Pure Heart: A Spirited Tale of Grace, Grit, and Whiskey

Written by Troylyn Ball and Bret Witter

Narrated by Rosemary Benson

Troylyn Bell and her husband, Charlie, an engineer and real estate investor, had spent their entire lives in Texas. But after a near fatal trip to the emergency room with their mute, wheelchair-bound son Marshall, they admitted the dust and the heat were too dangerous. To save their boys, the Balls cashed out, sold their beloved farm, and moved to Asheville, North Carolina.

Nearing fifty, Troy thought her chance at adventure had passed. But in this booming little Appalachian Mountain city of hippies, farmers, artisans, and retirees, she unexpectedly discovered a support network and something she’d never had in twenty-five years of providing round-the-clock care for her special needs boys: the freedom to pursue her own dreams. She struck up a friendship with a legendary eighty-year-old raconteur from the mountains, met his friends, and soon found herself in a rickety country shack with an ingeniously inventive retired farmer trying to create the best recipe ever for traditional mountain moonshine.

But when the real estate bubble burst and the collapse of her husband Charlie’s new venture in Asheville left them deeply in debt, Troy realized her ten-year business plan for Troy & Sons Platinum Whiskey wasn’t enough. If she was going to save her family—and she was definitely going to save her family—she needed to become the most successful woman in the legal whiskey business. And she needed to do it fast, before the bank took her house, her business, and everything she’d worked so hard to achieve.

Full of eccentric characters and charming locations—from a ""haunted"" cabin in the mountains to the last farm in the world to grow heritage Crooked Creek corn—Pure Heart is a charming story of a woman who set out to find a purpose in the most unexpected of places, and ended up finding happiness, contentment, and a community of love and respect.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Release date: Feb 7, 2017
• ISBN: 9780062660602

Troylyn Ball

Troy Ball is the founder and principal owner of Asheville Distilling Company in Asheville, North Carolina, makers of Troy & Sons Platinum whiskey, Troy & Sons Oak Reserve, and Blonde whiskey. Troy & Sons Platinum recently received a gold medal for moonshine, the highest possible rating. In 2004, Troy cofounded the Thoughtful House Center for Children in Austin, Texas, which has recently changed its name to the Johnson Center for Child Health and Development. Today, the center sees over 2,500 children with autism and spectrum disorders and coordinates international medical research studies. Troy lives outside Asheville, North Carolina, with her husband, Charlie, and two of their three grown sons, Marshall and Coulton, who have special needs.

Reviews for Pure Heart

[spinsterrevival · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I was recommended this book by a couple I knew from work when they found out I had gone to college just outside of Asheville. It’s a fascinating story of a woman’s life of family and entrepreneurship as she learns to create and sell moonshine legally in North Carolina. It was an interesting read for me personally as I graduated and haven’t been back to the area since 2000, and apparently everything that Asheville became happened after that. I didn’t even know that you could buy legal moonshine (it first sold in NC in 2007). I had my first and only (illegal—someone had brought it back from the TN border) taste somewhere between 1996-1997, and I can still remember sitting in a dorm room with fire coursing down my throat. I loved the Asheville I experienced in the late nineties and all the places we’d call our own. It’s crazy to me that places that are apparently “legendary” weren’t even founded until after I was there. One of those annoying parts of life that continues on without your involvement. I do miss just getting in my car and driving through those beautiful mountains.