THE SAINTS OF SWALLOW HILL by Donna Everhart

 

Where the Crawdads Sing meets The Four Winds as award-winning author Donna Everhart's latest novel immerses readers in its unique setting--the turpentine camps and pine forests of the American South during the Great Depression--for a captivating story of friendship, survival, and three vagabonds' intersecting lives.
 
It takes courage to save yourself...

Few writers evoke the complexities of the heart and the gritty fascination of the American South as vividly as Donna Everhart, whose lyrical new novel, set against the background of the Great Depression, is a powerful story of courage, survival, and friendship...
In the dense pine forests of North Carolina, turpentiners labor, hacking into tree trunks to draw out the sticky sap that gives the Tar Heel State its nickname, and hauling the resin to stills to be refined. Among them is Rae Lynn Cobb and her husband, Warren, who run a small turpentine farm together.

Though the work is hard and often dangerous, Rae Lynn, who spent her childhood in an orphanage, is thankful for it--and for her kind if careless husband. When Warren falls victim to his own negligence, Rae Lynn undertakes a desperate act of mercy. To keep herself from jail, she disguises herself as a man named "Ray" and heads to the only place she can think of that might offer anonymity--a turpentine camp in Georgia named Swallow Hill.

Swallow Hill is no easy haven. The camp is isolated and squalid, and commissary owner Otis Riddle takes out his frustrations on his browbeaten wife, Cornelia. Although Rae Lynn works tirelessly, she becomes a target for Crow, the ever-watchful woods rider who checks each laborer's tally. Delwood Reese, who's come to Swallow Hill hoping for his own redemption, offers "Ray" a small measure of protection, and is determined to improve their conditions. As Rae Lynn forges a deeper friendship with both Del and Cornelia, she begins to envision a path out of the camp. But she will have to come to terms with her past, with all its pain and beauty, before she can open herself to a new life and seize the chance to begin again.

MY THOUGHTS

This book is another hit by Donna Everhart that will take your heart and soul on a ride you won't soon forget. The things that happened back during the depression and the people who worked the turpentine camps. What they endured. How things were done. How the whites and blacks were treated differently. How unfair life was to hard working people. 

This story is about two broken souls. Del, who was a womanizer who's luck ran out. He got caught with his pants down. What happened next was not pretty. Even reading it gave me chills. I do believe Del's out of body experience. That is completely possible. I've experienced that one myself. As a very young teen. It's a protection of sorts. He was forced in a way to run and seek employment in a turpentine camp. You start out in debt there but if you work hard you might, or might not, be able to get ahead. The things that Del dealt with were horrible. From the hard work to being put in the box. The box was a place where most never came out alive. Just big enough for one person to lay and suffer. Hot and dark. Smelly. The smells of the ones who were there before. 

Then we have Rae Lynn. Rae Lynn was married to a man who was very good to her. He took her from an orphanage and married her. They fell in love and he had a turpentine business that they worked. It was almost impossible for him to have any help besides Rae Lynn because he was so clumsy and people tended to get hurt that worked for him. He was also very stubborn it seems. He took a fall and would not allow Rae Lynn to fetch the doctor. He suffered such horrible pain. What happened after was another hard to read part. I felt so bad for Rae Lynn. I felt bad for her husband, Warren, also. But what Rae Lynn went through after was really sad. She left her home and disguised herself as a man to get a job at a turpentine camp. She had no idea how her life was about to change.

Del and Rae Lynn are both very broken people. Two people who deserve to be happy. The odds are stacked against them but they fight back. They work hard and finally find a way to be happy again. Together?? You'll have to read it to find that one out. They make lifelong friends and experience things that are so hard. But they are both resilient and have a will to succeed. To prevail against all odds. To have a family. To be happy. To overcome things from their pasts. Each has a story and they are good ones. 

This book is a very emotional and enduring one. It will keep you wanting to read. It will hold your interest all the way through. Very well written. Very captivating. Makes you feel things. Experience things. You will feel like you are in this camp. In the swamp with the deadly snakes. In the box. In their lives. This book is so good. 

Thank you to #NetGalley, #DonnaEverhart, #KensingtonBooks for this ARC. This is my own true thoughts about this book.

5/5 stars and a very high recommendation. Read it. Have plenty of kleenex. It's that good!