photo credit: Ashley Jones
Watauga County Public Library presents
Ron Rash
Wednesday, August 7, 2024 at 6:00 p.m. / Doors open at 5:30 p.m.
Free Admission - Reservations Appreciated
All Ages (children under 17 admitted with parent/legal guardian)
All Seating is General Admission
RON RASH is the author of the PEN/Faulkner finalist and New York Times bestselling novel Serena, in addition to the critically acclaimed novels The Risen, Above the Waterfall, The Cove, One Foot in Eden, Saints at the River, and The World Made Straight; five collections of poems; and seven collections of stories, among them Burning Bright, which won the 2010 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, Nothing Gold Can Stay, a New York Times bestseller, Chemistry and Other Stories, which was a finalist for the 2007 PEN/Faulkner Award, and In the Valley. Three times the recipient of the O. Henry Prize, his books have been translated into seventeen languages. He teaches at Western Carolina University.
The first novel in 10 years and 20th book from award-winning author Ron Rash, “one of the great American authors at work today” —The New York Times)
About The Caretaker: Told against the backdrop of the Korean War as a small Appalachian town sends its sons to battle, The Caretaker is a breathtaking love story and a searing examination of the acts we seek to justify in the name of duty, family, honor, and love.
It’s 1951 in Blowing Rock, North Carolina. Blackburn Gant, his life irrevocably altered by a childhood case of polio, seems condemned to spend his life among the dead as the sole caretaker of a hilltop cemetery. It suits his withdrawn personality, and the inexplicable occurrences that happen from time to time rattle him less than interaction with the living. But when his best and only friend, the kind but impulsive Jacob Hampton, is conscripted to serve overseas, Blackburn is charged with caring for Jacob’s wife, Naomi, as well.
Sixteen-year-old Naomi Clarke is an outcast in Blowing Rock, an outsider, poor and uneducated, who works as a seasonal maid in the town’s most elegant hotel. When Naomi eloped with Jacob a few months after her arrival, the marriage scandalized the community, most of all his wealthy parents who disinherited him. Shunned by the townsfolk for their differences and equally fearful that Jacob may never come home, Blackburn and Naomi grow closer and closer until a shattering development derails numerous lives.
A tender examination of male friendship and rivalry as well as a riveting, page-turning novel of familial devotion, The Caretaker brilliantly depicts the human capacity for delusion and destruction all too often justified as acts of love.
Visit RON RASH to learn more.
About the Watauga County Public Library: Appalachian Regional Library is a network of libraries across northwestern North Carolina, encompassing Ashe, Watauga, and Wilkes counties. The Appalachian Regional Library nurtures individual and community growth through free and equal access to resources for reading, thinking, learning, and living. Visit https://www.arlibrary.org/watauga to learn more.
Know Before You Go
THIRD PARTY SELLERS / SECONDARY MARKET
Tickets for events at the Appalachian Theatre of the High Country are sold exclusively through the theatre box office and online at AppTheatre.org . We DO NOT partner with third party sellers. We DO NOT accept tickets sold on the secondary market. We reserve the right to decline entry if you are not the original ticket buyer.
Tickets purchased from alternative sources may be any or all of the following:
· Not authentic
· Over-priced
· Invalid (cannot be used to enter the event)
The Appalachian Theatre of the High Country (ATHC) is not responsible for tickets purchased from third party vendors and is not able to honor, replace or refund invalid tickets. Please purchase your tickets from approved sources.
PARKING INFORMATION
Please carefully read the information and instructions below to ensure the best experience when you visit the Theatre.
Metered street parking and pay lots are monitored and parking is enforced Monday – Saturday from 8 a.m. until 5 pm except on town observed holidays.
Parking is $1.00/hour at all metered parking spaces.
Metered & lot parking is free all day on Sundays and every day after 5 p.m.
Parking in Appalachian State parking lots (e.g. the Peacock Lot accessed off of Howard Street) is available for free on week nights after 7 p.m. and on non-gameday/event weekends on Saturday and Sunday.
Accessible Parking:
Parking in metered parking areas is free, as long as the correct placard/license plate is displayed and up to date.
ATHC does not own or operate any parking lots or meters and cannot accept responsibility for any parking mishaps or fees.
Visit our HEALTH & SAFETY PROTOCOLS page for the latest in show attendance requirements, FAQs and other information.
