An Appalachian Saga
The Leatherwood
A story of land, legacy, and the generations who shaped it.
Inspired by real places and stories from Clarion County, Pennsylvania — where Leatherwood Creek still runs through the valley.
About the Book
Some stories grow directly from the land.
The Leatherwood is an Appalachian saga rooted in the hill country of western Pennsylvania — a story carried on the breath of a creek, through fields and forests, and across generations of people who never asked to be remembered but whose lives demanded it.
Set in and around Clarion County, the novel follows the tangled lives of families bound by land, faith, and the weight of what came before. Memory here is not sentimental — it is soil. It is the creek that keeps running no matter who dies beside it. It is the particular silence of a valley that has seen too much.
At its heart, The Leatherwood asks what we inherit — not just property or name, but grief, love, and the complicated mercy of belonging somewhere completely. It is a story of faith tested and held, of community fractured and mended, of ordinary people living in ways that turn out to be anything but.
Why This Story Is Different
Not invented.
Remembered.
Rooted in a Real Place
Leatherwood Creek is not a metaphor. It is a real waterway that runs through the author's family land in Clarion County, Pennsylvania. The valley, the hills, the seasons — all of it was lived before it was written.
Built from Living Memory
The characters you will meet are drawn from local people, community stories, and generational memory. This is not a sanitized pastoral. It is the complicated, faithful, sometimes painful truth of how people lived — and how they kept living.
Now a Graphic Audiobook
The story has been brought to life as a full graphic audiobook experience — multiple voice actors, an original score, sound design, and 3 hours and 14 minutes of immersive Appalachian atmosphere. Available now on Audible.
Audiobook
Close your eyes. Step into the valley.
The Leatherwood is more than a listen — it is an experience. A full cast of voice actors breathe life into characters built from real people. An original score and layered sound design place you deep in the hollows of western Pennsylvania. Three hours and fourteen minutes of story that lingers long after it ends.
3h 14m
Runtime
Multiple
Voice Actors
Original
Score & Sound Design
Audible
Available On
Real Roots
The creek still runs.
The stories still hold.
Leatherwood Creek is a real waterway in Clarion County, Pennsylvania. It runs through forest and field, past farms and churches and the old past places the author knew growing up. The creek gives this story its name — and its spine.
Clarion County is a place most maps don’t linger on. But the people who have lived and worked and worshipped and grieved there have stories that deserve to be told. This novel is an act of witness — an attempt to honor those stories before they disappear entirely.
The places are real. The names have been changed. The truth remains.
“Some stories grow directly from the land.”
From The Story
Words that hold.
Walk in the light, baby girl, for it be castin' out all types of darkness.
— A voice from the valley
Love be one strange mystery, directly from Heaven in all its glory.
— A voice from the valley
Some stories grow directly from the land.
— A thematic line from The Leatherwood
Thematic line
Media & Press
Going deeper into the story.
Explore Clarion
Coming SoonA curated exploration of the real places, history, and landscape that shaped The Leatherwood — coming soon.
Press & Features
PlaceholderMedia coverage, interviews, and features about the book and its roots in Appalachian storytelling — to be added here.
Reader Stories
Coming SoonResponses, reflections, and community voices from readers who found their own valleys in these pages.