Lioness and A Year without Months at Malaprop’s

Mark Powell and Charles Dodd White in conversation

Malaprop’s bookstore in Asheville, North Carolina, hosted a dual author event with Mark Powell presenting his book, Lioness: A Novel, and Charles Dodd White presenting his memoir, A Year without Months, both recently published by West Virginia University Press.

Lioness is a heart-wrenching, page-turning examination of extremism. When a bomb goes off at a water-bottling plant in the mountains of southwest Virginia, arrested at the scene is activist Chris Bright. Unaccounted for — and presumed dead — is Mara Wood, an artist who in the last two years has lost her son. Mara’s estranged husband David cannot quite believe she is dead, and begins to imagine an alternate narrative as he reconstructs the story of what happened. Mark Powell’s masterful storytelling takes the reader on a riveting journey as his complex characters navigate grief, mental illness, love, and environmental devastation.

“When I first started as a writer, I think for my first three books, all I wanted to do was go to the dark places because it felt provocative to me, and it felt like something that should be done. And I don’t regret that, but I realized somewhere along the way that there was a falseness to it; that life is full of darkness, and sadness, and terrible things; but it’s also full of laughter and joy, and to exclude that happier side of life is as false as to exclude the darker side which I had been so concerned with.” — Mark Powell

A Year Without Months explores the boundaries of family, loss, masculinity, and place. Contemplating the suicides of his father, uncle, and son, White meditates on what it means to go on when seemingly everything worth living for is lost. What he discovers is an intimate connection to the natural world, a renewed impulse to understand his troubled family history, and a devotion to following the clues that point to the possibility of a whole life.

“I think it’s almost blindingly obvious the problems that we face…Certainly this relationship between the environment; looking at the natural world and also how we live ethically, and answering that question of how to live. How do we separate the conservational principal from being a responsible citizen, and I don’t really see how you can, I find them ultimately very unified.” — Charles Dodd White

The authors, and long-time friends, read excerpts from their books, asked each other questions and discussed conservation, disturbing aspects of southern rural culture, and how these issues in Appalachia can be expanded into a broader worldview. The event concluded with Patricia Furnish of Malaprop’s asking additional questions about their writing process, certain themes in both of the books, and upcoming projects for the authors.

Lioness has received starred reviews in Kirkus Reviews and Foreword Reviews. A Year without Months has been positively reviewed in Still: The Journal and Chapter 16.

Watch a replay of the event here.