# 10 CLAY’S QUILT
| Author : | Silas House LILY, KY |
| Artist : | Trish Prewitt LEXINGTON, KY |
| Sponsor : | Mayor’s Office |
Silas House (1971): Clay’s Quilt
Laurel County, Ky., native Silas House is the bestselling author of six novels: Clay’s Quilt (2001), A Parchment of Leaves (2003), The Coal Tattoo (2005), Eli the Good (2009), The Same Sun Here (2012), and Southernmost (2018). In addition, he has published one nonfiction book and three plays. His first novel, Clay’s Quilt, is set in the hills of Kentucky and has as its central character a young coal miner, Clay Sizemore, who is surrounded by a patchwork quilt of family, friends, and love interests. These disparate characters include his big-hearted, God-fearing Aunt Easter, his beautiful cousin Dreama, his best friend Cake, his love interest Alma, and his mother whom he discovers has had a troubled history. This is a novel about how the roots of place and family become an essential part of one’s identity.
Trish Prewitt:
BOOKBENCHESLEX.ORG
I’ve wanted to read a book by Silas House for a while, and I chose Clay’s Quilt. I was confident a story about rural Kentucky and possibly quilts, would offer much to work with. The novel was packed with imagery but the strongest visual for me was a winter sky with bare trees and red birds. The problem was to combine that with a section of a quilt. A friend suggested origami birds which connected the two ideas. Trish Prewitt lives and makes art in Lexington, Ky.