Books

Twenty-five years ago, writer Susan Byrum Rountree set out to discover the lives that lay behind the screened doors of the Unpainted Aristocracy, Nags Head, North Carolina’s historic beachfront community. The original ‘Shabby Chic’ enclave, these stalwart ladies have braved ocean winds, high tides and development for close to 150 years.

In 2026, Susan revisits the characters who care for these priceless family heirlooms, discovering that the ocean tides are not the only threat to these historic structures.

The story traces a multigenerational love affair between a group of families and a mile-long stretch of sand inhabited by a handful of cottages, elegant in their simplicity. Readers will make the acquaintance of S. J. Twine, the wiry carpenter and self-taught architectural genius who designed structures that have withstood hurricanes and countless northeasters. They’ll meet Mary Frances Flowers, whose family hosted President Franklin Roosevelt for lunch one hot August afternoon on the 400th anniversary of Virginia Dare’s birthday. They’ll hear the words of hurricane survivor Virginia Flora Hall when she was a centenarian, and of Beulah Wadsworth, who summered at Nags Head for many years as a domestic worker for the Drane family.

In the 25th anniversary edition, The Winslow family shares how a kitchen fire shook them to their core in 2020, and of their efforts to restore their beloved North Star home by the sea. Readers will revisit Possum Silver as he spins new tales from the splintered porch his ancestors acquired in 1883, and meet new characters who cling to this alluring community first settled by shipwrecked bankers, and then by vacationers before the Civil War.

Susan tells these stories and so many more, with the help of oral histories from Nags Headers ages twelve to one hundred. Photographs gathered from private collections complete the story of Nags Headers.

If you’ve ever held a fretful baby in your lap, watched a toddler struggle to learn a new skill, comforted a child who has lost a friend to tragedy, or stepped aside as your grown child becomes even more than the person you dreamed she’d be, you’ll love this collection of twenty-two essays about the joys and struggles of being a mother. Move over, ladies of the evening, this is the world’s oldest profession.

In the early spring of 2013, my doctor father contracted pneumonia and a plethora of complications that would take his life. Each week, I took a day or two off to spend time with him, and these stories can be found here.

I’ve always written about my family. The serve, usually with permission, as backdrop to my many voiles and shortcomings. They’ve tolerated it, but recently more than one said: When are you going to write about me?

In May of this year, I was diagnosed with breast cancer —a kidnapping, I’d say — not a journey. A journey is a river cruise or raising a child or climbing up from the floor of the grand canyon. A kidnapping is something that seizes you and takes you along for the ride.