By Barbara McRae
-The Franklin Press
Friday November 16th, 2012
Eva Carpenter McCall and her husband George have settled not far from where her story began, in a big old house just a stone's throw from where they live today.
The old house had stood up well to the elements, Eva says, surmising that "back then, the termites didn't have teeth." Nevertheless, when she was in the eighth grade, her father, James Carpenter, built another house nearby and turned the old place into a chicken coop.
Eva spreads her arms to illustrate the size of the original Carpenter property and notes with satisfaction that most of it is still in the family. She and George are living in the house her daddy built. It backs up to Carpenter Mountain and, from their sunroom, the McCAlls look out on the massive form of Black Mountain.
These are the places of Eva's childhood, and they feature strongly in her novels, The Edge of Heaven (1997) and Children of the Mountain (2002), and a slimmer volume called Lucy's Recipes for Mountain Living.
"I've learned that you never lose what you started out to be, no matter where in the world you go," Eva says. Her adult life took her away from Franklin.
She graduated from high school in 1955 and attended Pfeiffer College. Then, in 1957, she met George in the sugar aisle of Mason's Food Palace when he was home on leave from the service.
"He got him a little sugar," Eva teases. But, it wasn't quite their first encounter. She remembers that when she was in the fourth grade at the old Slagle School, she saw him playing basketball. He was an older guy, in the eighth grade, and he caught her eye.
After they married, they moved to Flint, Mich., where George worked in the automotive industry. They had three children born there, two girls and a boy.
After "five years of motherhood," Eva decided to go back to work; she attended beauty school and launched a career that she loved.
A friend who came to get her hair done encouraged her desire to write. She brought Eva her stories to read and talked her into joining her critique group.
Edge of Heaven came about as a way to deal with a difficult family tragedy. A granddaughter, born with spina bifida, died at the age of 15 months after a long struggle.
"I'd come home, and I'd be Lucy, to help me cope," Eva recalls. (Lucy, the main character in Edge, was inspired by Eva's grandmother.)
It took two years to complete the novel. George encouraged her--he says he pulled the manuscript out of the trash can twice--and the friend who originally pushed her to write was also there to help.
"I went home with her and she said, 'You're so close to the end of that book. We're going to finish it tonight.'" At 3 a.m., Eva wrote the last sentence.
The McCalls enjoyed their time in Michigan. "It wasn't too unlike what life is here. There was the same sense of community," Eva said. "The hardest part for me was the difference in the way we talked. You'd be talking to someone and they'd be grinning because of your accent."
Writing helped. The mountain dialect Eva knew as a child is strongly featured in her books. "It gave me a sense of freedom," she said. She had bottled up that dialect for 43 years, trying to fit in; the books let it burst out.
Why does she base her novels on the hills of home? The answer is simple--"That's what I know." But then Eva stops to ponder: "Why don't I know about living in Michigan for 43 years like I know this?"
Carpenter Mountain was where her heart was. Ten years ago, she and George came home.
"When I came back, it was like being a kid again," she says. She was inspired to write a third book, again based loosely on memories and stories from her childhood. The main character is a girl named Ollie who grows up in the course of a tumultous couple of years.
"Writing the book was so much fun. I was in Ollie's skin."
Evan began this novel with the story, passed down in her family, of the death of her mother's brother. He was found dead in 1942, and it was never determined whether he was murdered or had shot himself.
Eva talked with novelist Sheila Kay Adams about the incident. "I told her, 'You don't shoot yourself through the heart with a shotgun and lay it back on the bed by your side.'"
"That's your first line," Adams said. "Now go home and write it."
And, Eva did.
The novel is finished; she is now pursuing publishing options and hopes to have it out soon.
Contact Barbara at mcbarbara@thefranklinpress.com
To keep updated on the release of her new book 'Murder on Haint Branch', follow her on Facebook or Twitter.
