Spotlight: The Other Side of Certain by Amy Willoughy-Burle
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Publication Date: September 21, 2022
Fireship Press
Series: Love for Certain, Book 1
Genre: Historical Fiction
For the love of love…and books
Mattie Mobley planned to be a teacher, but when times grew tough during America’s Great Depression, and there were no teaching positions in her hometown of Asheville, NC, Mattie found work starting a school and helping the Pack Horse Librarians just over the mountains in the rural town of Certain, Kentucky. She’s not certain at all that this is a good situation, but she’s determined, and honestly, a little desperate. Of all the things that Mattie does have—money, comforts, a good name, she doesn’t have what matters most—friends, love, and a purpose of her own.
Daniel, “The Grizzly Bear,” Barrett had a lovely life for a little while. Overcoming his family’s bad name and worse reputation, he made a life for himself in Certain. He was married with children and a figure of respect in his church, but desperate times called for desperate measures and a terrible tragedy was the result. Now exiled with his children along the wily run of the Hell for Certain Creek, Daniel has gotten used to being the town pariah again. It’s in his blood after all. Right? Maybe not, but he’ll need the powerful influence of love not only to change his own mind about himself but to convince his estranged extended family and the whole town as well.
Can one librarian with a saddlebag full of books make people see the difference between fact and fiction? Mattie loves a good story, and this may be her best one yet. Fiction tells the best truths and the best truth of all is love.
Excerpt
Mattie
“It’s the book woman come back, Da,” the oldest of the girls shouted at a parent whom I didn’t see. “Here we are,” she shouted at me, waving her hands like I didn’t see her and might turn around and leave.
I studied the children’s faces like I had at every other house. This would take a while, but I wanted to know them all. Two girls, one who seemed to be about thirteen or so and a younger one who might have been ten. There was also a little boy no more than four years old at best. Little bear cubs, no doubt. I looked across the yard for any signs of a bear. None.
“Is your mother inside?” I asked. “I’d love to meet her.”
“Mama is in Heaven,” the little boy said and I had to work hard to not gasp at the sound of his little voice proclaiming such a sad thing with such an uplift in his tone.
“I am sorry to hear that, little ones.” I looked at the older girl’s face and saw the same eyes I see in the mirror when I think about my own mother. “Mine is as well.”
We stood for another moment, and then I cleared away the ghosts of loss by reaching into my bag and pulling out the books I had for them.
“Where is your father?” I asked. “I should introduce myself.”
“He’s out back in the garden. Working. He said a storm’s coming and he wants to finish as soon as he can.”
I nodded. I was sure that simple pleasures like reading seemed a waste of time to a hardworking man, especially now, when there was more to worry over than what happens in the next chapter of a story. This current chapter the world was on was hard enough to manage.
“I’ll go and speak to him. You three enjoy these books and I’ll be back in about two weeks.”
The three of them ran back inside their cabin.
I stepped around the back of the house. The sky was darkening more quickly than I was prepared for. I felt my heart begin to race.
“Mattie,” I said out loud to myself, “you are being ridiculous. There is not an actual grizzly bear here. It is only a man and how scary could he possibly be. They are fooling with you.”
I took a breath and went around the back of the cabin. There, in another section of this secret garden of sorts, I saw a man working about a third of the way into a decent sized plot of vegetables. The garden was beautiful--the way the beans climbed up the trellises bound together like little tee-pees, and how the tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, melons even, grew in their own rows and squared plots bordered with smooth rocks. This land was not fit for agriculture in the slightest, but here was this garden nonetheless. This has taken effort and care and time. Much of it.
The man’s back was to me, so I called out to him.
“Sir, my name is Mattie Mobley. I’m one of the librarians from town.” I stepped over a row of broccoli. “I’m taking over for Lizzy for a bit while I get a new school set up. I’d love to tell you all about it.”
He didn’t seem to mind me at all. Perhaps he couldn’t hear. I reached out to tap him on the shoulder, and at that moment he turned around. Looming over me and just inches away, his face was nearly completely covered with a dark and tangled black beard. His hair protruded from his straw hat so that the wild locks covered most of his forehead. I could clearly see a pair of very stern and angry green eyes glaring at me. I tried to step backwards, but my heel sank into the dirt and I found myself fumbling both forward and back at the same time on my stupid, mud caked Oxfords. The man seemed to lunge at me, and I put my hands up in front of my face to shield whatever attack was coming. He caught me by the arm and grabbed a hold of my shoulder.
“Sir, please,” I said desperately, but even at the same time, I realized that he was not actually attacking me, but keeping me from falling down.
I caught my breath and righted myself, not before turning my ankle again. He looked down at my feet and then again at my face. He was still holding onto my shoulder.
“I’m fine now. Thank you,” I said, trying to sound confident and aloof, yet knowing I was talking to the very grizzly about whom I had been warned. Maybe he wasn’t that bad. “As I was saying. I’m Mattie Moley…”
“Leave the books and go,” he grunted his interruption, proving me wrong. “Get out of my garden before you ruin my yield.” He turned his back on me and went about his business.
My heart raced. I wasn’t sure if I was angry at him for being so rude, or simply relieved that he’d turned away and given me an escape.
Either way, I left as instructed, and I did it as quickly as possible. The sky was indeed darkening to an ominous gray, the storm now set to come in.
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About the Author
Amy Willoughby-Burle grew up in the small coastal town of Kure Beach, NC, and now lives in Asheville, NC with her husband and four children. She teaches creative writing and works as a freelance editor when not working on her own fiction. She is also the director of Wildacres Writers Workshop. She is the author of the novels The Lemonade Year and The Year of Thorns and Honey. Her award-winning short fiction has been published in numerous journals and in her collection, Out Across the Nowhere. Her fiction focuses on the importance of family and friends and centers on the themes of forgiveness, second chances, and finding beauty in the world around us. She likes to write about the wonder and mystery of everyday life.
Visit her online at www.amywilloughbyburle.com. You can also Amy on her blog, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Goodreads.
