Tales of a Small-Town King

Book excerpt: From an accomplished lawyer, judge, coach, and community servant comes a fast-moving tale of colorful characters in a small, blue-collar, coal mining town deep in the hills of Kentucky. Tales of a Small-Town King traces the struggles to find upward mobility in Appalachia, all while navigating the unique culture smothered by isolation, expansive poverty, drugs, crime, and political corruption. The product of a hard-working band of Greek immigrants, with mentoring from his Uncle Miklos, Takis Tsegellis rises as the town’s favorite son – hopscotching through varied career and community projects along the way – only to ultimately leave in disgrace, however, rejected by the town he spent 40 years trying to help. Now, as he returns to town to give the eulogy at his Uncle Miklos’s funeral, he must confront his unresolved love and hate for his hometown, and his ambition to topple it, all while discovering that his family and career were never the American dream he hoped them to be. He may finally reach the mountaintop he’s always sought, just not as the person he’s always been.