By Miranda Willis Travis Smith Aaron Schwoebel Silas

By: Miranda Willis, Travis Smith, Aaron Schwoebel

• Silas House is the author of Clay’s Quilt

• Silas House was born in 1971 in Lily, Kentucky, population 500! There he found the love and appreciation for home and region that is expressed in Clay’s Quilt!

• House has stated that his inspiration for this novel came to him when he was in Lily listening to music and smoking Marlboros while delivering the mail! These stories would dance around in his head until he put them on paper!

• Silas thought up these stories all through his adolescence and into manhood, then dazzled literacy critics in 2001 when he went national with his first novel, Clay’s Quilt, after graduating from Eastern Kentucky University!

• Clay- the main character who is a coal miner from the small town of Free Creek! He has not only grown up without a mother, but has had to carry the burden of being present during his mothers murder when he was only 4. Clay is a good boy who loves to drink, party, and just a have good time!

• Anneth- the mother of Clay and victim of foul play! She absolutely loved life and didn’t care about the negative things people had to say about her! Anneth was a wild woman and blamed that on the Cherokee blood that pumped through her veins!

• Easter- Clay’s aunt who raised him to be the man he was in Clay’s Quilt. She was very religious and looked to the Lord for guidance. Easter was a “seer” and took responsibly for things that were out of her control!

• Dreama- Easter’s daughter the grew up with Clay and thought of him as a brother. She was married to Darry and gave birth to their child, Tristan! • Darry- A terrible man who not only cheated on his wife, but wasn’t present for the birth of his first and only son!

• Evangeline- Alma’s sister who had an angelic voice and often performed with her band at the popular hang out, the Honky. Tonk! Evangeline drank and smoked too much and didn’t have a care in the world!

• Alma- The woman that saved Clay from a life-time of sorrow and despair! Alma loved playing the fiddle and people enjoyed hearing her play just as much! • Denzel- Alma’s first husband that was very aggressive and beat her!

• Cake- Clay’s best friend since either one of them can remember! He, like Clay, loved to party and be social! Cake was the son of Marguerite! • Marguerite- a quiet, mysterious woman the no-one really knew, except for Anneth, who seemed to be not only Marguerite's best friend, but her only friend!

• The story focuses on a young coal-miner from Free Creek named Clay Sizemore, who has grown up dealing with the trails of not having either parent around! To make matters worse, Clay has to learn to deal with the fact he was present when his mother was murdered!

• Despite all the negative aspects of Clay’s broken life, he still finds things to love and appreciate, thanks in huge part to his loving, yet very religious aunt Easter! Easter raised Clay when his mother was murdered, along with her own daughter Dreama, who was like a sister to Clay!

• One hobby that Clay has developed is made very apparent at the beginning of the book, and that is spending time with his best friend Cake! The boys spend the majority of their time at the Honky. Tonk, where Evangeline performs regularly!

• It just so happens that Evangeline’s sister, Alma, had recently played a magical tune on her fiddle at Dreama’s wedding and instantly caught Clay’s eye! With the help of Evangeline, Clay gets to dance with Alma and soon their relationship blossoms, but not without their share of hardships and complications!

• These complications range from a brawl with Alma’s ex-husband at the Honky-Tonk to Clay receiving a box full of his late mothers most precious items! In the end however, all these problems and predicaments are outnumbered by the little blessings Clay finds himself surrounded by!

• Even after the success of Clay’s Quilt , Silas House didn’t stop writing the stories that were fueled by Marlboro cigarettes and simple life in Lily, Kentucky!

• A Parchment of Leaves was House’s second novel. It too was framed around life in the hills of Kentucky where people cling tight to their family and home, just as was exampled in Clay’s Quilt!

Resources • http: //en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Silas_House • http: //www. southernscribe. com/zine/author s/House_Silas. htm • http: //www. associatedcontent. com/article/1 532/clays_quilt_silas_houses_first_novel. h tml? cat=38 • http: //www. bookreporter. com/reviews/0345 450698. asp