MaryLou Williams began her life as an abused child before her grandmother, Lou Hardin Harris, stepped in and sought and obtained full custody of her. This happened after Marylou was brutally beaten by her mother’s drunk, abusive third alcoholic husband. Lou found the husband passed out on the couch in their cheap apartment, so she woke him up and beat him half to death for abusing her granddaughter. Lou obtained full custody of MaryLou two months before her 6th birthday. Unfortunately, all of MaryLou’s problems were not solved by Lou receiving full custody. The gossip mill in the little town of Galway, championed by a bank president’s socialite wife, made life miserable for MaryLou. Almost everyone ostracized her and ruined her reputation in the little town. Her mother’s lifestyle precipitated this attitude toward MaryLou. Fortunately for MaryLou, her grandfather was an intelligent farmer and rancher who took MaryLou under his wing. He taught her all the ins and outs of farming and ranching, preparing her to become successful herself before he was kicked in the head by an irate Angus bull. This all occurred just before MaryLou’s 15th birthday. Fortunately for MaryLou, her grandfather could impart his Christian faith to MaryLou before his accident. Much of that was also imparted to her grandmother, Lou Hardin Harris Lou was a direct descendent of the infamous outlaw, John Wesley Hardin and still harbored a few of John Wesley’s traits, mainly his explosive temper. Marylou proved that all is well that ends well.

"Country Girl is Edna O'Brien's exquisite account of her dashing, barrier-busting, up-and-down life."-National Public Radio When Edna O'Brien's first novel, The Country Girls, was published in 1960, it so scandalized the O'Briens' local parish that the book was burned by its priest. O'Brien was undeterred and has since created a body of work that bears comparison with the best writing of the twentieth century. Country Girl brings us face-to-face with a life of high drama and contemplation. Starting with O'Brien's birth in a grand but deteriorating house in Ireland, her story moves through convent school to elopement, divorce, single-motherhood, the wild parties of the '60s in London, and encounters with Hollywood giants, pop stars, and literary titans. There is love and unrequited love, and the glamour of trips to America as a celebrated writer and the guest of Jackie Onassis and Hillary Clinton. Country Girl is a rich and heady accounting of the events, people, emotions, and landscape that have imprinted upon and enhanced one lifetime.

The motherdaughter duo of Jo Kramer and Kelli Hanken brings modern quilting to the country with these 11 updated quilts. Included are a quilt for a modernday patriot, a vintage modern design and an Amishinspired quilt. There is something here for every taste ,�� country or city.

Modern quilting meets country style in these 11 patterns from the mother-daughter design team behind Jo’s Country Junction. Jo Kramer and her daughter Kelli Hanken have been quilting together for years, sharing their unique designs through their brand Jo’s Country Junction. Now they’re bringing modern quilting to the country with 11 updated quilts inspired by open air, traditional roots and contemporary fun. Country Girl Modern features a quilt for a modern-day patriot, a vintage modern design, and an Amish-inspired quilt, among others.

The Australian Country Girl: History, Image, Experience offers a detailed analysis of the experience and the image of Australian country girlhood. In Australia, 'country girl' names a field of experiences and life-stories by girls and women who have grown up outside of the demographically dominant urban centres. But it also names a set of ideas about Australia that is surprisingly consistent across the long twentieth century despite also working as an index of changing times. For a long period in Australian history, well before Federation and long after it, public and popular culture openly equated 'Australian character' with rural life. This image of Australian-ness sometimes went by the name of the 'bush man', now a staple of Australian history. This has been counterbalanced post World War II and increased immigration, by an image of sophisticated Australian modernity located in multicultural cities. These images of Australia balance rather than contradict one another in many ways and the more cosmopolitan image of Australia is often in dialogue with that preceding image of 'the bush'. This book does not offer a corrective to the story of Australian national identity but rather a fresh perspective on this history and a new focus on the ever-changing experience of Australian rural life. It argues that the country girl has not only been a long-standing counterpart to the Australian bush man she has, more importantly, figured as a point of dialogue between the country and the city for popular culture and for public sphere narratives about Australian society and identity.

The American Country Girl is a book by educator and author Martha Foote Crow. It explores the experiences of young American girls growing up and living in the countryside. Crow draws out the often overlooked contribution of farmer's wives and daughters, whose numbers in the whole of America were approaching seven million at the time of writing her book. She also gives a vivid picture of country life and the clash between the Old world of manual tasks and the new world of modern conveniences.

The New York Times bestselling tale of heartbreak and hope from the author of An Irish Country Doctor