Stop by M. Judson Booksellers for a free pop up with author Carolyn Hooker and her new novel, Leaving Edgefield! ABOUT THE BOOK: For nearly seventy years, the story of Carrie Butler — longtime domestic worker for Strom Thurmond’s family and mother of his secret biracial daughter, Essie Mae Washington — remained unspoken, silenced by power and circumstance. Leaving Edgefield dares to break that silence. With empathy and imagination, Carolyn W. Hooker reimagines Butler’s life, offering a work of historical fiction that restores voice to a woman history tried to erase. Set against the red clay fields of Edgefield during the Jim Crow South, the novel captures the stark realities of Carrie’s daily life inside the Thurmond household — the long hours of domestic labor, the unspoken dangers of secrecy, the balance between survival and quiet defiance. As Carrie’s journey leads north to Post World War II Philadelphia, the novel reveals that silence follows her, demanding reckoning in new ways. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Carolyn W. Hooker taught English for over thirty years on both the high school and college level, predominantly at Spartanburg Community College. A native of Spartanburg, South Carolina, she received a B.S. Degree in Education and an M.A. Degree in English from the University of South Carolina. It was at USC graduate school where she developed a love for literature under such notable professors as Donald J. Greiner and James Dickey.
