Betty Plymell has finished her new book “Dreaming of Missouri.”This historical fiction is based on the courtship of her great-grandparents. Her great-grandfather was an Irish mailman who met his love while delivering mail in a mountain setting. They dreamed of moving back to Missouri to a life of their own.
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Betty Mooney Plymell has finished her novel, Dreaming of Missouri. The historical fiction takes place in the Cumberland Mountains of Tennessee in 1841.
Reuben W.P. Mooney, a 19-year-old mountain man, is delivering mail on horseback. He is Irish, buckskin clad, and as handsome as they come. Reuben and Nancy — the pretty 15-year-old daughter of a wealthy plantation owner on his mail route — are in love. Unfortunately, they are on different rungs of the social ladder. If her father, Sheriff William Johnson, learns of their love they know without a doubt they will never get to see or talk to each other again.
Can they keep their secret? Will young love, desperation, and undaunted courage make their dreams come true?
You will have to read the novel to find out. Contact Betty Plymell at 660-367-4484 or [email protected] for information on how to obtain the book.
Betty and her husband Keith, plus one of their four grown children, live on their farm northwest of Pattonsburg.
“Even as a child I was always happy to be outside enjoying the beauty of nature,” writes Mrs. Plymell in the ‘About the Author’ section of the novel. “By the time I was four my mother worked at a job in town, so I spent my young days playing at the edge of fields while my dad worked behind his huge draft horses. I often rode the gentlest work horse, Ole Barney, back and forth across the fields.”
Mrs. Plymell says her father sang old songs and told stories of the past. He instilled in her an interest in history and bygone times.
Her early memories include her desire to draw. Her book has 367 pages with 47 pen and ink drawings by the author.
As a youngster Mrs. Plymell observed butchering and rendering and many other old-time skills that are being quickly forgotten. Her mother taught her domestic skills like raising chickens, sewing, and filling the cellar with garden produce.
Mrs. Plymell draws upon her memories to tell her stories of earlier times.