smith at her finest.

Many of you know Lee Smith from her novels set in Appalachia. This popular author has thrown away fiction for real life, HER real life, in her very first collection of personal essays titled Dimestore: A Writer's Life which came out last month.

These 15 essays are very intimate, very candid, and unlike anything Smith has ever shared with readers. Born in Grundy, Virginia, Smith had an idyllic childhood spending a lot of time in her father’s dimestore from which the book gets its name. She writes of how she became a storyteller in that store, of her loving parents, and of the small town she adored. Getting to know Lee Smith is just as enjoyable as getting to know the characters in her novels.