Refuge

Refuge by Dot Jackson is a master class in storytelling. Written many years before it was published, it’s loosely based on real life events that happened within her family.

Our protagonist is Mary Seneca Steel, known better as Mary Sen. She was born and raised in the wealthy privilege of Charleston in the early twentieth century. Her life changes dramatically when she leaves the milksop she married, takes the kids and his brand-new Auburn Phaeton, and heads for the hills. That she can’t drive only adds to the story. She somehow frog hops to the mountains of North Carolina, to the community where her father was raised. What unfolds is an exhilarating story. Mary Sen overcomes basic physical challenges (such as learning how to light a show more fire) to embrace the culture, food, music, language and geography. There’s a doomed love affair, a whole cast of extraordinary characters and a celebration of a time and place that has long gone. Dot Jackson looked at a way of life that was considered old and unfashionable, gave it relevance and made it exciting. Her love of Appalachia shines through every page. The storytelling and humour are spellbinding.

Ron Rash had this to say about it:
''Refuge is a wonderful story about the need to find one’s place in the world- and the price paid to remain there. With her narrative gift and keen ear for Appalachian speech, Dot Jackson gives her readers a beautifully rendered portrait of a lost time and place.''

An absolute pleasure to read, it's up there with my all time favourites. show less

Born into Charleston society, Mary Seneca Steele is devastated by the loss of her father at a young age. His stories and music from his childhood in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina were what made her childhood magical. After her marriage becomes unbearable, Mary Sen takes her children and husband's new car and sets off to find the family she knows from her father's tales. Waiting for her in NC is a way of life she seems born for. She is drawn into a family that loves and supports, but ultimately seems destined for disaster as history keeps repeating itself. The dialect and description of this hard scrabble life as the Great Depression and World Wars change the world come to life in Dot Jackson's capable hands. Long after the show more last page, these people and this place will stay with you. I came by this book late, but I cannot recommend it any higher. show less

Historical fiction about life in the Appalachians, primarily in the late 1920’s to 1940’s. A young mother living in Charleston takes her two children and leaves her abusive husband to find her deceased father’s relatives in the Carolina mountains. Mary Seneca Steele moves into an old abandoned house and develops a romantic relationship with a cousin. It is a story of love, land, family, and finding a sense of home. This book is based on a real situation from the author’s family history, what she calls “an adventure of the heart.”

Mary Seneca has never experienced the type of support network she finds in this small mountain region. She develops an immediate rapport with her extended family. She strives to find her place in show more the world and struggles to live off the land. She watches her children adapt to a new life. The people in the area help them learn the necessary skills. It portrays an authentic sense of community.

The characters are vivid. I especially enjoyed Aunt Panama (also called Panammer or Nam), a woman in her eighties with a feisty, no-nonsense, take-charge personality. The dialect is not too severe, but enough to provide a flavor for the language of the area. The beginning, middle, and climax of the novel are extremely well-crafted. The ending chapters are not quite as strong, trailing off through the end of Mary Seneca’s life. It is too bad this work is not more widely known. It is wonderful piece of writing. show less

Mary Seneca Steele, a proper Charlstonian, escapes her stifling marriage to a 'mama's' boy and , with her children, Pet and Hugh, heads to the North Carolina hills and the community that her father was part of. She begins a new life.