Book + Art | Fiction and photos of Appalachia

September's Book + Art lecture features an author + artist couple, Stephanie and Jeff Whetstone. Stephanie will speak about her debut novel Deep Belly of the Earth a haunting, intimate story of friendship, marriage, motherhood and the fierce pull of home set in a Kentucky coal mining community, while her husband Jeff Whetstone, Professor of Photography at Princeton, will speak about his latest collection of photographs of Appalachia, including the one on the cover of Deep Belly of the Earth.

SYNOPSIS

Ava Maynard makes the difficult decision to leave her small coal mining town in Eastern Kentucky to make a life for herself and her son, Joshua, in the city. Her husband, Collis, won’t leave the mountains, even though he has been laid off from his job as a miner. When tragedy strikes, Ava reluctantly slips back into her spot in this troubled world, relying on her deepest friendships to guide her.