The Lamoille Stories, Paperback

Author Bill Schubart brings to life the friends and characters of his native Lamoille County where in the late '50s and early '60s life was lived close to the earth and often against the grain. Schubart's collection of 22 stories captures a Vermont in transition from an enclave of hill farms and small towns where everyone knew your grandfather to a Valhalla for urban expats seeking chairlifts or rural renewal. Schubart's full-hearted and compassionate evocation of this Vermont is by turns poignant, funny and savory. The stories give readers a good excuse to stay up late to discover how Wyvis will circumvent the new prohibition on having more than three junk yards in your yard or what bait Pete Trepanier trolls with inside Mer-Lu's bar in Hardwick on a Saturday night. This thoroughly enjoyable collection is as finely etched as the frost ferns on your winter window panes.