Description

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Walking The Wrong Way Home takes you inside the extraordinary lives of ordinary people. Where hidden secrets are brought to light and burned with past regrets in brush piles in the mountains of East Tennessee or used to set fire to the mass produced tall and skinnies taking over East Nashville. Between the pages you'll meet Penny, an eighty-seven year old widow who sleeps in her red shoes, Jimmy, a quiet auto mechanic whose memories are never silent, Jewel a young girl who sees beauty everywhere, even though she's lost almost everything, and Willie, a thirteen-year-old who faces his worst fears only to find out that the truth is scarier than any haint or ghost story he's ever imagined. There's Elma and Roy, a couple who've been married for over forty years. Elma realizes on her sixty-third birthday that it's not too late to live her life, but it takes Roy two weeks to notice. Spanning nearly twenty decades, the struggles and victories these characters face are timeless as they all work towards the same goal. A place to feel safe, a place to call home.

About the Author

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Mandy Haynes has spent hours on barstools, various backstage venues, and riding in vans listening to outrageous tales from some of the best songwriters and storytellers in Nashville, Tennessee. She now lives in Fernandina Beach, Florida with her three dogs, one turtle, and a grateful liver. Walking the Wrong Way Home is her first publication and was a finalist for the 2017 Tartt Fiction Award.

Praise For…

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“Mandy Haynes has storytelling in her bones. If you’ve ever driven down a country road at night, seen a lone light in a distant farmhouse, and wondered what life is like for the people in that room—Mandy Haynes knows. Her stories give voice to the humor, sorrow, and sometimes even horror in the lives of people in the small towns and down the dirt roads of the South.” Wayne Wood, author of Watching the Wheels: Cheap irony, righteous indignation and semi- enlightened opinion

“It may be fiction but it’s all true. Mandy writes razor- sharp, down-to-the bone southern tales about total strangers that you have known all your whole life. They jump off the page and grab you by the heart and they hang on long after the words have stopped. She knows us better than we know ourselves. This is the good stuff.” Mike Henderson, singer/songwriter, musician

“Mandy Haynes has an amazing voice that reaches right into your gut. A talent like this is rare, and I look forward to seeing more from her soon.” Nadia Bruce- Rawlings, Author of Scars

“Words and sentences are like music; the rhythms and the cadences wrap around you and pull you along. Mandy’s work also like a heavy blanket on a good night’s sleep. You don’t want to end - the story or the sleep either one.” Tommy Womack, singer-songwriter and author of Dust Bunnies, a memoir, Cheese Chronicles: The True Story of a Rock n Roll Band You’ve Never Heard Of, and the Lavender Boys and Elsie


“Mandy Haynes is a no-nonsense writer who cuts straight through to the core of what life is about with every character she creates. Each story is filled with an honest, raw, and beautiful dance that spotlights everyday people. Such a treat to read.” Chuck Beard, freelance writer, editor, and author, owner of East Side Story


“Mandy Haynes doesn’t write stories, she creates universes. From her mind comes people who inspire and infuriate and inform. They’ll make you ache and smile and sigh, all at the same time.” Peter Cooper, author of Johnny’s Cash and Charlie’s Pride: Lasting Legends and Untold Adventures in Country Music