Correction, 7:15 p.m. March 24: Due to reporting errors, this story misquoted author Lee Smith. The quote has been removed from the story. The story also incorrectly said that Smith's older stories had not been featured in her previously published collections. Some of the works were included in previously published collections. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for the errors.
All left smiling after Lee Smith’s Southern charmed accent and literary style intertwined, enchanting those who listened to her reading Tuesday at the Bull’s Head Bookshop.
New York Times best-selling author Smith read from and discussed her recently published collection of short stories, “Mrs. Darcy and the Blue-Eyed Stranger.”
The collection’s fictional images range in spectrum from the innards of a nursing home to a small boy conquering stage fright with heartwarming jokes.
Smith’s newest collection includes seven brand-new stories along with seven old favorites.
The older stories have not been featured previously in her well-known collections and are ones that Smith felt needed a little extra care.
Smith read an excerpt from “Between the Lines,” a story originally published in 1981. Smith captured the voice of a small town Appalachian columnist with verve.
The first-person protagonist, Mrs. Joline B. Newhouse, is based off Smith’s own favorite childhood mountain columnist.
The fictional Newhouse, like many of the characters and events in Smith’s stories, is personally connected to specific past phases of her life.
“I write short fiction in the way that many people keep a journal. This collection is as close as I get to memoir,” Smith said.
But Smith’s narratives were not the only embodiment of her life’s past in the Bull’s Head. With nearly every available seat filled, many of the writer’s friends, past students and even former neighbors were in attendance.
“I feel about my new collection what I feel about this group here,” said Smith, who waved at her admiring acquaintance-filled audience.
Smith’s former pupil Sarah Dessen, another New York Times best-selling author, was in attendance.
“She was awesome. Some people just get up there and read, but Lee really illuminates the story,” Dessen said of her mentor.
And Smith’s second reading was nothing shy of illumination. The storyteller’s new tale “Big Girl” was recited with precise pauses and modulating vocal control.
A story about a self-described “big girl” convicted of embezzlement, the tale induced contagious laughter from the reading’s attendees.
“She was in rare good form, better than any stand-up comedian,” said UNC creative writing professor Randall Kenan.
The reading of the collection engrossed its listeners and once again showed Smith to be a master storyteller.
“A lot of times collections look like a doorstop and are put on the top shelf. I wanted something people could take to the beach,” Smith said.
Contact the Arts Editor at artsdesk@unc.edu.
