Random House, 2006.

In "Nancy Culpepper," a group of linked short stories, Bobbie Ann Mason tells the story of a woman split between her heritage in rural Kentucky and the sophisticated Northeast, where she lives with her husband and son. Her yearning for home brings her frequently back to western Kentucky, where she tries to puzzle out her identity through her parents and clues from the family tree.

Eventually, after Nancy inherits the family farm, her divided life takes a surprising new turn, when she meets her estranged husband in the Lake District in England. Absorbing all of the knowledge and experiences, she blossoms into a new creature, finding her identity in the process.

Bobbie Ann Mason is a writer in residence in the Department of English in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky. She holds a doctorate from the University of Connecticut. Her areas of expertise include fiction, reporting and memoirs. She is also the author of “An Atomic Romance” (Random House, 1996) and co-editor of “Missing Mountains” (WIND publications, 2005).