"In this new collection of short stories, [Palencia] transforms typical small-town gossip into 17 interrelated, folksy pieces. . . . But don't get the idea that this is merely clever homespun fluff. Although filled with one-liners ('You can't gallop in a girdle'), many of these stories go deeper. They reflect psychological insights into major life issues--loneliness, alcoholism and child abuse--while exploring traditional Appalachian themes of exile and return, the oral tradition and the role of community in personal identity. . . . Palencia is one sage storyteller. These Blue Valley folks flat pull you into their lives."--Lexington Herald-Leader

"Lovely stories set in postwar, backcountry Kentucky-- specifically Blue Valley, the county seat of Moore County. A mock--and real--history of the place is offered by the librarian, Blanche Callicoat, and then Palencia proceeds to tell the hopeless and triumphant stories of a cast of recurring characters. . . . The sense of region is indelible and unique here, although it could stand for blue-collar life anywhere. Palencia has perfect pitch."--Booklist (starred)

"In Small Caucasian Woman, Palencia has made of Blue Valley the Appalachian equivalent of Garrison Keillor's more northern Lake Wobegon. . . . She is unique and yet part of an American tradition that includes not only Keillor's tales but some of the fiction of Eudora Welty and Flannery O'Connor, and reaches back to Mark Twain."--James McConkey

Brier Country: Stories from Blue Valley by Elaine Fowler Palencia