Jeff Woodman

Oral History, the lyrical saga of a Virginia mountain family, follows four generations of Cantrells over more than a century. With each chapter, Lee Smith, a master of regional voices, adds another branch to a family tree that sings with secrets and sadness, beauty and joy. Researching an assignment for an Oral History course, Jennifer drives to the Virginia hills where her mother and father grew up. Raised by a stepmother, the young college student...

Rather than eat his boring old ham and cheese sandwich, Zak conjures up Lou, a waitress who serves him a delectable feast for the imagination.

"Now that the villagers have finally accepted Darek's dragonling, Zantor, they've all fallen in love with him. Especially Rowena, the spoiled daughter of the Chief Elder--so much so that she wants the dragonling for her very own. But Darek can't give him up! He and Zantor are so close that he can almost get inside the little dragon's mind. So the Chief Elder orders Darek's father to find another dragonling. Even though a dragon mother will have to...

Nina and her brother Andrew share a strong bond: during childhood, they helped each other survive the cruelty of their physician father. Their mother has not fared so well: she is a drunken byproduct of domestic mythology. Now Nina, a reclusive editor, has sealed herself off from the world since her husband's accidental death, while her brother is busy locating and seducing women he knew in high school.