Bookwatch: Kristy Woodson Harvey work draws attention

Like fellow Southern Book Prize finalist John Hart, Kristy Woodson Harvey grew up in Salisbury, but she now lives in Beaufort.

Less than a year after the publication of “Dear Carolina,” her successful debut, her second novel, “Lies and Other Acts of Love,” drew favorable attention and became a finalist for the Southern Book Prize.

It is a heart-rending account of four generations of an Eastern North Carolina family in transition. The two leading characters who tell the story are Lynn “Lovey” White, a grandmother whose husband is fading away after 60 years of marriage, and her granddaughter, Annabelle, who has changing ideas about who and what she wants in a husband.

Harvey’s book will entertain, challenge, and surprise its readers.

With her third novel, “Slightly South of Simple,” already on bookstore shelves, Harvey proves she is a prolific force among southern writers.

EDITOR’S NOTES: D.G. Martin hosts “North Carolina Bookwatch” on Sundays at noon and Thursdays at 5 p.m. on WUNC-TV. … Kristy Woodson Harvey talks about “Lies and Other Acts of Love” Sunday, June 18 at noon and Thursday, June 22 at 5 p.m.

This story was originally published June 12, 2017 at 6:30 AM with the headline "Bookwatch: Kristy Woodson Harvey work draws attention."