That Bright Land, Terry Roberts
That Bright Land, Terry Roberts
List: $19.95 | Sale: $13.97
Club: $9.97

That Bright Land

Author: Terry Roberts

Narrator: MacLeod Andrews

Unabridged: 9 hr 29 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 07/05/2016

Synopsis

That Bright Land is a new Southern gothic thriller from Terry Roberts, winner of the 2012 Willie Morris Award for Southern Fiction.In the summer of 1866, Jacob Ballard, a former Union soldier and spy, is dispatched by the War Department in Washington City to infiltrate the isolated North Carolina mountain community where he was born and find a serial killer responsible for the deaths of Union veterans. Based on true events, That Bright Land is the story of a violent and fragile nation in the wake of the Civil War and a man who must exorcise his own savage demons while tracking down another.

About Terry Roberts

Terry Roberts’ direct ancestors have lived in the mountains of Western North Carolina since the time of the Revolutionary War. Steven Roberts, during the early 1900’s, was the proprietor of the Mountain Park Hotel in the town of Hot Springs in Madison County, North Carolina. Julius and Belva Anderson Roberts lived and farmed near Hot Springs in Anderson Cove. Born in Asheville and raised in Weaverville, North Carolina, Roberts is the director of the National Paideia Center and lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina with his family. His debut novel, A Short Time to Stay Here, won the Willie Morris Award for Southern Fiction.

About MacLeod Andrews

MacLeod Andrews is an actor, voice actor, and Earphones Award–winning audiobook narrator who earned the prestigious Audie Award for best narration in 2018. He has starred in a number of independent short and feature films and is a member of the Rising Phoenix Repertory Company in New York City.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Liz on June 10, 2016

That Bright Land is a book I won't soon forget. It is a story that gets under your skin and pushes the reader to consider a number of big ideas, including healing. Healing in the aftermath of the Civil War is central to the story in That Bright Land. One cannot help but see that today, 150 years aft......more

Goodreads review by Molly on March 28, 2017

I really enjoyed this! A little love, a little mystery, a little adventure, and a lot of history. I love reading books in the places they are set! While I didn't finish this until back in Knoxville, I started it in Hot Springs, and really loved reading it while looking out at the creek.......more

Goodreads review by Wendy on April 16, 2016

Set in the Southern Highlands of North Carolina the year after the end of the Civil War, That Bright Land, the new novel by Terry Roberts, is an absorbing and intense read. Jake Ballard, a Pinkerton agent and investigator of claims for federal disability benefits, has been sent by Governor Zeb Vance......more

Goodreads review by Lynn on March 31, 2016

The first sentence of this new novel grabs you with its offhand ferocity: “In the summer of 1866 I went down South to find and kill a man.” The speaker is Jacob Ballard, a wounded veteran of the union army who became a Pinkerton agent after having most of his hand blown off in battle. He has been se......more

Goodreads review by Cindy B. on November 15, 2021

Exciting plot and twists with old fashioned moral values. Some sexual situations intimately described. Otherwise religious values are well written of and characters are written like real people (not superstars). Narrator is excellent and adds to the story. 3-1/2 stars.......more

Quotes

“Terry Roberts has constructed a novel of considerable historic value, containing a charming love story.” Elizabeth Spencer, New York Times bestselling author

“That Bright Land is a thrilling and seamless fusion of fact and imagination, bringing to light a too-long neglected part of American history. This novel further confirms Terry Roberts’ place as one of Appalachia’s most important voices.” Ron Rash, New York Times bestselling author

“With authority and authentic and precise detail, Terry Roberts brings to life an obscure corner of our history where brother fought brother and neighbor was divided from neighbor. With humor as well as compelling drama, this mystery story unfolds in conflicts of loyalty, revenge, vivid poetry of place, and the bonds of healing love. No one who reads this novel will ever forget it.” Robert Morgan, New York Times bestselling author

“[A] gripping whodunit set in the summer of 1866…This historical approaches the high standard of Owen Parry’s mysteries set during the same period.” Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Roberts has set his gripping detective story, That Bright Land, in the still bleeding aftermath of the Civil War. The place is backwater Appalachia and the depiction of ways and manners is not only accurate but integral to the force of the story. And what force it has!” Fred Chappell, author of I Am One of You Forever

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