The Legend of Nance Dude

This novel is based on an actual case in western North Carolina in 1913 when Nance Dude, aged 65, was convicted of burying alive her two-year-old granddaughter. The author has fleshed out the bare facts with fictitious characters and events in an effort to probe the motive behind this heinous crime. Nance, tough, dour, solitary, was a survivor in an environment of poverty, ignorance, and superstition. Her 15 years at hard labor in prison were no worse, in fact better, than her life outside, where she lived alone in a remote cabin until her death at 104. This story is dismal, relentlessly so. The author's postscript outlines his research. A period piece of limited appeal.

- Sister Avila, Acad. of Holy Angels, Minneapolis

• Author
• Maurice Stanley

• Format
• hardcover

• Pages
• 253

• Publisher
• John F. Blair, Publisher

• Language
• english

• ISBN
• 9780895870810

• Release date
• 1994