This Child of Mine

The years of 1868-1968 is quietly known in history as the "100 Years of Terror" in the United States. Many innocent people of varied races, religions, and ethnicities died during this time. Three known lynchings occurred during this time in the southern county of Mercer in West Virginia. Even though the novel is a work of fiction, the tale chronicles the last recorded lynching.

Born in the 1800's, judged by the color of his skin and not by the honor of his heart, his spiritless soul was not welcomed by white society. Forever branded, this man died for his crimes of innocence. . . . No one would grieve the deaths of Jeb and Edgar. Black or white. Those two "white trash" had raped Violet Green. Jasper had to stop his friends-even if it would result in his having to testify against them. And possibly losing his own life and those he loved.

K. B. Hartwell holds a Master of Arts degree in Interdisciplinary Studies and teaches college writing courses at Mountain State University in Beckley, West Virginia. Her varied writings run from poetry to editorials. Her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Humanities, where she was nurtured by several English professors to nurture her writing skills, catapulted her love of writing to a more professional level. Kathy’s other writing achievements include being elected as Mountain State University’s 2004 Graduate Student of the Year. She grew up in Princeton, a small town in southern West Virginia, where several historical events unfolded, and she remembers her father and mother, Roba and Della, relating past tales of “the good ol’ days.” Many of these stories included events going as far back as the Civil War and when the county was first settled. Kathy moved away from Princeton when she was twenty, but returned to the area eleven years later to where she now owns, and resides, in her childhood home to date with her husband, Russell; her mother, Della; her son, Lee; her Pomeranian babies, Dusty, Connor, and Breah; three ferrets, Oscar, Minky, and Baby; three cats; a lame mourning dove; and a beta fish. A picture dear to her is a faded newspaper photo clipping showing her on the front left row with her class holding a book in her hands with the headline: Knob Elementary Second Grade Readers. Long after that, Kathy was a short-term Editor of The Bluefieldian, a student publication at Bluefield State College; Editorial Director for AuthorMe.com; Co-fiction Editor for T-Zero Magazine; and wrote several book reviews for Franco Antonetti’s autobiographical book, I Wouldn’t Die, and Linda Alexander’s book, Weekends in New England. Her love of the Appalachians and its inhabitants has been her motivational force in capturing the moral fiber that connects southern Appalachian history to modern events. Kathy wants to be an author who brings the best of the Appalachian culture to the rest of the world. She states, “I want to show the best side of West Virginia and her people through my writings. Even so, I can never predict what my future writings will produce, but I can assure everyone they will reflect the best of this unique culture and whatever topics I find intriguing.”