Modern Life and Rural Ways Collide
in Caldwell's Smokey Mountain Tale

Requiem by Fire
(Random House 2010)
ISBN: 9781400063444
BookBites (Audio Interview)
Length: About 17 minutes

Novelist Wayne Caldwell

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A rich historical background and an array of colorful, authentic Southern characters populate Wayne Caldwell's second novel, Requiem by Fire. In this AUDIO interview, he talks with Authorlink about the development of the novel and his fortunate publishing journey.

After the successful debut of his first novel, Cataloochee, Caldwell returns to the Great Smokey Mountains to tell the compelling story of a small community of farmers fighting to stay on their land.

In 1928, the National Park Commission is instructed to amass half a million acres of private property in North Carolina and Tennessee to hand over to the federal government. Attorney Oliver Babcock and Horace Wakefield are the two outsiders charged with the difficult task of presenting the inhabitants of Cataloochee with two choices. They can sell outright for a certain sum and move immediately or sell at a reduced price and stay until they pass away, so long as they do not violate restrictions – restrictions which severely limit their very way of life.                               
With humor and pathos, REQUIEM BY FIRE transports readers to a remarkable period in Appalachia, where roots and family are at stake.

In this book--a fine example of Southern storytelling--Caldwell brings a forgotten world back to life. As Ron Rash, author of Serena, wrote: "Requiem by Fire's story of love and loss transcends regional concerns to speak to all places and all people.”

Wayne Caldwell was born in Asheville, North Carolina where he lives with his wife, Mary. He was educated at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Appalachian State University, and Duke University. He began writing fiction in the late 1990s.

--Doris Booth
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