Literary Style

Literary Style

Literary StyleNancy Johnson has written a touching new book, “Moe and Lucy: Reunited at the Rainbow Bridge.” Her first book, “A Jack Russell for Jay” (written under her maiden name, Nancy Nakonechny), was quite a success. She’s back at it from her home base in Aiken, South Carolina. “This book is really for anyone who has ever lost a special dog. The basic premise is two Jack Russells are reunited in a “dog heaven” of sorts,” she told Country ZEST recently. It’s available ($16) from her website www.moeandlucy.com and at Second Chapter Books in Middleburg (540-687-7016).

Hope Porter, the grand dame of saving the countryside, has recorded her efforts in “60 Years on a Precipice.” In the preface, she writes, “This is the story of the land wars of the second half of the 20th century when we were fighting to save farmland that has made Fauquier County one of the most productive and one of the most beautiful counties in Virginia.” Country ZEST agrees and is appreciative of her entire body of work, in county and state boardrooms and now on paper. Published by the Citizens for Fauquier County and available for $20 at The Town Duck in Warrenton.

The book, “Paul and Bunny Mellon: Visual Biographies: The Trompe l’Oeil Paintings at Oak Spring, Virginia” illustrates how the Mellons appreciated and grasped the intricate genre of trompe l’oeil. This lavishly illustrated tome depicts their exquisite taste and interests, via their collaborations with the fine European trompe l’oeil painters Martin Battersby and Fernand Reynard. Professor Lucia Tongiorgi Tomasi articulates these creative partnerships (written originally in Italian) while also placing the art in context within the history of the genre. All of this is augmented by inspired biographical sketches of the Mellons by Tony Willis, who served as the librarian of Mrs. Mellon’s superb collection of rare books, manuscripts, and art related to the history of gardens and horticulture. Since her death in 2014, he has continued in this position for the Oak Spring Garden Foundation in Upperville. The book is $50 hardback and $40 paperback at https://oak-spring-garden-foundation. square.site.

And P.S. Local writer Norman Fine has received many notes and letters regarding his book, “Blind Bombing: How Microwave Radar Brought the Allies to D-Day and Victory in World War II” published last December. An interesting story was brought to light by reader Ron Brunnen when he sent a note to Norman. Ron enlisted in the Army in 1951 and spent three years in active service during the time of the Korean War and the Cold War. He was a member of a SCR-584 radar crew, and by the end of his Korean tour he was Chief Radar Operator and temporary repairman as well. “The SCR-584 was one of the very first microwave radars designed at the Rad Lab in response to the German bombing Blitz over London,” Norman told Country ZEST. “The job of the SCR-584 was to detect individual enemy bombers in the sky up to forty miles distant, lock on, follow them, and by so doing, automatically control the aiming of antiaircraft guns and angle of altitude to shoot them down. Here was Ron Brunnen more than ten years later, using the same radar equipment first to protect Americans from potential Russian bombings during the Cold War.” To read this intriguing story and history, the book is available at Second Chapter Books in Middleburg (540-687-7016).