New From Story Merchant Books Leo Daughtry's Talmadge Farm

TALMADGE FARM is a sweeping drama that follows three unforgettable families as they navigate the changing culture of North Carolina at a pivotal moment in history. A love letter to the American South, the novel is a story of resilience, hope, and family—both lost and found.

 

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It’s 1957, and tobacco is king. Wealthy landowner Gordon Talmadge enjoys the lavish lifestyle he inherited but doesn’t like getting his hands dirty; he leaves that to the two sharecroppers – one white, one Black – who farm his tobacco but have bigger dreams for their own children. While Gordon takes no interest in the lives of his tenant farmers, a brutal attack between his son and the sharecropper children sets off a chain of events that leaves no one unscathed. Over the span of a decade, Gordon struggles to hold on to his family’s legacy as the old order makes way for a New South.

About the Author

Leo Daughtry is an attorney, businessman, and former Republican state lawmaker. His debut novel reflects on the dreams and struggles of the American South, made more poignant by Leo's personal experiences growing up among the tobacco fields of Sampson County, North Carolina.

What People Are Saying “Talmadge Farm is a classic. Through the lives of a farm owner’s family and their sharecropping tenants, Leo Daughtry weaves a story about the emerging South. This is a story of triumph and tragedy, of good and evil, and finally reconciliation. A true morality play." — Gene Hoots, former tobacco executive and author of Going Down Tobacco Road “Set in North Carolina in the 1950s and 60s, Leo Daughtry’s story gives readers a cast of flawed characters that elicit sympathy, anger, love and hate. The Talmadges, landed gentry, and their two sharecropper families try to adjust to the changing political, economic and social landscape of the decade. Gordon Talmadge commits one mistake after another, ultimately destroying the legacy handed to him, as his loyal wife Claire stands by his side while the sharecropper families – one Black, one white – are ultimately driven off the farm for better and for worse. A page turner. — George Kolber, author of Thrown Upon the World, and writer/producer of Miranda’s Victim “In this stirring novel, Leo Daughtry creates a big, complicated portrait of family, place, race, class, and greed. Set in North Carolina, Talmadge Farm tells the story of three intertwined families. Daughtry delves deep into the heart of his characters. You’ll almost forget that you don’t know them personally; this story feels that real.” — Judy Goldman, author of Child: A Memoir and Together: A Memoir of a Marriage and a Medical Mishap