Carolina Classics Editions
In tribute to the great literary history of our home state of North Carolina, Press 53 has adopted a mission to bring back to print classic books by North Carolina authors that have fallen out of print. There is no expiration date on great writing, and great writing should never be lost.
Novels by john ehle
Five of the seven "Mountain books" by John Ehle
In 1961, John Ehle published the first of his seven-book Appalachia series that he called his “mountain books.” Written out of order, each book stands on its own. Chronologically, the series begins with The Land Breakers, which tells the story of freed indentured servants, Mooney and Imy Wright, who settle in the mountains of Western North Carolina in 1779. The series follows the family in leaps of time up to the Great Depression in 1930’s Asheville. Harper Lee offered praise when we reissued The Land Breakers in 2006 by writing, “John Ehle’s meld of historical fact with ineluctable plot-weaving makes The Land Breakers an exciting example of masterful storytelling. He is our foremost writer of historical fiction.” We currently have five of the seven “mountain books” in print. The Land Breakers (book one) was acquired by the New York Review of Books Classics in 2014, and The Road (book five) was reprinted by University of Tennessee Press before we began our Carolina Classics Editions, and it is still in print with them. If you are unfamiliar with John Ehle’s storytelling, you can begin with any of the seven “mountain books” and start your amazing journey.
Carolina Classics Editions
Book two of the seven “mountain books”
ISBN 978-1-941209-83-7
9 x 6 softcover, 218 pages
Originally published 1971 by Harper & Row, New York, NY
Carolina Classics Editions
Book three of the seven "mountain books"
ISBN 978-1-941209-06-6
9 x 6 softcover, 338 pages
Originally published 1970 by Harper & Row, New York, NY
Own a 1967 First Edition Hardcover of The Road from John Ehle’s personal library. Sales help support the North Carolina Literary Review’s John Ehle Prize. Regular S&H applies, but book ships via USPS Priority Mail.
Carolina Classics Editions
Book five of the seven "mountain books"
ISBN 978-1-941209-69-1
9 x 6 softcover, 272 pages
Originally published 1981 by Harper & Row, New York, NY
Carolina Classics Editions
Book six of the seven "mountain books"
ISBN 978-1-941209-30-1
9 x 6 softcover, 406 pages
Originally published 1961 by Harper & Row, New York, NY
Carolina Classics Editions
Book seven of the seven "mountain books"
ISBN 978-0-9824416-8-8
9 x 6 softcover, 345 pages
Originally published 1984 by Harper & Row, New York, NY
Other Novels
Carolina Classics Editions
Ehle's first novel
50th Anniversary Edition
ISBN 978-0-9793049-8-9
9 x 6 softcover, 276 pages
Originally published 1957 by William Morrow & Company, New York, NY
Carolina Classics Editions
ISBN: 978-1-935708-82-7
8.5 x 5.5 softcover, 405 pages
Originally published 1964, Harper & Row, New York, NY
Carolina Classics Edition
40th Anniversary Edition
A 1971 Pulitzer Prize Finalist
ISBN 978-1-935708-00-1
9 x 6 softcover, 189 pages
Originally published 1970 by Crown Publishers, Inc., New York, NY
Non-Fiction
Carolina Classics Editions
ISBN 978-0-9793049-1-0
9 x 6 softcover, 376 pages
Originally published 1965 by Harper & Row, New York, NY
Carolina Classics Editions
ISBN 978-0-9816280-9-7
9 x 6 softcover, 296 pages with photographs
and a new afterword
Originally published 1975 by Coward, McCann & Geohegan, Inc., New York, NY
New Second Edition!
ISBN 978-1-935708-87-2
9 x 6 softcover, 216 pages
Poetry
Carolina Classics Editions
ISBN: 978-1-941209-05-9
8.5 x 5.5 softcover, 74 pages
Originally published 1990 by Wesleyan University Press, Middletown, CT
Carolina Classics Editions
ISBN 978-1-941209-14-1
8.5 x 5.5 softcover, 76 pages
Originally published 1987 by Wesleyan University Press, Middletown, CT
Carolina Classics Editions
ISBN 978-1-941209-17-2
8.5 x 5.5 softcover, 72 pages
Originally published 2001 by The Bunny and the Crocodile Press, Washington, D.C.
Carolina Classics Editions
ISBN 978-1-935708-28-5
8.5 x 5.5 softcover, 144 pages
Originally published 1996 by St. Andrews College Press, Laurinburg, NC
Carolina Classics Editions
ISBN 978-1-935708-81-0
8.5 x 5.5 softcover, 72 pages
Originally published 1989 by William & Simpson
Carolina Classics Editions
ISBN 978-1-935708-92-6
9 x 6 softcover, 92 pages
Originally published 1986 by Texas Tech University Press, Lubbock, TX