Historical Fiction: 'You Don't Have to Tell Everything You Know'

Novel set in post-Reconstruction South peels back the layers of a life

Isamar Woods Jones, known to all as “Icie,” often quotes her wise and blunt mother. One of her sayings was, “You don’t have to tell everything you know.” Another one was, “Idle curiosity is the Devil’s garden.” Born right after the Civil War to this practical South Carolina farm wife and her veteran husband (who was also known for making a fine coffin),…