In Michael Malone's new book, "The Four Corners of the Sky," readers meet 7-year-old Annie, who, after years of accompanying her con artist father on his exploits, is left on the family's North Carolina farm.

Years later, everything changes for Annie, now a top Navy jet pilot, when her father calls to say he is dying and needs her to fly to St. Louis to bring him the airplane he gave her the day he left. If she does, he will give her the one thing she always wanted -- the name of the mother she's never known.

In an all-new episode of UNC-TV's local literary series, "North Carolina Bookwatch with D.G. Martin," premiering Sunday, Oct. 11, at 5 p.m., Malone shares his novel of love, sacrifice and the inexplicable bonds that hold families together.

Michael Malone is a novelist as well as the author of short stories, works of nonfiction, several plays and daytime television dramas. He was born in the Piedmont region of North Carolina and his distinctive Southern voice permeates his books, which he describes as "centered in the comedy of the shared communion among very diverse groups of people who are bound together by place and the past."

Malone is the recipient of the O. Henry Award for "Fast Love," the Edgar for "Red Clay" and an Emmy as head writer of ABC-TV's "One Life to Live." He lives in Hillsborough with his wife, Maureen, whom he met while they were working toward their doctoral degrees at Harvard University.

For additional information about series guests and airdates, plus links to the Bookwatch on Facebook, visit the Web site 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.