Fred Chappell

This story of a day in the life of Joe Robert Kirkman, a North Carolina mountain schoolteacher, sly prankster, country philosopher, and family man, won the hearts of readers and reviewers across the country.

""Deeply felt, warm, and funny . . . a wonderful tale, one full of wild humor and humanity.""—The Los Angeles Times

""The resonantly lyrical novel enchants us . . . we are lifted to a height of exhilaration few current writers can take us to.""—New York Newsday

""Brighten washes you with language. Reading it is like leaping into one of those streams in the middle of nowhere where everything is green and our childhoods wait to reclaim something lost, something astoundingly simple as joy.""—Charlotte Observer

""A raconteur of extraordinary gifts, Chappell fluidly spins mountain yarns, weaning spellbinding myths, hypnotic dreams, hilarious dialogue and unforgettable characters into the warp and weft of a funny, poignant and very human story.""—Orlando Sentinel

""At once lyrical and plainspoken, relentlessly funny and, at crucial moments, breathlessly sad . . . Brighten the Corner Were You Are is Fred Chappell's finest work so far and thus—I have been reading and writing and waiting forty years to say this—it's a blooming masterpiece.""—George Garrett