All in the Family
Authors often write about their relatives, but not without their knowledge. Imagine my surprise when I discovered my paternal antecedents once shared a neighborhood with those of the characters in my new book, Defamed. The title refers to Nancy Randolph (1774-1837), the most scandalous member of the vast Randolph clan, one of the oldest, wealthiest and most celebrated families in Virginia. As I delved further into this unexpected connection, I learned that the Llewellyns played an important part in the incredible Randolph saga on not one but two fronts. You might even say we gave them a boost when they first began cobbling together an empire that would eventually encompass tens of thousands of acres, eleven plantations and hundreds of slaves. My story unfolds in...
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Late author Florence King (1936-2016) was Fredericksburg’s most famous resident and the neighbor I most wanted to meet. I’ve been a fan since 1975 when I found her book Southern Ladies and Gentlemen as tangy as a bowl of perfectly seasoned Hoppin’ John. Her adroitness at simultaneously celebrating and vivisecting herds of sacred cattle left me reeling, and, as a fellow Southerner sharing Virginia roots, she also had me laughing my ass off. That book was followed by Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady which convinced me that this shamelessly rowdy misanthrope was Dixie’s answer to Dorothy Parker. Defining herself as “slightly to the right of Vlad the Impaler,” Miss King (as she preferred to be called) spent over four decades skewering anything and...
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