This book is a fascinating look at the family that created the Ruby Tuesday/Blackberry restaurant chain and inn. I found this book especially interesting as I spent my college years at the University of Tennessee during the opening of the first Ruby Tuesday on the "strip" where it became a much loved gathering place for students and community alike. I also have spent my life just a few miles from the Blackberry Farm Inn and the more recent Blackberry Mountain owned by the family. There is no doubt that hard work and culinary and hospitality know how and talent figured into the restaurant and inn's success. This book gives a glimpse of the hardships both personally and professionally of this locally renowned couple that caters to the rich and famous. This is a story of triumph and tragedy of a well to do East Tennessee family.. Anyone reading the book will be struck by the courage, faith and marital journey of the Beall family, particularly Kreis Beall the author and multifaceted and creative mind that collaborated on the Ruby Tuesday restaurant, the Blackberry farm Inn and the new Blackberry Mountain. The rich history of the area and the Blackberry portion of the story prior to the Beall ownership is not a part of this book. The Beall's owe their success in part to the beauty of the area and the preexistence of the Inn in a remote and impoverished part of the county. It is understandable in this book as it is a personal story that is primarily about the Bealls. For all those that read this book I would encourage you to look further at the area and its history and interrelationship with this fascinating family. If you visit the area you will understand the reason the Cherokee referred to it as "The Great Blue Hills of God".
- Christy Martin