Alabama author among victims of deadly Lee County tornado

MONTGOMERY, AL (WSFA) - One of the victims in a deadly tornado was Alabama author Charlotte Miller, who lived and worked in Lee County.

Miller’s publisher, Montgomery-based NewSouth Books, confirmed her death. Miller’s three novels, “Behold, This Dreamer,” “Through a Glass, Darkly,” and “There is a River,” were published by NewSouth in 2000, 2001, and 2002, respectively. According to the publisher, the trilogy tells the story of Janson Sanders, a half-Cherokee, half-white yeoman farmer from the Alabama hill country, and his family through six decades of Southern life.

Editor-in-chief Randall Williams said Miller’s first book was also one of the first published by NewSouth. He said locally they were strong sellers and her stories were based in a fictionalized Randolph County during the Depression era, with strong romantic and populist themes woven throughout. Williams also said Miller grew up in Randolph County and she had a working class background that informed her writing. He called her a gifted writer who worked very hard on her books.

Miller worked as an accountant and, according to her author biography, had a son. She was 59 when she died.

Twenty-three people have died in the tornadoes that devastated Lee County.