Spotlight on TRUE STORIES AT THE SMOKY VIEW by Jill McCroskey Coupe

Publisher: She Writes Press
Pub. Date: April 5th, 2016
Pages: 324


Jill McCroskey Coupe’s first novel, TRUE STORIES AT THE SMOKY VIEW begins in Knoxville, Tennessee, where 40-something art history librarian Vrai (short for Vraiment, which means “really” in French) has the difficult task of delivering the ashes of her dead friend to his mother. Vrai was estranged from Skip at the time of his death, and the awkward visit to their hometown only accentuates her loss. Vrai hopes to pay her respects and then speed back to Baltimore.

Two things stop her.

First, she discovers that 10-year-old Jonathan, the son of her deceased childhood best friend, has been abandoned with no shoes in the funeral home parking lot. After waiting for more than an hour, Vrai takes the boy with her, intending to reunite him with his legal guardians at some point.

Second, weather intervenes. The worst storm in Knoxville’s history, the Blizzard of ’93, drops nearly three feet of snow in the Southern Appalachians. Soon stranded in the Smoky View Motel, Vrai and Jonathan begin reading some stories that Skip left behind. The stories are sinister tales that call his death into question. More, the stories remind Jonathan of his parents, assassinated by Pinochet’s henchmen. Jonathan’s insistence that Vrai look into Skip’s death is the beginning of a quest that takes this unlikely duo to Baltimore and beyond.


TRUE STORIES AT THE SMOKY VIEW is refreshingly unconventional—a novel primarily about family and friendship that includes a search for justice, a story of Pinochet and international politics, and an attempt to challenge tyranny in all its guises.

Praise for True Stories at the Smoky View

“With intricate story lines involving murder, library research, road trips, and Vrai’s and ­Jonathan’s quest for justice, and motifs including motherhood, love, marriage, betrayal, and true friendship, there is something for everyone in this light/dark Southern novel by a writer to watch."—Library Journal

“This debut author has a knack for storytelling and great characters.”—Booklist 

“True Stories At The Smoky View examines the mysteries and complexities of family, friendship, love and romance, and evil both grandiose and petty. In Vrai Lynde, in particular, Coupe has given us a vivid portrait of a complicated woman torn in many directions by her loves and her loyalties.”—Smoky Mountain News

“You’ve got love a novel whose protagonist is an emotionally adrift art librarian turned kidnapper and detective. Stir together a literary mystery with a compelling setting, a liberal dash of humor, and a touching relationship and you get…True Stories at the Smoky View.”—StoryCircle Book Reviews

Buy the Book

 

 

Amazon | Barnes and Noble | IndieBound | Books-A-Million

 

 

About the Author

A former librarian at Johns Hopkins University, Jill McCroskey Coupe has an MFA in Fiction from
Warren Wilson College. She grew up in Knoxville and now lives in Baltimore.

 

You can learn more about Jill and her writing on her website, and can connect with her on Facebook.

 

 



Spotlight on True Stories at the Smoky View by Jill McCroskey Coupe

Publication Date: April 5th, 2016
Publisher: She Writes Press
Pages: 324

Genre: Contemporary Fiction/Debut Novel


After attending the funeral of her estranged friend Skip in Knoxville, Tennessee, Vrai (short for Vraiment), a forty-something art history librarian with sons of her own, rescues ten-year-old Jonathan, who has been abandoned with no shoes in the funeral home parking lot. The Blizzard of 1993 strands this unlikely duo at the Smoky View Motel, where, motivated in part by the unsolved murders of Jonathan’s parents, they begin to uncover the truth about Skip’s death. With elements of mystery and intrigue, True Stories at the Smoky View is primarily a novel about relationships: the love Vrai feels for her husband and sons, all of whom have left home; her friendship with Skip, which she begins to see in a new light; and her deepening bond with Jonathan. For Vrai and Jonathan, this is a story of mutual rescue―one that results in new lives for them both.

Advanced Praise

“True Stories at the Smoky View is a riveting literary mystery you won’t soon forget. Jill McCroskey Coupe handles this complex tale of troubled romance, broken families, redeeming friendship, and inexplicable evil with intelligence, grace, and grit. This exhilarating debut novel brims with honesty, charm, heart, and good humor.”
—John Dufresne, author of No Regrets, Coyote


“Intrigue abounds in True Stories at the Smoky View, but this wonderful first novel is above all testament to Eudora Welty’s observation that “all serious daring starts from within.” With an abundance of wit and accuracy of feeling, Jill Coupe beautifully charts both the complexities of loyalty and the internal growth of Vrai Lynde, her central character, and she does so in clear, precise prose.”
—Jane Brox, author of Brilliant: The Evolution of Artificial Light


“This is a thoroughly absorbing book that I found difficult to put down. The personalities Coupe conjured stayed with me long after I finished reading. The writing is beautiful: spare and funny. A most enjoyable read.”
—Maureen Beck, former Director of Library Services, Stevenson University

 

Buy The Book



Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Indie Bound | Books A Million

 

 

About the Author 

Jill McCroskey Coupe’s first job was gathering (collating) in her father’s printing plant in Knoxville, Tennessee, in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains. A former librarian at Johns Hopkins

University, she has an MFA in Fiction from North Carolina’s Warren Wilson College, in the heart of the Blue Ridge. The Southern Appalachians always feel like home to her, but so does Baltimore, where she’s hard at work on her next novel.


Find out more about Jill on her website and connect with her on Facebook.