{"product_id":"filling-the-big-empty-paperback","title":"Filling the Big Empty - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eRhonda Browning White\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eA baby.\u003c\/i\u003e It's the one thing Romie Grodin, orphaned at thirteen, wants more than anything else in the world. \u003ci\u003eA real homeplace.\u003c\/i\u003e It's what her coal-mining husband Jasper wants-needs-to provide for his family. When the couple's best friend-their only \"family\"-is hurt in a mining accident and his wife becomes addicted to drugs, Romie and Jasper must make life-altering decisions that challenge their strengths and threaten their very existence and that of the land they love.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Born to toil in an already-struggling coal town, the couple at the heart of Filling the Big Empty strive for a better life only to be blocked at every turn. Rhonda Browning White knows how powerfully things can go wrong when people feel they have no choice.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e -\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003eStewart O'Nan\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e, \u003c\/i\u003enational bestselling author of\u003ci\u003e Snow Angels \u003c\/i\u003eand\u003ci\u003e The Good Wife\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"While Faulkner, O'Connor, and their allies gave us a South beset by ghosts from an impossible past and governed by malevolent grotesques beyond horror-film imaginings, the forces of evil in Rhonda Browning White's New South are less otherworldly but just as deadly. Filling the Big Empty chronicles the struggles of a decent, working-class couple up against rapacious mining and development interests embedded in so many rural communities, with their attempts to fashion a simple but meaningful life complicated exponentially by the scourge of opioid addiction spreading across the landscape as implacably as Kudzu. This is a story that is alternately tender and tragic, and ultimately one that rings true.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e-\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003eLes Standiford\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e, \u003c\/i\u003enational bestselling author of\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003eBringing Adam Home \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eLast Train To Paradise.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Filling the Big Empty could only have been written by someone who knows firsthand the pain and heartbreak as well as the faith and resilience of the people in Appalachia's deeply blighted and gloriously beautiful coal mining country. Rhonda Browning White's love for her characters comes through in every word of this powerful and moving debut novel.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e-\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003eEd Falco\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e, NY Times \u003c\/i\u003eBestselling Author of\u003ci\u003e The Family Corleone \u003c\/i\u003eand\u003ci\u003e Transcendent Gardening\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Filling the Big Empty is a marvelous novel. Rhonda Browning White's view of life in Appalachia's coal country is unsparing in its depiction of environmental and economic devastation, yet there is also hard-earned hope and resilience in her characters. They are never mere caricatures. Neither demonized nor sentimentalized, they are fully human, and we come to care deeply as they struggle to find their place in the world. Filling the Big Empty places Rhonda Browning White among our region's best novelists.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e -\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003eRon Rash\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e, NY Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author of\u003ci\u003e Serena \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eThe Caretaker \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eABOUT THE AUTHOR\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eRhonda Browning White \u003c\/b\u003egleefully resides in Hickory, NC. She received the 2019 Press 53 Award for Short Fiction for her short-story collection, \u003ci\u003eThe Lightness of Water and Other Stories\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003eFour of her stories have been nominated for Pushcart Prizes; alas, she is still a Pushcart bridesmaid. Her blog \"\u003ci\u003eRead. Write. Live!\"\u003c\/i\u003e is found at \u003ci\u003ewww.RhondaBrowningWhite.com. \u003c\/i\u003eShe has an MFA in Creative Writing from Converse College in Spartanburg, SC, and was awarded the Sterling Watson Fellowship and the Les Standiford Scholarship from Eckerd College's Writers in Paradise.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eRhonda Browning White \u003c\/b\u003eis available as a guest lecturer, workshop leader, and book club speaker, virtually or in person. You may contact her at \u003ci\u003eRBrowningWhite@gmail.com\u003c\/i\u003e to schedule. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 258\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.58 x 9 x 6 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e November 16, 2024\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42384261021831,"sku":"9781959346531","price":25.65,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0601\/2623\/2711\/files\/2a156e022021d77753cd1450d58c5967.webp?v=1740729648","url":"https:\/\/booksby.splitshops.com\/products\/filling-the-big-empty-paperback","provider":"Books by splitShops","version":"1.0","type":"link"}