Mary J. Messer, author of the Haywood County based memoir, Moonshiner’s Daughter, will hold the kick-off launch for her newly published book from 10 a.m to 1 p.m. Saturday, July 17, in front of the historic courthouse in Waynesville

Messer’s memoir is now available at the Bargain Book Store, 1032 Mauney Cove Road in Waynesville.

“It has been several years since I first sat down and hand wrote my memories of growing up ‘dirt’ poor in Haywood County in the ‘40s and ‘50s,” said Messer. “I hope the struggles I share in Moonshiner’s Daughter will help others who were abused or witnessed domestic violence as children to heal and see that there is a way out.”

Moonshiner’s Daughter is Messer’s early life story of a young girl raised in some of the most remote, backwoods parts of Haywood County.

Her father, an ardent moonshiner when he wasn’t in prison, and her mother, often showing mental illness from an earlier brain injury, raised their four children in some of the grimmest circumstances imaginable.

Messer is donating a portion of each book sold to REACH of Haywood to assist them with their mission of helping survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and elder abuse as well as educating teenagers and the public in ways to avoid intimate partner violence.

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., 828.452.2539 or www.moonshinersdaughter.com.