Lee Smith

Author profile

born

November 01, 1944 in Grundy, Virginia, The United States

gender

female

website

http://www.leesmith.com/

genre

Literature & Fiction, Short Stories, Historical Fiction

influences

William Faulkner, Flannery O'Connor, Eudora Welty, Virginia Woolf

About this author

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Growing up in the Appalachian mountains of southwestern Virginia, nine-year-old Lee Smith was already writing--and selling, for a nickel apiece--stories about her neighbors in the coal boomtown of Grundy and the nearby isolated "hollers." Since 1968, she has published eleven novels, as well as three collections of short stories, and has received many writing awards.

The sense of place infusing her novels reveals her insight into and empathy for the people and culture of Appalachia. Lee Smith was born in 1944 in Grundy, Virginia, a small coal-mining town in the Blue Ridge Mountains, not 10 miles from the Kentucky border. The Smith home sat on Main Street, and the Levisa River ran just behind it. Her mother, Virginia, was a college graduate wh...more

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Books by Lee Smith

Average rating: 3.72 · 10,633 ratings · 1,268 reviews · 52 distinct works

	Fair and Tender Ladies 4.13 avg rating — 1,944 ratings — published 1988 — 12 editions	My rating:
	The Last Girls 3.17 avg rating — 2,240 ratings — published 2002 — 10 editions	My rating:
	On Agate Hill 3.68 avg rating — 1,400 ratings — published 2006 — 13 editions	My rating:
	Oral History 4.01 avg rating — 1,125 ratings — published 1989 — 8 editions	My rating:
	Saving Grace 3.78 avg rating — 766 ratings — published 1995 — 2 editions	My rating:
	Family Linen 3.71 avg rating — 621 ratings — published 1985 — 6 editions	My rating:
	Black Mountain Breakdown 3.86 avg rating — 406 ratings — published 1980 — 7 editions	My rating:
	The Devil's Dream 3.93 avg rating — 391 ratings — published 1992 — 6 editions	My rating:
	Cakewalk 3.80 avg rating — 259 ratings — published 1981 — 5 editions	My rating:
	Mrs. Darcy and the Blue-Eyed Stranger 3.52 avg rating — 284 ratings — published 2010 — 6 editions	My rating:

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Quotes by Lee Smith

“What I didn't understand, all those years when I was waiting for my life to start, was that it had already started. I was already living it! Those were the most important years, and I didn't even know it.”
― Lee Smith

2 people liked it

“The state of my nerves precludes any more active an existence”
― Lee Smith, Family Linen

2 people liked it

“And I belive I am too, and if you think that is awful, then you dont understand a thing.”
― Lee Smith

1 person liked it

See all Lee Smith's quotes »

Polls

GROUP READ B ~ Any Book in the March/April 2012 Issue - Which of the nominated books would you like as one of our April/May group reads?

by Lee Smith

5 votes, 50.0%

by Amy Waldman

2 votes, 20.0%

by Marie Lu

2 votes, 20.0%

by Cara Hoffman

1 vote, 10.0%

10 total votes

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Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
Southern Lit Lovers: Next group read nominations-Nomination Descriptions, scroll down	19	78	May 24, 2009 03:06pm
Southern Lit Lovers: Questions about setting up our next group read discussion--Fair and Tender Ladies	7	31	Jul 06, 2009 09:23am
Southern Lit Lovers: July Group Read--Fair and Tender Ladies *****SPOILERS*****	20	52	Aug 27, 2009 01:08am
The Next Best Boo...: JG's 2009 Reading List	32	316	Jan 10, 2010 10:30pm
The Next Best Boo...: The Recommend a Book Chain Game	197	717	Mar 31, 2010 05:04pm
Constant Reader: What are you reading?	834	527	Mar 31, 2010 05:16pm
Novel Ladies: Group Read Nominations - June 2010	51	43	May 23, 2010 06:07am
Southern Lit Lovers: Share Book Suggestions Here!	43	81	Jun 28, 2010 08:15am

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