This Saturday, Lee Smith is going to be in our neighborhood, visiting Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill. She’ll be reading from her new book, Mrs. Darcy and the Blue-Eyed Stranger. Grab dinner and drinks from Foster’s next door and you’ve got the perfect way to spend a Saturday evening.

As a little drum roll, I’ve got some of the critical acclaim for Smith, below. These reviews are right on–her collection of short stories is smart and funny and soulful and I cannot WAIT to hear the stories read by the woman herself. (In fact, maybe I’ll have her sign a copy for my mom for Mother’s Day … not that I haven’t gotten her a present yet… )

“Smith’s character-driven tales are funny, touching, and resonant, with a quirky honesty. A southern-fried charmer!” —Family Circle

“Smith’s heroines find strength in the moments that push us all forward.” —People Magazine, four-star review

“ ‘Mrs. Darcy’ is a remarkable story, as are others in this collection that spans decades of Lee Smith’s work.” —Charlotte Observer

“With her trademark Southern charm and wicked humor, Smith draws us into the lives of people she’s about to fling off a cliff without so much as a polite “oops.” It’s all for the best, though. On the way down, they get to know parts of themselves they’ve never met before.” —Atlanta Journal-Constitution

“Lee Smith has long had a reputation as a master of the short story, and her new collection, Mrs. Darcy and the Blue-Eyed Stranger, galvanizes that reputation … Smith offers the grit of the domestic scene, the power of the written word, and the transcendent beauty of women as friends, lovers, daughters and mothers. We fall under the spell of her delicious Southern cadence, and we care for her characters, especially at the moment when one distilled event irrevocably alters everything. At the end, we are there, celebrating their strong and certain victories of the heart.” —Minneapolis Star-Tribune