January 8, 2010 | Story by: Matt Young | Categories: Arts
Cary, NC – Author Suzy Barile, a resident of Cary for 24 years, will be signing books and making appearances promoting the release of Undaunted Heart: The True Love Story of a Southern Belle and a Yankee General.
SCANDAL IN CHAPEL HILL
Barile tells the story of Ella Swain, the daughter of UNC President David L. Swain, and her controversial courtship and subsequent marriage to General Smith D. Atkins, the leader of the Union troops occupying Chapel Hill at the close of The War Between the States.
A BOX OF LETTERS
The interesting side note is that the characters in the book are the author’s ancestors. Suzy had heard the stories from her relatives of her great-great grandparents, Ella Swain and Smith Atkins.
She had thought when her great-grandmother passed away that perhaps the stories were lost. One day, when her sister was cleaning out the attic, she found a box of papers. She gave the box to Suzy who discovered a folder of Ella’s letters to her grandparents.
Barile started the book as a speech. With the encouragement of friends she turned her speech into a manuscript in 2007. The book was published in July 2009.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
After a 25-year career as a newspaper reporter and editor, Suzy Barile now teaches English and journalism at Wake Tech Community College in Raleigh, North Carolina. She is a graduate of the School of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and earned a master’s degree from North Carolina State University. She also is co-editor of “The Papers of Richard Caswell” (N.C.’s Revolutionary War-era governor) for the N.C. Office of Archives & History.
BOOK SIGNINGS
Undaunted Heart can be found at Barnes and Noble, Quail Ridge and All Booked Up in Apex as well as Amazon.com. If you would like to meet the author, she has upcoming book signings at:
For more information, go to Suzy’s blog.
The CaryCitizen would love to report on local authors and recent books about Cary. Please feel free to pass them on to our editor’s desk. Thanks to Vickie Maxwell for help on this story.
