The Red River Parish Library has recently received an order of new books.  In this article, we are highlighting five new books by a Louisiana author with local ties.  Barbara P. Walsworth lives in northwest Louisiana.  She has family in the Coushatta area and in the Shreveport-Bossier area.  Barbara will tell those who ask that she does not have a college.  She just loves to write stories.  The five books she has written are The Red Dirt Road, Charlie’s Moment, Under the Pecan Tree, Uncommon Lands, and Jubal.  Each of these novels stands alone and can be read in any order.

            The Red Dirt Road is the first novel by Barbara P. Walsworth, who grew up in the backwoods and freshwater swamps of northwest Louisiana.  She draws from her experiences there to create intriguing characters and a suspenseful novel.  In the summer of 1962, fourteen-year-old Parthenay Preiste’s abusive, alcoholic father moved his family from southwest Texas to the backwoods of northwest Louisiana . . . and then, immediately abandons them.

            Charlie’s Moment is an intensely emotional story of a family held hostage by their love for a son caught in the agony of drug abuse and the tragedy that follows.  Stevie Thomas’ eighteen-year-old son, Charlie, is missing.  It isn’t uncommon for him to disappear for a day or two . . . hiding out with his drugs, but now he has been gone seven days.  Something is wrong.

            Under the Pecan Tree tells the story of Anna Belle Lee who had been wandering in the land of the lost, bored and lonely widowhood for two years . . . unable to sleep or focus.  She had not had a “cry-free” day since Mac’s death.  His clothes still hung in the closet.  She had begun to wonder if she needed professional help.  But then she returned home one morning to find Jesse Allen sitting in a rocker on her front porch, naked and homeless.

            Uncommon Lands is an emotionally gripping story of how quickly a life can turn dangerously wrong.  Mary Beth Ivy loses her husband Jack, but, just when she begins to find contentment and happiness in her life, new people enter her life and threaten everything she holds dear.

            Jubal is the main character in the book bearing his name.  Living alone on a mountainous hill top deep in the forest of Big Sandy is just the way Jubal Holley likes his life, but life and people threaten to pull him away from it.  Will he survive the events that encounters along the way?

            Author Barbara P. Walsworth has become a favorite of many of our local library patrons.  There are many other books that have been purchased as we try to update our collection.  In addition, if there is an author or a book title that our patrons would like to see added to the collection, they should contact the library.  Also, patrons should be sure to check the library calendar on the Red River Parish Library website for upcoming events.