Where Grass Grows High

And Slavers' Hounds Don't Howl

by Nancy Glenn Powell

View author's profile page

See inside

View Back Cover

Overview

Where the Grass Grows High, contains history surrounding the Civil War. Samuel Glenn, born and raised in Georgia, striving to avoid the effects of anticipated conflict in the southeast and keep six sons out of battle, takes his wife and ten children to an Arkansas homestead in 1852. He thought Arkansas would remain neutral if war broke out—he was mistaken—six sons went to war. My great-great-grandfather Samuel Glenn's stories were passed down to me by family members.

Congratulations!
The results of the 2019 “Best Book” Awards have been announced.
Your book has been honored as a "Finalist" in the "History: The United States" category:
Where Grass Grows High And Slaver's Hounds Don't Howl by Nancy Glenn Powell
Jeffrey Keen, President & CEO, American Book Fest

Critique: A deftly crafted and inherently engaging read from cover to cover, "Where Grass Grows High: And Slavers' Hounds Don't Howl" is an extraordinary novel by an author with a genuine flair for originality and a distinctive narrative storytelling style that readers will greatly appreciate. While unreservedly recommended for both community and academic library Contemporary Literary Fiction collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "Where Grass Grows High" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $2.99). James A. Cox, Midwest Book Review

Review By Gisela Dixon for Readers’ Favorite, a 5-star review!

Where Grass Grows High: And Slavers' Hounds Don't Howl by Nancy Glenn Powell is a non-fiction book on the life and family of Samuel Glenn, one of her ancestors that lived during the Civil War times. This book follows his story based on the memories and tales handed down by subsequent generations and is thus a fictionalized historical narrative. Noting the onset of the war and the effect it could have on his family, he decides to move to Arkansas. Accounts are given of their experiences and life living on the farm. As war approaches, his sons join the battle.

It is interesting to read about life in those times of an actual family with their daily lives and worries through the Civil War. Nancy writes engagingly of the period, and her writing style retains clarity and attention to small details. This is an interesting work of historical non-fiction.

Description

After Samuel realizes the war will reach his home, he and his wife hide supplies to sustain a large extended family through a long bitter war. He agonizes over his boys fighting on both sides, and over relatives that remain in the southeastern states of Georgia, the Carolinas and Virginia. One evening, strangers stop at the farm, eat the family's supper, beat Samuel demanding that he hand over the money received for horses he sold, threaten to scalp Francis and kill the children, but he will not give them money. The next day Samuel and his two oldest daughters hide his money in green logs to keep it safe until after the war. He worries about the thousands of widows and orphans left without husbands and fathers, and former slaves left without homes and the education to prepare them for a life away from the plantation.

About the author

Nancy Glenn Powell has six previously published books. The first three are based on her mother's life. Dark Secrets, (originally called Ollie's Angels) won first place in the 2010 Oklahoma Writers' Federation, Incorporated (OWFI) Mainstream Novel Contest. Angels for All won third place in the 2010 OWFI nonfiction category. It tells the story of an Arkansas farm family during the Great Depression. Listen for the Angels tells the hardships of a farm family during the drought years following the Great Depression. The Keepers Series—Whom Shall I Fear, Protecting the Innocent, and Pursued are inspirational suspense novels with a human trafficking theme. Where Grass Grows High and Slaver's Hounds Don't Howl is based on the author's great, great grandfather and his family during the Civil War--it won a Readers Favorite Five Star Award. Nancy has also won several awards for short stories and poetry.

Nancy grew up on an Arkansas farm with six sisters and one brother. She is married, the mother of two children, and is a member of the Church of Christ, River Valley Writers of Fort Smith, Roundtable Poets of Arkansas, and OWFI. She retired from the City of Fort Smith after 29 years as Traffic Coordinator.

Other titles by this author/publisher

Where the Wild Geese Go by Nancy Glenn Powell

When Nightmares Intrude by Nancy Glenn Powell

Sid and the Orphans by Nancy Glenn Powell

The Doctor's Luck by Nancy Glenn Powell

Book Reviews

to submit a book review

Nancy Glenn

Where Grass Grows High Jim Davidson...NEWSPAPER COLUMN ...5 Star Rating WHERE GRASS GROWS HIGH! If you would like to expand your knowledge, especially in the area of the Civil War, I have a suggestion for you. Buy and read a copy of Nancy Glenn Powell’s terrific book “Where Grass Grows High: And Slaver’s Hounds Don’t Howl.” I can promise this will do it; at least it did for me. To begin please allow me to pass along the “Author’s Note” at the beginning of the book. “This creative nonfiction novel is based on the life of Samuel Glenn, and contains family stories passed down through the years, as well as history surrounding The Civil War. Samuel was born November 6, 1810, in Franklin County Georgia. Striving to avoid the effects of the anticipated war in the southeast, and keep his sons out of battle, he took his wife Catherine and ten children to Arkansas in 1852. Most of the accounts were told to me by Roy Glenn, my dad, and to him by his dad, William Bart Glenn.” The author, then Nancy Glenn, was a very young girl when she heard most of these stories. I might add, before proceeding, the reason this book is so interesting, and even vital, is that it is real life, as told by people who were actually there, and not some author, or even a historian who read and did research to write a novel. The story begins with Samuel Glenn returning from Arkansas where he filed for a homestead, near Greenbrier, a small community in the central part of the state. After a brief time, they have two Conestoga wagons loaded with essential items for survival and head out, in a wagon train with a good number of other families who are making the same trip, to a new life in another state so far away. To his credit, Samuel and three of his sons had been there several weeks before and when he returned home he left two sons in Arkansas to finish building a cabin and a corral for the livestock, so they could set up housekeeping when they arrived. While living in our modern times it is almost impossible to even think about how hard life was for these people. They had no modern conveniences, no cars or trucks, no form of communication, poorly trained doctors, no hospitals, no paved roads or any one of a thousand other things that we just take for granted. Samuel Glenn did have two things going for him; first, he was a blacksmith, a trade that was to be most useful in the coming days and years, and the fact that he was a devout Christian, and reared his children in the fear and admonition of the Lord. While slavery is an ugly issue, and in many ways still divides our nation today, it is nothing like the life that slaves endured before the war that was to free them. On a return trip to Arkansas, Samuel witnessed a slave auction that made a lasting impression on him. It became very clear why slave owners did not want to give up ‘free’ help that made life better for them. As I mentioned earlier, this is a terrific book and if you could follow the Glenn family, their children who married and had families of their own, the war that came, and six sons who fought, losing one, and how they survived to make our nation better, you would be blessed. For me, a story at the end of the book captured the essence of a better day when Samuel came upon a former slave family with a broken wagon wheel and how he took the four of them home with him, fixed the wheel, and then went to their homestead and helped kill a wild hog that provided meat for the winter, and helped to build their cabin so they could start a new life, all out of the goodness of his heart. He understood that we are indeed “Our Brother’s Keeper.” Read more