Low Country

Written by J. Nicole Jones

Narrated by Lisa Cordileone

J. Nicole Jones is the only daughter of a prominent South Carolina family, a family that grew rich building the hotels and seafood restaurants that draw tourists to Myrtle Beach. But at home, she is surrounded by violence and capriciousness: a grandfather who beats his wife, a barman father who dreams of being a country music star. At one time, Jones's parents can barely afford groceries; at another, her volatile grandfather presents her with a fur coat.

After a girlhood of extreme wealth and deep debt, of ghosts and folklore, of cruel men and unwanted spectacle, Jones finds herself face to face with an explosive possibility concerning her long-abused grandmother that she can neither speak nor shake. And through the lens of her own family's catastrophes and triumphs, Jones pays homage to the landscapes and legends of her childhood home, a region haunted by its history: Eliza Pinckney cultivates indigo, Blackbeard ransacks the coast, and the Gray Man paces the beach, warning of Hurricane Hazel.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Everand Productions
• Release date: Nov 9, 2021
• ISBN: 9781094434230

J. Nicole Jones

J. Nicole Jones received her MFA in Creative Nonfiction from Columbia University, and has since held editorial positions at VICE magazine and Vanity Fair. Her viral essay defending the art of memoir, Why's Everyone So Down on the Memoir?"" was published by the Los Angeles Review of Books and Salon, and her reviews and other writings have appeared in magazines including Harper's. She grew up in South Carolina, and now lives in Brooklyn and Tennessee.""

Reviews for Low Country

[Kelly Izell · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

There was no point to the story. Ghosts + hurricanes + family history; she needed to pick one and stick with it. The author was all over the place and also seemed to forget that she had multiple grandparents in the narrative therefore readers would need distinction beyond the words grandma and grandpa.

[Leah Barton Tew · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Just couldn’t get into it. I love the SC coat and it’s rich history, but this book just couldn’t get to the point. I gave up on it.

[Amber Langford · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I wanted to love this. It was just a bit of a mess. For me, a memoir really needs one of three things: an author the reader is interested in, a remarkable story, or a relatable story set against the backdrop of something or somewhere interesting. This one didn’t tick any of those for me. The story had no real arc. The author jumped around from time period to time period. There were references to legends and “ghost” stories that had no connection to the story. I kept expecting her to circle back and show some sort of symmetry with those tales, but there was none. The author clearly hates Myrtle Beach and South Carolina in general. The idea that one could never get proper healthcare anywhere in South Carolina is absurd. I am just not sure what the point of this memoir was. Clearly other readers loved it.