As a kid in the 1960s, I had great respect for my grandparents, parents, aunts, and uncles. So did my friends. Overall, grandparents and their wisdom were valued. I enjoyed hearing their stories. I asked questions, wanting to learn from them. 

I always figured that when I was older, I’d get the same kind of respect. Younger folks would eagerly ask for my own stories, seek out my own hard-earned wisdom. 

Not so. Today, the twenty- and thirty-somethings stand on the brink of their adult lives and already know everything, whether they’ve been to college or not. They have nothing to learn from Baby Boomers (born 1946-1964) or the Silent/Traditionalist Generation (born 1928-1945).

That only gets worse as the Boomers and older ones age. The elderly are not valued. Instead, they are merely obstacles or obligations.

In the U.S., people of all generations suffer from ageism, defined as prejudice or discrimination on the grounds of a person’s age. They either perpetrate it or become victims of it. 

Read more about ageism and care for the elderly here:

• Questions & Answers about Ageism—World Health Organization
• A New Concept of Aging—American Psychological Association
• 10 Things You Should Know About Age Discrimination—AARP
• A History of Ageism Since 1969—JSTOR
• Workplace Age Discrimination Still Flourishes in America—AARP
• World’s Best (And Worst) Countries For Older People To Live In, April 2024—CEO World (Check out the chart rankings based on a global study of 199 countries)
• Mining Other Cultures for Answers to America’s Ageism Problem—Generations: American Society on Aging
• 7 Very Cool Things Other Countries Do For Their Elderly—HuffPost
• How America’s ageism hurts, shortens lives of elderly—The Harvard Gazette
• The Silent Generation: Characteristics and History— Family Search Blog

Here’s a sneak peak into my Q & A with author Cindy Sproles (below) discussing the inspiration for her protagonist in This is Where It Ends:

“There is such wisdom, humor, and importance in our Elderly.
So my little Minerva Jane is based on a combination
of three of the elderly folks I worked with at Comfort Keepers.
Sweet, sassy, and longing to repair what was lost.

I wanted people to realize the importance of our elderly
and that in this country, we ignore them.
Other countries go out of their way to care for their elderly. . . .
They are loved, appreciated, lifted up. We need to do this. “
–Cindy Sproles

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Thus, garnering our attention in Cindy’s novel is one feisty mountain woman, Minerva Jenkins, one half of an intergenerational friendship.

According to Cindy’s website bio, she loves to “write about the ‘old ways’ and longs to help others remember the rich and amazing culture of the mountain people.” This she does beautifully in This Is Where It Ends. The novel does double duty by highlighting a feisty nonagenarian.

In October, I featured another story with an intergenerational relationship, The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs. Kip, by Sara Brunsvold.

Other Southern Appalachian fiction titles on the blog:

• Laurel’s Dream — Pepper Basham
• When Dignity Came to Harlan — Rebecca Duvall Scott
• The Finder of Forgotten Things — Sarah Loudin Thomas 
• The Right Kind of Fool — Sarah Loudin Thomas
• The Moonlight School — Suzanne Woods Fisher
• Night Bird Calling — Cathy Gohlke
• Under a Cloudless Sky — Chris Fabry
• Appalachian Song — Michelle Shocklee
• All That Is Hidden — Laura DeNooyer

I’m happy to finally add Cindy Sproles to this list of Southern authors.

Blurb

Widow Minerva Jenkins has lived alone in her small mountain home for 40 years where she has guarded her husband’s deathbed request. When a young reporter comes calling and inquires about a rumored box of gold on her property, an unlikely friendship forms. Will she go to her grave with her husband’s secret, or will the weight of it be the death of her?

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My thoughts

“If there’s one thing about a mountain woman
that a body from the big city needs to know,
it’s that there ain’t no amount of threats gonna budge her.
If anything, her heels will dig in
and the flight will seep out like a slow poison.” —p 170 

This quote gives you the flavor and personality of Minerva, the story’s narrator. Fierce and feisty; loyal, strong, and independent.

Living in the hills of Kentucky in the late 1800s and early 1900s, Minerva has been alone since her husband Stately passed away decades earlier. But first he made her promise to keep a secret about a box that some people said contained gold. She has never opened that box.

Now it’s 1902 and she’s ninety-four. If she knows anything at all, she knows how to take care of herself. 

So, it’s no wonder she’s suspicious the day reporter Delano Rankin arrives from Lexington, following up on rumors of stolen gold.

Somehow Del enables her to let down her guard—just a bit. Minerva allows him to stay on the mountain for a few weeks. But whenever he questions her about the gold, she won’t budge. It’s all tied up in her promise to Stately.

But with Del she learns secret things about Stately she has to come to terms with.

“I was stuck between a promise and a lie.”

It’s easy to get lost in this story—in a good way. I mean immersed in Minerva’s life and concerns, her relationship with Del, surrounded by the beauty of nature shown in vivid imagery. The dialect is easy to follow, full of Southern idioms.

Along with heartache, Minerva experiences forgiveness and redemption in ways you don’t see coming. She learns family is not just blood relatives, and real gold isn’t always measured in ounces.

“It come to me that when you close your eyes to what is right in front of you long enough,
sooner or later it vanishes beneath the lie that is.
A body can close out any memory, rewire anything that happens.
If they close their eyes to the truth long enough, it goes away.
Or leastways, we think it does.” —p 166

To be honest, I had a few frustrations. I just wanted Minerva to open the box! And I didn’t understand the strong pull to be loyal to a forty-year-old secret, given that Stately had been gone for so long. There are more reasons, but I don’t want to give spoilers. At least Minerva wrestles through this decision. But considering the potential harm the box represented, I didn’t see the purpose of maintaining secrecy. 

“A secret ain’t nothing but a dishonest seed layin in wait . . .
There ain’t no such thing as a good secret.”

I also wished Minerva was in her sixties or seventies, not her nineties. I can’t comprehend a life of chosen isolation for forty years. Even though getting to know her helped me understand her better, and why she made her choices.

Above all, great storytelling compensated for these concerns. The narrative was compelling, the characters engaging. 

Join me for some Q & A with author Cindy Sproles.

Questions about This is Where It Ends

What was the inspiration for this story? What’s your personal connection to the setting and situation?

The inspiration and connection to the story is that I worked for an in-home, non-medical company that placed caregivers in the homes of the elderly. I worked with the elderly, have a momma who turns 98 this year, and I simply love them all. 

There is such wisdom, humor, and importance in our Elderly. So my little Minerva Jane is based on a combination of three of the elderly folks I worked with at Comfort Keepers. Sweet, sassy, and longing to repair what was lost.

I wanted people to realize the importance of our elderly and that in this country, we ignore them. Other countries go out of their way to care for their elderly. Families take them in rather than send them to a home to be cared for. They are loved, appreciated, lifted up. We need to do this. 

My mother will be 98 in August. NINETY-EIGHT! Look at her life, her abilities, her stories. What a wealth of information. She deserves to be a legacy. I wanted people to see how Dell took hold of Minerva and loved her as his own grandmother. And he learned from her. Appreciated her. It’s the story our elderly tell. I wanted folks to learn to listen.

Did your characters (especially Minerva and Del) hijack the story or did you have full rein?

I write character driven stories, so they’re always hijacking things. I love to direct them, but when I allow them to take hold and live their lives through story, things become REAL.

How well did you know your characters at the beginning? Or did they reveal themselves as you wrote?

I know my characters very well from the beginning. You have to know them in order to write them. I spend time building myself a bubble map that lists all their characteristics, likes, dislikes, quirks and even their bad qualities. 

Without knowing these things, I can’t accurately build a character without losing important qualities. So, yes. I know my characters inside out – this allows me to let them make twists and turns that no one expects.

Did the plot stick to a pre-determined plan or did it evolve? 

I hate the phrase, pantster. I prefer to say “in the moment” writer. I know where I am at the beginning of the story. Where I want to be by the middle, and how I want the story to end. The rest grows as I write the story. 

Writing as an “in the moment” writer (pantster), allows me to veer suddenly to places that bring interest, that I may not have wanted to step into if I were adhering to an outline. If that makes sense. Writing this way makes developing a synopsis a real pain, but the benefits for me far outweigh the cons. 

Just for fun—what would Minerva have to say about you?

I think she would say, “Let’s throw rocks at bottles and break them.” I believe she would latch on to my own adventurous and mischievous side and that she would tell others, “That Cindy is a mess (in a good way). (That the mountain way of saying, “a lot of fun.” 

What unusual thing did you do or research to write this story? Any surprises in your research? 

In this case, it wasn’t a matter of research for the period or historical events. It was about the elderly. I had to research Lexington to know about when their first newspaper was in the works. I researched the river, and some of the outlying coal lines in the area as well as the possibility of gold in the Kentucky area. 

But the primary research was talking to the elderly and finding our what they regretted in life, what they loved and missed. How they dealt with loneliness.

I love this story. I know it’s a little bittersweet. I realize Minerva repeats herself a lot. But that’s what the elderly do—repeat themselves. Truth is, anytime we face a shocking event or news, we do continually repeat it. It’s a way of coming to grips with the pain. It’s finding acceptance. 

Questions about writing

Which books and/or authors have most inspired you in your writing journey? 

Francine Rivers, Toni Morrison.

Where do your story ideas usually originate from—character, plot, setting, theme, or a combination? Please share an example or two of how an initial idea grew into a full-fledged novel. 

Oh my, the writer’s eye is always looking, always observing. This story came from a couple of sentences an elderly lady shared – “Regret is an ugly bedfellow. Nobody wants to sleep with a bed hog.” It just builds from there.

Which of your novels is the best introduction to you and your work? Why? 

Mercy’s Rain, I think, is my opus. It’s a tough story but it tells about life in the mountains as truth, not a pretty picture tied up in a bow. I want to write truth. How is life and like the author of Ecclesiastes says, “I applied my mind to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under the heavens. What a heavy burden God has laid on mankind!” 

Sweet stories are nice, but life in the Appalachians was a hard life. The people were kind, but they were hard as well. They were survivors in a remote and harsh territory. Mercy’s Rain is the heart of what I want to teach. Remember the hard life in the mountains and the life lessons learned.

Please share something about a current project and the direction you want to go as an author.

I am currently writing a story entitled Eyes of River, that addresses family and, when in a bad situation, how do we let things go before we take action.  

What direction do I want to go? I want to grow as a novelist. I want to learn more and more so I can write better and better, longer and longer. I want my stories to be remembered.

Is there any writing advice you wish you had known twenty years ago? 

Yes! Learn the craft in the right order. When you attend a conference, take classes that apply to where you are NOW in your writing, Advance through the steps of writing in the right order. This is an intentional act and one that will save you a lot of heartache as your writing progresses. Have a willing spirit and a teachable heart.

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Back to Laura . . . On a similar note . . . 

If you like Southern Appalachian fiction or small town/rural stories about family dynamics and secrets, you might enjoy my re-launched novel All That Is Hidden. Set near North Carolina’s Smoky Mountains in 1968, the story spotlights the bond of family and the connections of a tight-knit community. Northern exploitation threatens as a father’s hidden past catches up to him and tests family ties. Learn more and watch the trailer here.

All That Is Hidden awards:

• Winner of the Artisan Book Reviews Book Excellence Award
• Semifinalist in Serious Writer’s Book of the Decade contest

If you like historical fiction, you might enjoy my novel, A Hundred Magical Reasons. This story spotlights L. Frank Baum, author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, his friendship with a young girl, and his impact through the decades. Set in Holland, Michigan, this dual timeline novel alternates between 1980 and the early 1900s. Read more and watch the book trailer here. The story recently won the Scrivenings Press novel contest and will be published there in January!

I invite you to join my monthly newsletter for writing updates, freebies, and giveaways. Sign up and I’ll send you a free gift: www.StandoutStoriesNewsletter.com

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Cindy Sproles Bio

Cindy Sproles is an author and speaker. She is the cofounder of Christian Devotions Ministries as well as an award-winning, best-selling novelist. She is a contributing author to CBN.com, the Executive Editor for www.christiandevotions.us, and a freelance editor for Ironstream Media. Having served as an acquisitions editor and managing editor, she now coaches new writers through her mentoring service, WRAMS (Write Right Author Mentoring Service) with Lori Marett. She is the director of the Asheville Christian Writers Conference. She is a certified life coach and mentor, an eldercare specialist, and a special needs advocate. Cindy is an Appalachian-born and raised mountain girl, and the mother of four adult sons. She and her husband live in the mountains of East Tennessee. Learn more on her website. 

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Join me next time for another visit with author Naomi Musch.

Meanwhile, have you read This is Where is Ends or others by Cindy Sproles? Do you have any favorite Southern fiction titles? Answer in the comments below.

Ever reading,

Laura

Sign up for my monthly newsletter and receive the prequel for All That Is Hidden: www.StandoutStoriesNewsletter.com