Silas House is skilled at creating interesting characters and developing a story though them, and his imagery is delightful. He has succeeded in telling a story set in Appalachia without stereotyping or romanticizing his characters. Both A Parchment of Leaves and his first novel Clay's Quilt use violence as a plot mechanism. This is common in much of Appalachian literature and another reason the genre sometimes seems stagnant. Though the violence in A Parchment of Leaves seems integral to the plot, the story of Vine and Saul could have been as interesting and well told if it were absent. The story of ordinary people in ordinary circumstances might be more difficult than depending on high drama and tragedy, but one hopes that Mr. House has the ability and good sense to tell just such a story in his next book.
A Parchment of Leaves is Silas House
It is the early 1900s in rural Kentucky, and young Saul Sullivan is heading up to Redbud Camp to look for work. He is wary but unafraid of the Cherokee girl there whose beauty is said to cause the death of all men who see her. But the minute Saul lays eyes on Vine, he knows she is meant to be his wife. Vinen’s mother disapproves of the mixed marriage; Saul2’s mother, Esme, has always been ill at ease around the Cherokee people. But once Vine walks into Godd’s Creek, Saulw’s mother and brother Aaron take to her immediately. It quickly becomes clear to Vine, though, that Aaron is obsessed with her. And when Saul leaves Godr’s Creek for a year to work in another county, the wife he leaves behind will never be the same again. The violence that lies ahead for Vine, will not only test her spirit, but also her ability to forgives—both others and herself. . . .
Silas House is the author of Clay's Quilt and A Parchment of Leaves. He is the recipient of the Kentucky Book of the Year Award and the James Still Award, from the Fellowship of Southern Writers. A Parchment of Leaves was a Book Sense Top Ten pick and a citywide reader's pick in four cities. A graduate of Spalding University, with an M.F.A. in writing, House lives with his wife and two daughters in Eastern Kentucky.
