Publication Date
5-2024
Advisor(s) - Committee Chair
Nancy Dinan, Tom Hunley, Dale Rigby
Degree Program
Department of English
Degree Type
Master of Arts
Abstract
What Falls Away is Always Near is a novel set in rural Mississippi and Texas in the 1920s and ’30s and tells the story of Annie Welborn, a spirited farm girl who dreams of running off to New York or California, where she will become a glamorous model and movie star adored by crowds. But when boys and men start paying her special attention and she gets pregnant, these dreams are at risk of blowing away with the dust. What follows for Annie is a tumultuous journey through womanhood via pregnancy, incarceration in the state hospital, and running away to marry Ernest, a Texas widower who carries with him expectations and baggage of his own. As she grows up, she must learn that the love and devotion she craves is closer than Hollywood. What Falls Away is Always Near explores what our family histories inevitably lose to time and what complexities might have been lost as the story of Annie was passed down the generations of the author’s family.
Disciplines
Arts and Humanities | Creative Writing | Fiction
Recommended Citation
Haynes, Larissa, "WHAT FALLS AWAY IS ALWAYS NEAR (A NOVEL)" (2024). Masters Theses & Specialist Projects. Paper 3747.
https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/3747