The child of a small town in Midwest
America tells of growing up in
Rockbridge in the 1930s. Anecdotes
recount childhood exploration, adventures,
mishaps, and rebellion with friends,
neighbors, and family. My piano teacher lives
across the alley while down the alley Betty
Jean had a partially opened pack of Lucky
Strike and we proceeded to light up. Winter
brings skating on creeks and sledding until
the orange ball of the sun slipped behind the
cold watery sky. Alongside these tales are
refl ections by the child, revealing and honest.
They contrast attitudes of the 1930s with
childhood perception.
Sobre o autor
Ann Allen grew
up and was educated
in southern Indiana,
coming to England
(London University)
as a Fulbright scholar
in the 1950s. Here
Ann stayed teaching,
p h o t o g r a p h i n g ,
and publishing
books and articles
on natural history. A trained botanist
(Ph D, Indiana University), Ann now lives
in North Devon with a foot in London,
but her roots remain in the heartland of
America in southern Indiana. I could not
have written this unless I had grown up
there and then lived away from there. With
the passing of a way of life, this is a story
that should be told.