and angry, a criminal in a new state that few of his neighbors wanted or recognized.
My initial thought was to include this in my book The Spine of the Virginias. In short order, my council of elders told me I would have dead ants between my ears where my brain belonged to put a novella inside a non-fiction book. So I promptly removed it, setting it figuratively aside on my computer.
Months later, I decided to wrap a novel around it, where Andy McGranahan's Civil War story would be told as family lore and the main story would be of Wayne Derek Quarles, an angry, self-centered contemporary man who finds himself as an accidental visitor to Union, captured there by infirmities of his own making. Quarles' recovery and redemption came to mirror that of Andy McGranahan's.
My goal was to smash some stereotypes by illustrating the many complex characteristics of Appalachian people, mostly their inherent decency, which had a transformative effect on Quarles.
Warning: Union, WV begins with adult themes, with Quarles in bed with someone he's not married to. Readers sensitive to bawdry behavior please have patience; it gets better!  

From the Back Cover:

Wayne Derek Quarles wins no sainthood awards. A resident of bustling, polyglot Northern Virginia, Quarles is self-centered, egotistical, and cantankerous - an equal opportunity bigot. Within the span of a week, his malevolence causes him to lose his mistress, his job, his Hummer, and his wife. On his way to look over some free furniture at the home of Professor Phil McGranahan, an elderly great-uncle in tiny Union, West Virginia, Wayne's life turns even more wretched when he sustains immobilizing injuries and is forced to stay for awhile.
Through family lore recounted by Uncle Phil, Wayne finds that his troubles, as well as his recovery process, mirror those of his great-great-great-great grandfather, Andrew Jackson McGranahan, Confederate veteran of the War Between The States, whose likeness was memorialized by grateful townspeople in a statue that stands today in a cow pasture at the end of Main Street.
Union, WV is the story of healing and redemption in contemporary Appalachia. 

About this edition

• Publisher: Pileated Press
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0926487531
• ISBN 13: 9780926487536
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 318