Smith looks inward to tell her own heartwarming story, from growing up in the small coal-mining town of Grundy, Virginia to becoming a writer and raising her own family in North Carolina. "I always knew I wanted to set down some thoughts and reminiscences based around these themes – about place, memory, and writing – but this project got a real kick-start recently when the entire town of Grundy was demolished as part of a flood-control project," explains Smith. "Only last August, the house I grew up in was bulldozed too." In these fifteen charming essays, Smith has written a captivating memoir that brings her hometown back to life and depicts the birth of a major literary talent. Told with great honesty, humor, and sensitivity, DIMESTORE is a moving personal portrait and a broader meditation on embracing one's heritage that will resonate with Smith's fans, anyone interested in writing, and anyone who enjoys good storytelling. Annie Dillard says, “Here is Lee Smith at her best. DIMESTORE is personal nonfiction, where her brilliance shines. Her wide warmth blesses everything funny about life and – here especially – everything moving and deep.”