Walking Towards Home

By James Everett Kibler

"James Kibler understands that traditional stories endure because they are always new; they furnish the joys both of discovery and of rediscovery."
--Fred Chappell, North Carolina poet laureate

Acutely aware of lifetimes of missed opportunities and mistakes, the characters in James Everett Kibler's new novel unconsciously hold on to a persistent hope. Walking Toward Home presents snapshots of small-town people as they continue to care for the living while mourning the dead in ways that are not uniquely Southern, but universal in purpose. The magnetism of the local country store attracts a diverse group of neighbors who tell stories and impart wisdom that was earned the hard way. Walking Toward Home is set on the banks of the Tyger River in South Carolina, an area the author himself calls home. The trials and triumphs of Chauncey Doolittle and his friends and family are intimately shared among the members of their close community. Chauncey engages in a symbiotic relationship with both the land and the people of his home. He and his neighbors--cousin Kildee, who owns the local country store; Triggerfoot Tinsley, an independent cuss who gets into hilarious scrapes; and the two widow cousins who fish all day--are Southern eccentrics with a flair for the philosophical.

Kibler's humor and poignancy are enhanced by the novel's lyrical language, which evokes the rhythm and music of Southern speech. The characters' stories of faith and mystery become a celebration of the world that has knocked them down but not completely out.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1589802268
• ISBN13: 9781589802261
• Release Date: August 2004
• Publisher: Pelican Publishing Company
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.3" x 7.7"

Customer Reviews

Kibler does it again with Walking Towards Home

If you are of Southern,Scotch-Irish,Celtic ancestry and were raised in a small Southern community you will immediately recognise yourself and those people who loved and influenced you growing up.Like the Andy Griffeth Show Dr. Kibler takes us to a familiar place we often forget in the insane world of survival today. The people in Walking Towards Home may have different names but we see a common connection with our own family,kinfolk and neighbors. We have probably heard stories like this growing up when families used to pass down verbal history before T.V.,computers and video games. This as much a heritage book as it is entertaining and relaxing.So buy yourself and those you love a copy. You, and they, will laugh,reflect and remember and want to read it again.Maybe it will inspire some who have their own family stories to begin to talk about them and give your family a unique sense of place. I know Dr. Kibler would be happy if this book contributed toward that tradition in your family.