Beth Pride
North Georgia native Beth Pride is a writer in Lexington, Kentucky, where she lives on a Thoroughbred breeding farm with her husband and thirteen other studs. She is the mother of two fully-weaned children, whom she insists are not responsible for the twenty years it took her to publish her first novel. A rewarding career in education and marketing led Beth in 2021 to begin writing full-time. In 2022, she proudly published the nationally celebrated COMMON WEALTH OF KENTUCKY PROJECT with artist Kelly Brewer. Beth's debut novel BACK TO BLUE HOLLY released on January 2, 2025.
Back to Blue Holly
“BACK TO BLUE HOLLY is a sparkling debut. Beth Pride has penned a heart-song to the places that shape us and the natural world that calls us if we are willing to listen. Witty, wise, and brimming with romance, Back to Blue Holly is a love letter to community, and the irresistible pull of finding where you truly belong. A debut not to be missed!"
—Patti Callahan Henry, NYT bestselling author of The Secret Book of Flora Lea
Back to Blue Holly: A Novel
Dottie is divorced and depleted when she loads up her dog and heads back to Blue Holly and the Quinn family lake house, where her feisty Aunt Lo and a gallery job offer beckon her like a moth to a flame. She arrives to find her childhood sanctuary with a culture chip on the mountain town's shoulders; Aunt Lo has lost her feud with Fannie Fraser and the Citizens Against Virtually Everything, closed the gallery, and is packing to leave for Belize.
As a peace offering or maybe a plan, Lo hands Dottie the keys to a condemned Red Arrow hardware store and says if Dottie fixes it, she can have it. Dottie can't get a loan, is sick of being alone, and knows nothing about using a drill, but when she spots an old moonshine still, she decides on a new, if dissonant, direction in an evangelical town with little taste for liquor and tourism.
Dottie and a relatable cast of damaged characters, including the charming and handsome Crawford Woody, unite to fight against time, small-town politics, and mysterious forces to transform the Red Arrow hardware store into the first microbrewery in Bluff County — finding community, friendship, and love, (even the romantic kind), and rebuilding each other along the way.
