“Sitting there, I had a strange otherworldly feeling. It was as if, in crossing the mountains with Mr. Pentland, I had crossed into another time, another century, back to the days of the American frontier. Was I still Christy Rudd Huddleston from Asheville, North Carolina—or was this somebody else?”

While the novel is part of the genre of Christian historical fiction, it shares similarities with several sub-genres, such as missionary memoirs and coming-of-age novels. In this quote, both of those parallels are at play, with Christy’s awareness of crossing into a different time and culture bearing echoes of missionary literature, and her questions about her own identity mirroring the concerns of coming-of-age stories.

“There must be more to life than that. Or is there—for a woman? What was I born for, after all? I have to know. If I stayed at home going the round of the same parties, I don’t think I ever would know.”

This is one of Christy’s reflections on her old life in the social circles of Asheville. Again, there are connections here between this novel and a coming-of-age story, driven in part by questions of identity and purpose. This quote also highlights the theme of The Role and Status of Women in Mountain Society, which Christy wrestles with not only regarding the mountain women but also herself.

“One of our tasks here is to show folks a God who wants to give them joy. How they need joy! They have such hard lives.”

This quote is from Miss Alice, as she introduces Christy to the work of the mission. This quote shows Miss Alice’s characteristic compassion, as well as her theological emphasis on the love and goodness of God. The mountain people have been trained by their traditions to hold God in fearful awe but struggle to imagine a God of love who wants them to be happy.