Wilma Dykeman
Age level: High School/college
Recommended by: Judith Broadbent Summary:
This book is a novel representative of Southern Regional literature. It deals with a woman who becomes the healer in the Appalachian community where she is raised and her struggles to raise her family including a disabled child in this area. Lydia is presented as a very strong and self-willed woman whose struggles to overcome the harshness of her surroundings give the reader insight into this region.
Teaching suggestions:
This novel works well to explore the development of character and setting and their interaction in a piece of literature. Use of cause and effect essay and discussion of regional literature are well served by this book. The author is the state historian of Tennessee.
