“Gertie thought for an instant of a game the children played where on a signal everybody had to stop and hold himself exactly as he was. But hound dogs never played games, and now they stood, heads lifted, listening like cur dogs. She heard it then, the sound faint on some high spot on the ridge road far away. A strange car was coming in, not the grocery truck but a car. The only cars that came brought news.
It seemed like something was choking her. She stood, the spading fork gripped in both hands. She wanted to go on with her work, dig another hill, but could not. Maybe it was some coal truck the government had left by mistake out hunting a load of coal. Unless a man were lost or hurt or killed in the war, they didn’t make a special trip to bring the news. She tried to reason, but ice-cold hands, stronger than any human hands could be, were squeezing her chest and back, pushing on her throat.
It wasn’t her turn. Clovis had been gone only ten days. Her turn had come with Henley. It wouldn’t come back. Turn by turn, she told herself. Still she listened, with her whole body, as the others listened, heads lifted, nostrils faintly flared for the thin wind. It was nothing, not a thing; they’d all be scared by a wandering airplane. Then Matthew, Samuel’s oldest boy at home, and twelve years old, who stood by the fence, called to the older and those further down the field, “It’s a car—a good-runnen car that don’t make hardly no noise—a comen this away.”
—Harriet Simpson Arnow The Dollmaker
Such a drastic change between the setting in the book and today.
Gertie and the rest of the people had to wait on news to come to them by mail or by a “good-runnen car. ” Today we can get news from around the world at warp speed.
Arnow was such a good writer. When I read the excerpt above its as if I’m standing there in the fresh air holding my breath with everyone else while we wait from news about our loved ones and the war.
Today’s Thankful November giveaway is a used copy of The Dollmaker written by Harriet Simpson Arnow. Leave a comment on this post to be entered. *Giveaway ends November 29, 2022.
Last night’s video: Over the Hills to Grandpa’s House for Thanksgiving.
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I have come to enjoy listening to you read. I look forward to the weekend not only because it’s the end of a work week but also I know there is a new chapter coming. I have loved every book you have chosen. And I’m sure this one will be no different.
I’m also hoping that this blog will be a book one day.
Can you only imagine the fear and waiting. Still today wives and husband’s what they go through. Not knowing if their spouse is coming home. I would love to read this book.
The Dollmaker was a wonderful movie. I would love to read the book!
Would love to win this book! Great, descriptive writing. So few cars go down our back country road, and the ones that do are regulars, that I can tell by the sound of them who they belong to. We play a little game out of it by calling out who we think it is. I’m usually right. Our seasonal neighbor is from Long Island. He can not get over that we know everyones’ cars & wave to people as we drive down the road or can tell by the sound, who might be pulling in the drive. We, too, watch for ‘strange’ cars. Had a holiday Amazon driver stop out front recently. He explained that he was working for them & using his personal car so if we saw him stopping frequently, thats what it is all about & to not be alarmed. I was in the midst of fleshing out a deer hide in the front lawn & told him if he saw ME spraying off bloody things in the front yard, that was just me & to not be alarmed. He laughed, but looked a bit nervous. I probably looked a site, but it might make him think twice about what goes on in the country!
I saw this movie years ago and it really impacted me. Didn’t know it was a book, but I’d like to read it.
Blessings to you all, and I love the work you’re doing to preserve the old-timey ways.
Even if I don’t win the book, I’m ordering it. It’s one I’ve never read, but Tipper, any book you recommend is worth reading. I so enjoy your books on your YouTube channel and just anything you publish for us. You and your family are a breath of fresh air in this crazy, mixed up, misled world, and thank you for that. ❤️
I have looked for this book and can’t find it. Please enter me in the drawing, I would love to have this book. Oh I watched a good movie last night about Appalachian People it was call “The Songcatcher” it was streaming on U-Tube it had all the old folk songs sung year ago by our ancestors, I really enjoyed it. They also have the soundtrack from the movie on U-Tube so you can listen to the old songs that way too.
Read this book when I was a teenager, would love to read again.
One of your best. It brought back memories of getting the news of my cousin’s death in “”Nam”. His stepmom later told me that his dad, WWII combat veteran; knew, when he saw uniformed Soldiers come into his place of work, what they were there for. Every parent’s dread.
Such a good writer! The description of Gertie’s fear was so great, I could almost feel her tight chest & throat etc. Would love to be able to read this book! I often open my antique trunk & look at my Dad’s things from World War II & I get chills as I handle each item & imagine the horror my Dad and others experienced. My Dad was a country boy & an only child hunkered down in fox holes in a country far away from his home. I asked Dad one time if he had been scared in the war and he said without shame, “I was scared to death, but I was fighting for my country & that pushed me out of many fox holes.” I sure wish Americans felt now the way my Dad & the “Greatest Generation” felt. When my Dad died the President of Mississippi University was Women (where I worked) placed a copy of “The Greatest Generation” in their library with a gold plate inside with Dad’s name engraved. That is a great book to read if any of you have not read it.
Loved the story. Learned a few things from times past
Thank you
I am very thankful for a lot of our modern inventions, but it makes me sad that a lot of the old ways of doing things are dying out. I still love sending and receiving “snail mail”. Texts and emails come in handy sometimes, but there ain’t nothing like getting a handwritten card or letter in the mail. 🙂
Tipper, your mentions of Harriet Arnow inspired me to search for her books. I was able to access Between the Flowers, now out of print and hard to find, through my local library’s subscription to an online resource. For some reason the rights to this book belong to the University of Michigan. (Hello, University of Kentucky – where were you when this happened?) I am now reading a copy of The Dollmaker I found at my local library. On Monday, I read such such a heart-breaking part that I made the decision to set the book aside for a few days so I could enjoy Thanksgiving. Lest I be a spoiler, I’ll say no more on this. She is a very powerful storyteller and I would likely have known nothing of her had I not subscribed to your blog. Thank you!
I read this book years ago but would love to read it again. I love that you have introduced so many great books with me and your followers.
Tipper, your mentions of Harriet Arnow inspired me to search for her books. I was able to access Between the Flowers, now out of print and hard to find, through my local library’s subscription to an online resource. For some reason the rights to this book belong to the University of Michigan. (Hello, University of Kentucky – where were you when this happened?) I am now reading a copy of The Dollmaker I found at my local library. On Monday, I read such such a heart-breaking part that I made the decision to set the book aside for a few days so I could enjoy Thanksgiving. Lest I be a spoiler, I’ll say no more on this. She is a very powerful storyteller and I would likely have known nothing of her had I not subscribed to your blog. Thank you!
In 1952-1952, as second- and third-graders, my buddies and I would hike to a small rise along side I-95 as it passed through Lumberton. We’d make lists of the license plates’ states as they passed. We either had much better eyes than I do now… or cars drove slower. The winner at the end of game was the one who had the largest numbers. I remember that cars with a trailer hitched counted as two and so did those double-trailered trucks. Thanks for punching up this joyful memory, unlike The Doll Maker’s fearful anticipation and heartache.
Tipper,
Please include me in the drawing for this book. It sounds like my kind of favorite ways to immerse myself for a few hours. Snuggly quilt, a warm cup of Russian Tea, and a good book. A fireplace or wood heater is a bonus!!
Blessings, Mary Ann
Tipper–
If you’d like to give away a second copy of the book (used), I’d be happy to donate mine to you. I read the book a few weeks ago and I still think about Gertie!
I will pack the book up and send it to you or I guess I could send it directly to the winner. Tell me what you’d like me to do!
War is hard on everyone; sometimes I wish it could be abolished but I guess not. It’s the nature of man to compete.
When I was a kid before we had phones if a strange car went through a neighbor would visit everyone around to see if anyone could identify it. If not she would tell all to get all tools, etc put away and lock up every building. Don’t leave clothes hanging on the line overnight and keep a close watch. (Sleep with one eye and one ear open.) It was probably someone casing the area for things to steal. One man would pester her by borrowing a car from town or ‘test’ drive one and drive through about once a month just to see her get frantic. After we got phones she would call everyone. It wasn’t as much fun then as it was to see her walking all over or having her husband drive her to all the neighbors.
My great aunt, 2 doors down, liked to sit on her porch with her pall malls, tall boy, tiny black & white tv (for watching the soaps) and a pair of binoculars. She, too, watched all the ‘strange’ cars going by & would report on all she had seen. One time, she saw my father in law just fall off of his bicycle (he was into that tour de France stuff) and scuff up his knees. The story he told was quite a bit different. He came home & told everyone that my great aunt’s dog ran out in front of him & cast him off his bike. I asked my aunt about this & she said, “That dog never left the porch”. We had many a good laugh about this. My father in law was a very vain man & my Great aunt never did care much for him. She also was a stickler for telling the truth. She didn’t mind taking him down a peg. Imagine, a grown man making up a story like that. She saw many an interesting thing & didn’t mind calling around 10:30 pm to tell me alllll about it.
Gertie had a hard life, from bad news of a “good runnin car,” to the diaspora of poor Appalachians to the industrial Midwest, to little Cassie a’sitting on the railroad tracks with her doll. The silent minority fell between the bureaucratic cracks of the Cass Corridor. Life isn’t always fair.
Because of the strong ties of the Appalachians to home, momma and family, Boone Busline became Southern Airlines, became Republic Airlines bought out by Southwest. Appalachia will always be Appalachia!
While teaching at Michigan State University, I had occasion to meet Harriet in Ann Arbor. The Dollmaker was the most emotional book I’ve ever read Arnow was a geniusly talented writer.
Thank you Tipper for bringing up The Dollmaker.
I already have the book and have thoroughly enjoyed it.
Hope everyone had an enjoyable Thanksgiving.
Happy 70th birthday to me.
The universal anguish of war freezes the blood in one’s veins. The car, the bell, or the drum portend the darkest possibility and linger in the collective conscience of mankind. That condition is masterfully conveyed in the excerpt. My highest regards to all whose life experiences are both punctuated and forever defined by the sounds that herald that most dreaded news.
I remember when I was about 10 years old visiting Grandpa and Grandma Shuman when early one evening we were sitting on the porch and we heard a car coming up the hollow. We could also seeing the red clay dust stirred up as it grew nearer. It turned out it was my grandpa’s brother George who I had never met and had not been back home for more than 30 years. His wife Aunt Helen was a short plump lady with her fading red hair curled up in a bun and with only 1 tooth in her mouth. Hard to believe but that sweet old lady became one of the best friends this 10 year old ever had. We remained close and wrote each other till she passed away when I was about 18. That old car brought me such happiness that day.
I’d love to have a copy of The Doll Maker.
My heart hurts for anyone that had to hear the sound of the car, the men knocking on the front door, and the screams coming from inside the house. When I was a child and folks had no phone, any news good or bad in the neighborhood, someone had to come to the house. It might be sickness, a death or new baby born, or someone needing your help. The military families, it was not and still isn’t uncommon to have more than one serving. In my dad’s family, four of the six boys were all gone at the same time. Two brothers of my mama were serving also at the same time.
I’ve heard about this book but never read it. It sounds like it would be a good one. I was dreading whatever news is coming.
This is a wonderful book, one of the best ones I’ve ever read. I won’t need to be entered in the contest this time since I was the recipient last year in your give away and it was so close to my birthday that I counted it as a birthday gift from you. It was one of my very favorite gifts Tipper, thank you again my dear friend. I think I’ll read it again this year. It’s that good of a book. I hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful. May God bless you all.
I would love to win the book. I remember reading it many years ago.
I hope yall have had a wonderful Thanksgiving.
We were invited to a nephew’s house and they had a wonderful gathering and delicious food. It was fascinating to me–they live in a converted silo. Our nephew is skilled with metal work and he did a lot of the work himself. Our niece has been involved for years with antique, vintage, & junk buying & selling and they have many gorgeous “old timey” things. Her bathroom sink base in an antique sewing machine & towels are rolled up in a brass coal hod. The whole house was like that & I could have just looked around all day.
It was a good gathering with no one going off the rails on divisive subjects. Thank goodness for a peaceful day. It is a bittersweet time for us as all our parents are gone and both our older brothers. I am 72 today!–unbelievable
Wanda-Happy Happy Birthday 🙂
From the excerpt and comments the Dollmaker sounds like a wonderful and emotional read.
I’ve always wanted to read this book. Thanks for the possibility and good luck to everyone!
I felt my heart racing with eager anticipation here- so descriptive and gripping. The Dollmaker even sounds mysterious yet wonderful. Hope you and yours ate til you couldn’t hold anymore yesterday!!! I had a belly ache last night. Lol. Anyway have a great day. I’m looking forward to no cooking a few days. Ahhh….
I agree, Tipper, as I read that passage I could feel her anxiety building as the car approached. I’m always looking for a good book to read and this sounds like a great one! Thank you for sharing your family and love of Appalachia with us. Happy Thanksgiving!
Oh my that sounds like another interesting book to add to my list to read. It left me wanting to hear the news!
I would dearly love to have a copy of the book to read. I saw the movie on TV back in the 70s, and I still remember parts of it today. This piece is a cliff hanger, and I was sitting on the edge of my chair.
Amazing storyteller! I am going to find a copy of this and read it and then share it with my Dad. He read “Chesapeake” and said when he was reading tha he felt like he was a part of the story and while on the NAVY ship he read it all night and couldn’t believe it was morning already! This sounds like that type of book!
ohmygosh! I caught myself holding my breath while reading this..I would love to read the rest of the story.
Irrespective if I win or not, I’ll have to read The Dollmaker. We lived on similar circumstances that if we didn’t know the car that passed, we wondered why they were there.
Very few cars drove by our house when I was growing up and we knew every driver. Most of the vehicles were trucks driven by coal miners on their way to and from work. If a strange car drove by, everybody tried to find out who it was and what business they had driving past our house. The folks who operated the moonshine stills got really nervous if word got out that a fancy car with men in suits had been seen around our hollows.
Shirl , like you when growing up very few cars passed on our road -city folks live on streets. It would pretty much be the ones going to work and the mailman around the middle of the day. A strange car would get everyone wondering, the problem was no telephones to call your neighbor to talk about it. Now, this is no longer true, the road is less than 2 miles long but cars are constantly passing at all times of the day or night. I hear rumors of things going on down the road at a certain house.
I haven’t read the book. Would love to. I used to sit on the front porch with Grandma watching cars go by. Every now and then it’d be a stranger and she’d wonder who it was. She never had a phone. I remember when her oldest son died they called Mom. She told me to go tell Grandma. I can still remember her going out in the yard, raising her hand and making this mournful sound. I was only about 6 yrs old when it happened. It was so sad.
Sounds like the kind of book I would like to read.
No fair! You left me wondering if the car was bringing sad news with no way to find out…unless I win the book!
Richard
The excerpt you shared left me want to read more of that story.
I too was left wondering. I had a cousin killed in the Vietnam War and can only image what it must of been like for his parents when they received the news. I was a child in the 50’s and 60’s and in my rural area you knew who was driving the cars that pasted your home just by the time of day or the sound of the car. I think this would be a good book to read.
“The Dollmaker” is a great read – an emotional rollercoaster – but, truly a great read. Remember the exodus of folks that left our small community after the war; many came back to visit • and shared stories of their new life and sights and sounds of “the big city”. Stirred up a dream in many young people to want to see what was on the other side of the mountain. Lot’s of memories of that time; it was a period we really saw change in rural communities!
The Dollmaker is one of my all-time favorites. Arnow puts me right on the pages with the other characters. I have yet to get myself a copy after all these years of my first read and many loans from the library. The movie doesn’t do it justice, which is usually the case of movies made from books.
I remember that hearing cars coming, especially back when most county roads were gravel. If you lived towards the end of the road you got a mounting suspicion maybe they were coming to your house as they got closer and closer. If you had any reason to think you might be hearing bad news the tension just kept building and building.
What a cliffhanger. Now I have to read the book. My son turned 21 in Iraq in 2003. At least he could email me & we had “myspace” to keep in touch. He ended up spending two 1 year tours there. He was injured on Oct 1, 2010. His unit came home in November. He rec’d the Purple Heart award. I thank God for bringing him home safely.
That excerpt really pulls on your heart strings. You can almost feel the heartbreak she is feeling. Would be a good book to read, I think.
I was five years old when that cold wind brought that dreader war message to our
next door neighbor. I could hear her screaming and I said “Moma what’s wrong with
Mrs. Thrift” and she said “I don’t know Frankie but I’m going over there and find out”
My family was one of the thousands who migrated to Detroit. We left Tennessee in 1949. I remember Mama sitting on the fire escape of our Detroit apartment building, tears streaming down her face as she looked out over the treetops. When I was grown she told me she was pretending she was back home. Years later she found “The Doll Maker” in a used bookstore so I got to read it. It’s a wonderful book. Thanks for bringing back another great memory. You do that so often.
Just reading that one section made my heart seize a bit.
My Mom, who grew up during the depression in rural Appomattox County Virginia, told me she could identify every car by it sound, and hence the driver, that drove regularly down those dirt roads. And, to have an unknown car sound, well, everyone came out to see who was driving by. And, news was rarely “pleasant”.
I was too young for “the war”, but I remember “the car” that came to our street in the sixties. It was mere weeks since young Mike had gotten leave to come home to bury his father and now “the car” was here to break his mama’s heart.
Well…What a cliffhanger! Reckon I’ll be hunting for this one for sure! Happy National Leftovers Day!! 😉
I, too, was standing on that hill, holding my breath as my ears stained to hear that strange noise. I would love to read The Dollmaker.
Happy Thanksgiving to all. Thank you Tipper for jogging my memory.
I have seen the movie years ago, and would enjoy the book I’m sure.
I think that’s going to be a good read. You’ve talked about it and read parts before that would really draw you in. I’m ready to give it a read. Hope everyone in the blind pig family had s great thanksgiving.
Oh, my! I saw the movie. Now I’d like to read the book.
I’d love to have a copy of The Dollmaker!
I tried a year ago to get a copy from our library but they didn’t have it and niether did surrounding counties.
I look forward to Friday to listen to the books you have chosen and I’ve never been disappointed.
Happy Thanksgiving Day leftovers! I would love to read this book. Thank you.
Thank you for this accurate life capture of a time gone by—so much human feeling in a few sentences, a Thanksgiving Blessing.
I too found myself standing in a garden waiting to see what the messenger had to say.
I often think how amazed my grandparents and great-grands would be by all the technological changes in society.
Returning to a simpler time often calls my heart home, and since I can’t do that often I go home through your stories, in my mind’s eye.
Wasn’t that a marvelous story? I’d love to read it again.
We had a good Turkey Day and bet you did too.
I hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving. Times sure are different. While I appreciate being able to read things like The Blind Pig, sometimes I wish we could go back to the days when we didn’t have our phones attached to us and we had to wait to hear news, good or bad.
what a stopping point, I must find this one to see what the news was.
I hope everyone’s Thanksgiving was Happy and your bellies are full.
Your sample of the book is encouraging me to read it!
Oh my goodness, this is a must read! I was on edge just like when Momma told of these kinds of stories growing up! Thanks for sharing these wonderful authors!
As much as I like modern conveniences this tugs at my heart for more of the old ways. I realize the blood, sweat and tears that involved the old ways of providing for a family and keeping a roof over their heads, but my heart longs for the times when not knowing everything that’s going on in the crazy world, at the tips of our fingers, or touch of the remote was not so easily obtained. Instead everyday was dedicated to hard work, God’s provision and the accompanying community. Sometimes, if we choose wisely, we can still find these remote places and somewhat live them and then sometimes they only live in our dreams and books.
Haven’t we all felt the awful, powerful grip of fear and dread like Gertie. So very relatable. Thank God He stands with us.
What a memory that excerpt from The Dollmaker conjured up…driving on an isolated mountain road on the line between Grayson County, VA and Ashe County, NC. and an entire family comes out onto the porch to see who might be driving by…and then a hollering and arms flying as we’re recognized…
I was anxiously waiting to see who was driving the car up the hill! Waiting to hear the news that was feared! I couldn’t help feel disappointment! I would really love to read this book!!
This reminded me of years past, if we heard a vehicle, everyone ran to the window, or stopped what they were doing to see if someone was coming to visit or just passing by. I can remember one, an Oldsmobile, that we actually had a name that someone in the family gave it. It was gray, and probably had worn out shocks which made it wobble kind of like a goose walking; thus, the name of “The Ole Gray Goose.
The roar of a plane was another sound that made everyone scamper outside, or if outside already, stop what they were doing in order to spot the plane. Sometimes, the plane would be so high and far away that they were only visible to those with keen eyesight.
I had not heard “cur”, it seems, in ages. I, of course, had to look up the information on the cur dog and found that they are now extinct.
I have read and enjoyed many books you’ve recommended. John Parris is a favorite and I remember reading the story you shared last night on your vlog. This book looks like a good addition to my bookshelf.
Oh my gosh what a gripping story. With every sentence, can’t you image standing there, ear turned to what you thought was the sound of news…any news? Some stories, long or short, have a way of causing your mind to just imagine. Your short vlog yesterday was a great one. God Bless and I hope the Blessing you counted were many.