Author Todd Johnson Shares His Book, The Sweet By and By
On North Carolina Bookwatch, Sunday, July 19, at 5 PM

Among the longleaf pines and family farms of eastern North Carolina, days pass without incident for The Sweet By and By’s Margaret Clayton and Bernice Stokes until they discover each other in a friendship that will take them on the most important journey of their lives. Margaret, droll and whip smart, has a will of iron that never fails her even when her body does, while Bernice, an avid country music fan, is rarely lucid. Irreverent and brazen at every turn, they make a formidable pair at the home where they live, breaking all the rules and ultimately changing the lives of those around them. Lorraine, their churchgoing, God-questioning nurse, both protects and provokes them under a watchful eye, while her daughter April, bright and ambitious, determinedly makes her way through medical school. Rounding out the group of unlikely and often outrageous friends is Rhonda, the beer-swilling beautician who does the ladies’ hair on her day off and whose sassy talk hides a vulnerable heart, one that finally opens to love.

In an all-new episode of UNC-TV’s local literary series North Carolina Bookwatch with D.G. Martin, premiering Sunday, July 19, at 5 PM, The Sweet By and By author Todd Johnson shares more on these rich with irresistible characters whose uniquely musical voices overflow the book’s pages—all from the unlikely setting of a southern nursing home— and become a testament to the truth that the most vibrant lives are not necessarily the most visible ones.

“Once you invest in the lives of these women, these unlikely group of friends, the nursing home setting fades away and becomes landscape, rather than the essence of the book,” says Johnson. 

Weaving this tightly knit and compelling novel in alternating chapters, each woman gets to tell her story her own way, as all five learn to reconcile troubled pasts, find forgiveness, choose hope, and relish in the joy of life.

“What I remember from my childhood in North Carolina were the family reunions…I remember the women and the cacophony of voices as they were laying that mile-long table, doing everything from telling jokes, to telling secrets, to reprimanding one another,” says Johnson. “Those voices are the ones that inhabit this novel.”

Todd Johnson grew up in Charlotte, NC, the great-grandson of a rural Baptist preacher. After graduating from UNC-Chapel Hill with honors in history and receiving his master's degree from Yale Divinity School, Todd moved to New York City to pursue a career as a musician. He has performed with a long roster of major artists, including Garth Brooks, Celine Dion, Tony Bennett, Marc Anthony, Barry Manilow, Al Jarreau, Michael Bolton, Sarah Brightman and Natalie Cole. Todd also decided to give himself to his longstanding passion for theatre. In 2006, he received a Tony Award nomination as a producer of The Color Purple on Broadway. A longtime resident of Manhattan’s Upper West Side, Todd recently moved to a 250-year-old house in Litchfield County, Connecticut, where it has come in very handy that he’s an Eagle Scout. When he’s not working on his next book, he rides horses and tries to keep the garden under control.

Don’t miss DG Martin’s all-new interview with Todd Johnson on North Carolina Bookwatch, Sunday, July 19, at 5 PM, only on UNC-TV!

During the 26-week season of North Carolina Bookwatch, guests will also include:  John Shelton Reed and Dale Volberg Reed (Holy Smoke), Justin Catanoso (My Cousin the Saint), Michael Walden (North Carolina in the Connected Age), Barbara Fredrickson (Positivity), Michael Davis (Street Gang), Dan Ariely (Predictably Irrational), Howard Lee (The Courage to Lead), Marianne Gingher (Adventures in Pen Land), and Dan Barefoot (Hark the Sound of Tar Heel Voices).

For additional information about series guests and airdates, plus links to the Bookwatch blog and online book club, please visit: www.unctv.org/ncbookwatch.

Funding for North Carolina Bookwatch is provided by UNC-TV members and by Quail Ridge Books and Music, Raleigh’s independent, full service bookstore, bringing readers and writers together since 1984.

North Carolina Bookwatch is part of UNC-TV’s ongoing commitment to produce programs for and about North Carolina. UNC-TV is the statewide 11-station broadcast network of the University of North Carolina. For more information, please visit www.unctv.org/ncbookwatch.

For more information about North Carolina Bookwatch and UNC-TV’s other original productions, please visit our website at www.unctv.org.