Escape To Appalachia

My completed 60,000 word memoir, Escape To Appalachia, is a classic "fish out of the water" story, in the vein of the TV shows Green Acres, Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman, and Bless This Mess, the latter about a couple from New York City that move to Nebraska.

Having grown up in New York City, I accepted a lucrative job as a diagnostic radiologist in the poor Appalachian town of Portsmouth, Ohio. Culture shock did me in, and after one year I ran away from the town and broke off my engagement to a woman I loved, but felt I could not marry. In leaving, I learned one of many new life lessons: you can leave a town, you can leave a relationship, but certain things you cannot leave, no matter where or how far away you go.

I took a new radiology position in Sacramento, California, thinking this was far enough away for my negative experience and broken relationship to become distant memories. But circumstances led me to return to this same poor rural town I had never adjusted to. There hadn't been enough money to keep me there when I first left, although much was offered, and, likewise, there wasn't nearly enough poverty in the town to keep me away, when I chose to once again return.

My memoir describes what transpired upon my return, living as I did in the backwoods of Appalachia; the memorable people I met; the multiple animals both encountered and rescued. Together, they taught me countless additional life lessons. I bonded to the people, to the animals, to the very red clay dirt forming the foundation of the Ohio River Valley, so even this became hallowed ground. How this transpired lies at the heart of my memoir. As a part of this life journey, I found a wife and family, a home and, ultimately, the very meaning for my life.

This is also the story of a poor rural southern Ohio town, Portsmouth, Ohio, that just could never get any respect. This town is also in the midst of its own transformation. Southern Ohio, as a part of the heartland of America, has weathered many struggles but has not only survived, but now appears to be thriving. Rural America has been slowly recreating itself, and is now part of a new American manufacturing renaissance, still in its infancy.

I have won several writing awards, including one for a chapter in this memoir out of about 4,000 worldwide entries, sponsored by Writers Digest Magazine. My techno-thriller, A Divine Wind, published in 2021, is available on Amazon and has had many 5-star reviews.

As we celebrate our country's 250th anniversary, what then is the status of this Southern Ohio Appalachian region, lying deep within the heartland of America? What can we tell our children and our children's children; what is the essence of what we strove for, what we loved and longed for? This too, lies within the heart of my memoir.

Respectfully yours,

Norman M. Jacobs, MD, MS
normani007@yahoo.com • 740-464-5143