Suzy Barile, a 1975 UNC Journalism grad, will read from her new book — Undaunted Heart: The True Story of a Southern Belle and a Yankee General — at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 2, at the Bulls Head Bookshop in the Student Store on the UNC campus.
Undaunted Heart tells the story of Ella Swain, the daughter of UNC President David L. Swain, and her controversial courtship and subsequent marriage to General Smith D. Atkins, the leader of the Union troops occupying Chapel Hill at the close of the Civil War.
Barile is a great-great-granddaughter of Ella Swain and Smith Atkins. She tells their story, separating facts from the elaborate embellishments the famous courtship and marriage have taken on over the generations. Interwoven throughout are excerpts from Ella’s never-before-published letters that reveal the difficult challenges of post Civil War life and a loving marriage that transcended outrage and scandal.
After a long career in journalism, Barile now teaches English and Journalism at Wake Tech Community College in Raleigh.
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Carolina Book Beat 