By Joel Frady

*Note: This is the first part of a two-article series about the "On the Same Page" community reading program.

Author Lee Smith will visit West Jefferson on Thursday, Nov. 20, to read excerpts from her novel On Agate Hill and discuss the book with local readers. The book is partially set in Ashe County and was chosen for "On the Same Page," the community reading program jointly sponsored by the Ashe County Arts Council and the Ashe County Public Library.

Jane Lonon, executive director of the arts council, said that the new reading venture is intended to "encourage reading through all segments of the population in Ashe County, to get people excited about reading and to provide a book that has multiple levels of intersections with a variety of people.

"We chose On Agate Hill because of our relationship with Lee Smith," Lonon continued. She noted that "the whole second half of the novel takes place in Ashe County," and that Smith's descriptions of the land, people, food and locales will be recognizable.

The book tells the story of Molly Petree, who begins a diary on her 13th birthday in 1872. The novel chronicles 50 years of her life, beginning in Hillsborough and moving to Ashe County, where Petree works as a teacher in a one-room school house.

"When you read it, you really know - we, as Ashe County people, really know - what she's talking about and can picture visually so easily what it's all about," she said.

The selection of On Agate Hill was also a thrill for Smith, a part-time Ashe County resident who calls Ashe County her favorite place in the whole world.

"I'm just thrilled they chose On Agate Hill, because if there ever were a local book this is it," she said. "I think the writing in it and the Ashe County characters that are in it really do express my love for this part of the country. I think it's a way of stopping time for a minute to write a historic novel and to really try to bring the past to life, because, as we all know, things are changing in Ashe County and everywhere else very fast."

Smith said that the book represents her first foray into historical fiction after writing other books that were set in years past.

"I had never in my life been really interested in the Civil War," she said, adding that she had been trying to "glorify the lives of some of the older women I'd known in the mountain growing up" with previous novels. But she found new inspiriation after she moved into an old house in Hillsborough.

"It came with a legend attached about obsessive love, which had to do with the Civil War," she said of the house. "Finally, I just found myself reading letters and diaries like crazy, and this kept up for a couple of years until finally I realized I was going to write a novel."

Smith conducted a lot of research at the Ashe County Public Library, reading oral histories compiled from around the county about one-room schoolhouses. The decision to have Molly Petree move to Ashe County, however, was routine for Smith.

"A critic once wrote that whenever I want to empower my heroine, I send them to the mountains," she laughed, "and that's probably true." She later added that, "Ashe County is very important to me, and it seemed kind of natural that I would move Molly up there."

Smith said that the music of Ashe County helped her craft the novel.

"The music is very important in the book," she said. "Always when I write, there's a soundtrack in my head. Here it was the music of Ashe County and Western North Carolina, the Appalachian region where I grew up.

"The music means so much to me, so I wanted to put it all in the book," she continued. "The whole time I was writing I could hear it in the back of my mind."

On the Road to Agate Hill will begin at 7:30 p.m. at the Ashe Arts Center. Admission is $10 for adults and $5 for students.

The performance will be followed on Saturday, Nov. 22, with a performance of the one-woman show On Agate Hill at the Ashe Civic Center. Those interested in reading the book can obtain a copy at Skyland Books in West Jefferson or on-line at Amazon.com. Or, a copy of the book can be checked out at the Ashe County Library. To find out more, contact the Ashe County Arts Council at (336) 846-2787, or click to www.ashecountyarts.org.