"There is a story my mother likes to tell me over and over. When she was a little girl, a witch lived down the road from her. The witch's name was Huldie, and she read the fortunes of her neighbors in the coffee grounds left at the bottoms of their cups. She was rumored to float through the holler woods at night with the soles of her feet not touching the ground. In daylight, my uncles threw rocks at her shack in a clearing so shady that no grass would grow there. My mother would run past Huldie's place on the way to school each morning with her head down, sure the old woman would be standing in the roadside weeds waiting to snatch her up. She and my aunts were warned by their parents to keep away from Huldie. My mother was small and scared enough to mind them, but my aunts were older and braver. They knocked on Huldie's door and gave her trinkets in exchange for having their fortunes told. Now my aunts have both passed away and they never spoke of what Huldie saw in the bottoms of their cups. But I can always imagine."
BookPage features Bloodroot in their "Behind the Book" column
"Behind the Book: Debut author finds inspiration close to home Column by Amy Greene
On the way to my sister's, there is an abandoned house. It sits on a rocky hill with trees crowded close, overlooking a creek that parts a briar thicket. The windows are broken and the front door is gone, the tin roof rusted and the chimney stones tumbled down in a heap. I'm not sure when I first noticed the house, but now I look up there each time I pass. Sometimes cows are grazing in the shade of the yard. Sometimes there are cords of firewood stacked against its sooty clapboard. Once I saw a man riding a tractor on the hillside. I can understand why he lets the house stand empty. There's a sadness about it."
This is the official website of author Amy Greene. Her second novel Long Man will be available in hardcover from Alfred A. Knopf on February, 25, 2014.
About the Author: Amy Greene was born and raised in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains, where she lives with her husband and two children. Her second novel Long Man will be published by Alfred A. Knopf February 25, 2014. Her first novel Bloodroot is available in bookstores and online.
Contact: AmyGreeneBloodroot@gmail.com
Publicist: Knopf: Erica Hinsley ehinsley@randomhouse.com
Vintage: Kate Runde krunde@randomhouse.com
Literary Agent: Leigh Feldman leigh@lfliterary.com
Lecture Agent: Amy Greene is represented by
