Across the Blue Ridge Mountains is a deeply researched novel firmly based in history that captures how a woman, regardless of time period, has to live by the fateful decisions she makes and how resilience and showing up to the table are her only ways forward. Through her life's journey, a stream of characters appear that reflects the best and worst in her but inevitably force her to grow in ways she may not be ready for. Ultimately, her inner strength must rise to meet many challenges. Early Praise for Across the Blue Ridge Mountains "An ambitious, important, and beautifully written first novel by a gifted new writer. Maggie Marangione deeply knows the Virginia mountain towns she writes of and the hard lives within. In Mary Dodson, she has created a clear voiced, brave, and unforgettable heroine equal to the myriad challenges she faces. I read this book in blazing gulps, and thought about it for days after I finished the last page"- Tom Barbash, author of The Dakota Winters "Across the Blue Ridge Mountains paints a picture of the life and times in the Blue Ridge Mountains just before the coming of Shenandoah National Park like no other book I've read. It transports me there with accurate details in an immersive saga."- Sue Eisenfeld, author of Shenandoah: A Story of Conservation and Betrayal