In the novel “The Barrowfields” (Hogarth/2017) a character named Henry grows up revering his literary father, a man who ensconced the family in a strange house on a hillside in western North Carolina. But his father’s dark unraveling pushes Henry away.
He abandons the sister and mother he had promised to protect and vows to stay away from his gloomy mountain hometown forever. But the ties of family and home prove stronger than Henry’s will to escape them both.
Author Phillip Lewis drew emotional truth from his own experiences as a teenage father and the son of a depressive alcoholic to write this debut novel. Host Frank Stasio talks with Lewis about the book and how his own personal history colored the story. Lewis will be reading from the novel at the Hickmans Crossroads Library in Calabash, North Carolina on Thursday, May 4 at 3 p.m., and at the South Main Book Company in Salisbury, North Carolina on Friday, May 5 at 6:30 p.m.
