Why a Booktrail?
1938: In the small town of Macedonia, West Virginia, times are a changing and history comes to light that could change it even more
The Truth According to Us
What you need to know before your trail
In the small town of Macedonia, West Virginia, the Romeyn family were once one of the most prominent and well known until the Depression hit, and they like everyone else had to adapt to their new circumstances. But life is generally good and uneventful. However things are about to get shaken up big time.
Layla Beck comes to Macedonia, at the behest of her Senator father to write a history of Macedonia for the West Virginia Writers’ Project. This is a scheme set up under Roosevelt’s New Deal to support writers facing hardship. So she starts delving into the town’s history and that lives of its people.
Turns out Macedonia may not be as quiet and uneventful as first thought.
Travel Guide
Macedonia, West Virginia is a fictional town although there is a Macedonia in nearby Ohio, this is not the one portrayed in the book. Instead, Macedonia in TTAU is inspired by several small towns in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia particularly Martinsburg (also mentioned in the novel).
The time and setting of 1938 in a small town America is evoked in so many ways.
The Federal Writers’ Project was a very real New Deal jobs program that began in around 1935 before ending in 1943. The year of 1938 was therefore the heyday of the entire project and this is the main setting for the book -this is the year of the second Great Depression after all and was the year before WW2 and the horrors which followed.
Macedonia is a quirky small town community and the people who live there are a delight to meet. Each of them has their own distinctive set of quirks and beliefs and when Leyla comes to town, they at first reluctant to share their history with her (with this attitude not surprisingly)
‘I can’t stand this poky little town any more. How can I bear it for three more months? Today alone has lasted years…’
– but then start to help share, well their version of history. The Romeyns family also only wan to present to the world their edited version of the truth.
The secrets lying beneath the surface of a family with a figurehead such as Jottie may want to stay hidden, but Layla is keen to keep digging, and Jottie could be a good source of information. Niece Willa, aged 12 acts as a kind of mini detective and also starts her own investigation. She doesn’t like the fact that her father Felix is so often away and barely notices her.
Just what will the history of Macedonia reveal? What kind of past does it have and what kind of future is it likely to have after Leyla writes the book? The 150 Celebrations are underway but who knows what will happen once the music stops and the cold harsh reality of day lifts its weary head?
Booktrailer Review
Susan:
I was excited to read this book for many reasons. One was that Annie Barrows was one of the two genius women who wrote The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and well, I was going to read this one straight away.
I was not disappointed. In fact I was drawn into the setting and the characters from the very first page and was enthralled to delve into the lives of the people of small town America. The time period of the depression and the writers project really added historical interest to the story and as soon as Leyla started to investigate and the community try to hide their secrets, I was right there with her, wanting to have a nosy too.
The characters of the story are what make it for me since I felt if I got to know each and every quirky one of them such is the vivid writing and voices of each of them. Jottie I loved and the stories they tell! Wait till you read about the Knock Pie Trail – brilliant and fascinating on so many levels.
I was sad to leave this town and its people – a charming and poignant story.
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