Wellspring: Stories & a Novella

Description

by Kathleen M. Jacobs

Publication date: 15th of June 2025

At the core of each story in this collection is the resiliency of the Appalachian woman-at times a reserved resolve and at others, an unmistakable but very necessary unraveling, which leads each protagonist on a journey to reclaim what was lost along the way. The Appalachian region provides a lush and deteriorating landscape. In “Panchlora Nivea,” young Ada must find her own way, as her parents sink deeper into addiction, finding an escape through the close inspection of insects. In “Shuffle,” an aging couple renew their fading affections in a most unexpected redecoration of their home. “Sylvie’s Nature” takes a seasoned woman on an arduous weekly walk to visit her husband serving time in a maximum-security prison for a pre-meditated crime. “The Needle’s Eye” invites the reader to mark time with a physically and emotionally abused woman, as she waits for the pink supermoon to appear and lead the way for her departure. These stories are bound by a very stalwart thread, leaving the reader to experience a wide range of emotions that, revealed or held close, are all too universal.

Praise for Wellspring: Stories & a Novella

Kathleen Jacobs’ writing feels just like coming home. It’s the sun shining onto the veranda, a copper-colored horse on the run, the scent of honeysuckle in bloom. This collection heralds not only the stark intelligence and emotional wit of modern mountain folk, it celebrates my favorite kind of prose – words that are lyrical, atmospheric, and bold. What an absolute joy to read.
— Amy Jo Burns, author of Mercury

I have loved the writing of Kathleen M. Jacobs for many years. In this new collection, Jacobs’ gift for exquisite detail (“sweet white shoepeg corn”; “blossoming Bradford pear trees”) is woven into startling, luminous stories. There are themes of breakdown (“The Harboring”) and rebirth (“Shuffle”), and a steady presence of creeks, gravel roads, decaying towns, and characters with long memories. Deeply Appalachian. Beautiful.
— Cynthia Rylant Newbery Recipient, Missing May

As an ornithologist might study the tilt of a beak or the shading of a feather, Jacobs approaches her fictional world with acute deductive observation. Material details, lovingly wrought in their own right, are also portals to conflict: a girl’s uncooperative bangs signal a messy family dynamic; an abandoned chandelier shimmers with perceived loss and stands for a lovely but unclaimable life. Such rich evocation of surface detail beckons the reader to go deeper and learn more; Jacobs’ symbology is at once lofty and earthy, like the simultaneously ancient and urgent Appalachian mountains that are this book’s raison-d’être.
— Melanie McGee Bianchi, author of The Ballad of Cherrystoke and Other Stories