Kudzu

"Kudzu" opens on a sultry July afternoon in 1987, as thirty-eight-year-old Lewis Ray Jacobs is driving from his home in Nashville to his native Stone Coal in Eastern Kentucky, to attend a funeral. He reflects on a similar hot summer day in 1962 when he and his best friend, Travis Wicker, sneak into the wake of a recently departed neighbor, and twelve-year-old Lewis Ray, on a dare, reaches into the coffin to take hold of the corpse's hand. Things don't go as planned.Thus begins our introduction to two friends whose stories are humorous, engaging and poignant. We follow them through pubescent pranks, emerging sexuality, complicated relationships, a life-changing accident, the realities of young adulthood, and now, nearly two decades after Lewis Ray has left Stone Coal, a funeral.

John Mitchell Johnson is a lifelong resident of Kentucky, having been reared in the eastern coalfields. He now lives in Lexington. Though "Kudzu" draws heavily upon his Appalachian background, the ordeals and experiences of coming-of-age are universal and timeless. Johnson writes of "Kudzu," his first novel, "While I have embraced the seeming oppressive nature of Appalachia, I have preserved the dignity of, and celebrated my abiding love and deep respect for the people of this region and their stories."