Jack Daniel was born around 1848, the youngest of twelve children, and learned the art of distilling as a young boy from two men who would shape both his character and his craft in the hills of Moore County: Dan Call, a Lutheran lay preacher, farmer, and grocer, and Nathan "Nearest" Green, an enslaved man skilled in the art of distilling whiskey. Years later, Jack established his distillery at Cave Spring Hollow, chosen for its iron-free limestone spring water, which (as Jack often said) gives the whiskey its distinctive character.

Jack was known for his charm, his small stature, and his generosity. He never married, treated his employees with unusual fairness for the era, and was beloved by the people of Lynchburg.

In the pages of In These Hills, he appears as himself—and Tamera has worked hard, with the help of local historians, to bring him to life in a way that honors the real-life man and the town of Lynchburg.

Mary Agnes Evans Bobo began operating her legendary boarding house in Lynchburg in the early 1900s, and for decades the midday dinner bell was as much a fixture of the town as the courthouse square. Miss Mary continued running the boarding house until her death in 1983, just one month shy of her 102nd birthday. Today, Michelle Potts serves as only the fifth person to manage Miss Mary's since Miss Mary herself—a lineage as carefully tended as the recipes.

Around Miss Mary's tables, guests from around the world still gather to enjoy family-style Southern lunches and experience a tradition that has endured for more than a century. The Southern cooking, shared tables, and warm hospitality have become the stuff of legend—and so has the woman herself.

In In These Hills, Miss Mary Bobo steps from history onto the page as a character: exacting, uncompromising, and utterly unforgettable.

Lunch at Miss Mary Bobo's Boarding House in Lynchburg, Tennessee, is highly recommended for anyone visiting the Jack Daniel Distillery. You'll want to call ahead and make reservations, however. Miss Mary's is a popular place! For many visitors, a meal at Miss Mary's and a tour of the distillery together offer one of Middle Tennessee's most memorable day trips.

Though Tamera was born and raised in Atlanta, her late father, Douglas Wayne Gattis, was born (1932) in the Gattistown and Lois area, small communities just a stone's throw from Lynchburg. Lynchburg was a familiar destination for her family as she was growing up, especially when out-of-town guests wanted to tour the distillery or visit the graves of loved ones buried nearby in Lois cemetery.

Several of her relatives worked for the distillery at the turn of the twentieth century, including her great-great-grandfather Ballard Preston who broke mules for the operation. The original Preston homestead is not far from Lynchburg proper, and Tamera has had the pleasure of walking those dirt roads and gazing across the beautiful hills that remain largely unchanged more than a century later. She's most grateful for her heritage and for the treasured family memories and legacies that Lynchburg holds.

Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906) devoted more than fifty years of her life to the cause of women's suffrage. She was arrested in 1872 for voting illegally, lectured tirelessly across the country, and co-authored the landmark History of Woman Suffrage. Anthony visited Tennessee numerous times during her long campaign for women's suffrage and died in 1906—fourteen years before the Nineteenth Amendment finally guaranteed women the right to vote in the United States.

In this novel, Susan B. Anthony is a living, breathing presence in the very first chapter of In These Hills—her convictions and her fire on full display. Want to meet Susan B. Anthony on the page? Read the opening chapter of In These Hills, which Publishers Weekly calls "Captivating... Alexander's fans will be well pleased."

Meet Miss Anthony yourself in the first chapter.