The book starts off in 1930 in an asylum for the insane. The lawyer, who helped defend a husband who was accused of murdering his wife back in 1897, has been institutionalized for attempting suicide. He begins his tale of the case to his doctor. Through him and others that were part of the case, we see what happens in 1897. The murdered daughter's mother tells the story of how Zona lead her life before she met her husband, how she met her husband, and the little bit of life she had after their marriage.
Her mother claims that Zona's ghost came to her to tell her that her husband murdered her. So the mother decides to get the law involved. For some reason, I think they didn't believe in her ghost story as much as they thought the husband was acting strangely. So Zona's body is exhumed. The autopsy proved she had been murdered. And so thus begins the trial of the Greenbriar ghost.

I enjoyed this book. Sharyn McCrumb's writing style is what I call Southern Gothic. While I know this is based on a true story, I myself don't believe in ghosts. I do find old ghost stories fascinating, though.

Love is a form of madness in one woman's search for justice.

An account of actual events in Greenbrier County in 1897 told in a poetic prose of a mother Mary Jane and the killer's defense attorney James P Gardner years later. The narration goes back and forth in time with the mother's relationship with her daughter Zona. A beautiful girl full of spunk and determination. Zona falls fast and hard for Trout Shue a blacksmith who has been married before. Mary Jane is not ignorant of her daughter's misgivings however, she feels that something is amiss months later after the wedding. When her daughter is discovered dead, she knows that Zona's husband is to blame. With great courage, Mary Jane goes to the prosecutor with a tale of the Ghost of her daughter that she was murdered and did not suffer an accident but a violent death in the hands of her husband.



Gardner is assigned to Trout's case and years later relives the tale in the Asylum under the care of Dr. James Boozer. The narrations give different perspectives of the culture on race and justice. It is a haunting tale of a mother's grief and Gardner's part of the defense of Shue. Retelling his part, you question whether he has regrets in the process of justice.

A different historical fiction with intrigue and the stories of the past forgotten but given new life. I was totally engaged.

A Special Thank You to Atria Books and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review.

I just haven't had time to read this but I have read other books by her. Will read it later.

I have long admired several of Sharyn McCrumb’s “ballad series” mysteries, novels based upon old Appalachian ballads, some of which have a chilling supernatural element. I thought that The Unquiet Grave might be one of these, but instead it is more closely related to her The Ballad of Tom Dooley, which I thought had severe flaws.

The Unquiet Grave, like The Ballad of Tom Dooley, is about a true crime, in which Edward Shue was accused of murdering his wife, Zona, in 1897. The story of this incident, narrated by Zona’s mother, Mary Jane Heaster, alternates with the narrative by attorney James P. D. Gardner, the resident in 1930 of a mental asylum. How these stories are connected isn’t explained until about halfway through the novel.

It is when Gardner starts telling his doctor about the case that the story began to lose me. For almost immediately, he maunders off into long stories about his boss at the time of the trial, Shue’s defending attorney, Dr. Rucker. I am sure that McCrumb’s intention, both in this novel and in Tom Dooley, is to tell colorful stories about the region, but the fault in both of these novels is that she gets readers interested in one story only to invoke the wandering memories of some old man, going off in twenty different directions.

I did not have the patience for this, so I gave Gardner’s section about 20 pages of time to get back on the subject. When he didn’t, having read more than half the book, I quit reading. I sympathize with what McCrumb is trying to do, trying to invoke the story-telling of an old man who knows a lot of local history, but she lost me twice using this same technique. I think she needs to find a better angle into these true stories of West Virginia.

The Unquiet Grave by Sharyn McCrumb
Atria Books: 9/12/17
eBook review copy; 368 pages
ISBN-13: 9781476772875

The Unquiet Grave by Sharyn McCrumb is a highly recommended historical fiction novel set in nineteenth-century West Virginia. The novel is based on the true story of the Greenbrier Ghost.

In 1930 after a failed suicide attempt, attorney James P. D. Gardner is in a segregated insane asylum located in Lakin, West Virginia. He begins a conversation with Dr. James Boozer, a young doctor who wants to try the new cure for insanity which involves talking to his patients. Dr. Boozer encourages his elderly patient to talk about his experiences as the first black attorney when he started practicing. Gardner discusses his most memorable case, a case based on the testimony of a ghost, the infamous Greenbrier Ghost.

In 1897 Erasmus Trout Shue, a white man who was a blacksmith, was on trial in Greenbrier, West Virginia, for killing his bride, Zona Heaster. After they were married and Zona's mother, Mary Jane Heaster hadn't heard anything from her daughter, she finds out Zona has died. Mary Jane is sure her new husband had a hand in Zona's death and prays for a sign, which she receives. Then she tells the county prosecutor that Zona’s ghost has appeared to her several times, saying that she had been murdered. An exhumation and autopsy, ordered by the prosecutor, confirms her claim. At that time, Gardner was apprenticed to barrister William Rucker and acted as second chair in the defense of Shue at his murder trial.

The premise of The Unquiet Grave is intriguing and clearly there was a lot of research that went into incorporating the legend of the Greenbrier Ghost in the story. The quality of the writing is excellent and the characters are well developed. What made the narrative suffer was the interview sections between the doctor and Gardiner in the 1930s, which, while they clearly perform a purpose in the novel, they also slow it down and become, well, a bit boring, especially in comparison to Mrs. Heaster's story. I found myself pushing my way through those chapters to get to the other chapters, which I found more interesting. It should also be noted that the humor McCrumb has in her other books is absent here.

The novel does have some interesting historical insights into Gardner's struggles as a black lawyer in the south and his experience in a segregated asylum in the 1930's. Also Mrs. Heaster's fight for justice for Zona is truly a fight against a justice system controlled by men.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Atria Books.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2017/09/the-unquiet-grave.html
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2120193318
https://www.librarything.com/work/19375611/book/145908984
B&N and Amazon

My love for Sharyn McCrumb—or at least her early works—battles with my dislike for historical fiction, or in this case a necessarily fictionalized version of a true legend, the story of the Greenbrier Ghost.
There’s very little here about the actual murder trial. Of course it would be pretty dry if it was just an account of the case, but this story blossoms into over 350 pages of background on the family of the murder victim as well as one of the defense attorneys, with him telling the story many years later as he’s sitting in a psychiatric facility, encouraged by his doctor to talk about what it was like being the first black lawyer in West Virginia. The two distinct storylines made it hard for me to remember one while reading the other; the book goes to exactly the halfway mark before the two threads tie together.
At one point I thought, “So many hints about how bad Zona’s husband is; wish she’d get on with it.” So yes, I’m a jinx.
This is the kind of brilliance she can bring: “The time between their first setting eyes on one another and their wedding day was both too long and too short, depending on how you looked at it.” But the dazzling nuggets of prose are too few amongst long dull descriptions. Yes, I fully admit I’m looking at this through the kaleidoscope that was her early humorous work, but even when compared to her Appalachian series this was still a more difficult read than it needed to be.

Sharyn McCrumb is a long-time favorite author of mine. Her ballad books are food for my literary soul, with her hauntingly beautiful tales of the Appalachian Mountains folklore. This time she’s veered away from those ballads with a historical novel based upon a true incident. There actually was a murder trial where the accused, Erasmus Trout Shue, was brought to trial for the murder of his wife, Zona Heaster Shue, based on the testimony of his deceased wife. Zona’s mother attests to the fact that her deceased daughter appeared to her and told her how she was murdered, an autopsy was ordered and Trout Shue was brought to trial. The murder took place in 1897.

The author has done a marvelous job of pulling out the facts from all of the folklore surrounding this murder. She researched census records, birth and death certificates, property records, maps and photographs and a long paper trail. She brings these people back to life and I was completely captivated by their story. The author lets her story be told alternately by Zona’s mother, Mary Jane Heaster, and by Shue’s attorney, James P.D. Gardner. Interestingly, Gardner tells his part of the story to a psychiatrist while he’s confined to a mental hospital in 1930. Gardner was the first black attorney to practice law in the State of Virginia and this is his most memorable case.

I would have given this fascinating account of such a very unusual trial 5 stars except for the quite lengthy examination of the checkered career of the lead prosecutor, W.P. Rucker. While I can certainly understand why the author wanted to include this since it’s of historic interest, that part dragged a bit for me. My main interest in the book was the mother’s quest for justice for her beloved daughter’s murder. I felt such empathy for her as she struggled with her fears for her daughter as she entered this obviously unstable marriage and her grief when her daughter’s life was so brutally ended.

Recommended.

Zona Heaster is a beautiful redhead who wants more out of life than the mountains of West Virginia can offer her in 1897. After secretly bearing a child out of wedlock, she takes up with a 35-year-old blacksmith whose good looks and easy charm are impossible to resist. Their whirlwind courtship doesn’t last long, however, and within months of their wedding Zona is found dead. Everyone but Zona’s mother accepts her death as a tragic accident and the funeral would likely have marked the end of her story—if her ghost hadn’t insisted on bringing her husband to trial.

James P.D. Gardner is the first black attorney to practice law in West Virginia. He also happens to be involuntarily committed to a segregated insane asylum after a failed suicide attempt. More than three decades after Gardner helped defend Zona’s husband, a young doctor convinces him to try the new “talking cure.” Over the course of his stay at the asylum, Gardner recounts the events surrounding the blacksmith’s trial and grapples with his own problems.

Told in alternating POV’s between Gardner and Zona’s mother Mary Jane, "The Unquiet Grave" is a well-researched novel that resurrects a fascinating historical tale. In a sense, this book is more true crime than fiction because the events Sharyn McCrumb writes about are not invented and many of the smallest details are based on official documents. Beginning with an entry in a folklore book that was less than two pages long, McCrumb set out to uncover the facts behind the Greenbrier Ghost legend and she succeeded. Her novel gives a clear picture not only of the trial but also creates a layered depiction of West Virginia at the end of the nineteenth century. As is true of all the ballad novels, "The Unquiet Grave" is more than a mystery to be unraveled. McCrumb’s knowledge of Appalachia, as well as her feeling for the region’s land and its people, allows her to transcend genre and create works of lasting merit. She is a truly gifted writer.

I would warn readers not to enter into this book expecting the page-turning suspense of the earlier ballad novels. This novel isn’t set in Dark Hollow, Tennesee and familiar characters like Sheriff Spencer Arrowood and Nora Bonesteel don’t make an appearance. There is no mystery to solve, per se, and the pacing is slow at times, especially in Gardner’s chapters. McCrumb’s quirky brand of humor (which I love) is also absent. That said, "The Unquiet Grave" recounts a forgotten slice of history that deserves to be told. And if you haven’t read her other ballad novels, I highly recommend them.

Much thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley for providing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Voice, voice, voice; nobody writes like Sharyn McCrumb. Here her dry, dark humor combines with her expertise in Appalachian culture and above all, her deep respect for the working poor, and the result is a masterpiece of an historical mystery. Thanks to Net galley for the DRC, and to Atria for sending a hard copy galley and a finished copy of this excellent novel. However, had I paid full freight, I’d have come away happy. This book will be available to the public September 12, 2017.

Based upon the legend of the Greenbrier Ghost, our story is set in West Virginia in 1897. Zola Heaster is swept away by the handsome young blacksmith that comes to her tiny Appalachian farming community. Her story is told to us primarily in a first person narrative by her mother, Mary Jane. Magnetic physical attraction overwhelms any common sense Zona may possess—which isn’t much—so when the handsome stranger comes along, Zona tumbles:

“Zona was well nigh smirking at him—cat-in-the-cream-jug smug, she was. Well, Mr. Shue—the name fits the trade, I see—I am Miss Zona Heaster, a visitor to my cousin’s house, here. How do…Well before Edward ‘Call me Trout’ Shue came ambling along, with his possum grin and his storybook profile, we’d had trouble with Zona.”

Before we can draw breath, Zona is pregnant. It isn’t the first time, either, though the first was kept quiet, settled out of the area. As her mother wonders whether Trout will want to marry her, Zona brags,

“’He’d be lucky to have me.’
“’Well, Zona, it seems that he already has.’”

Mary Jane doesn’t like her daughter’s suitor, and a number of small but troubling things make her reluctant to see this wedding take place, even given the shotgun-wedding circumstances. We are disquieted, not by huge monstrous overt acts by Shue, but by the small hints that provide a deeper suspicion, a sense of foreboding. Part of McCrumb’s genius is in knowing when less is more.

Ultimately, Zona marries and moves away, and is little heard from. Too little. And here is the mother’s dilemma that most of us will recognize: how much should a mother pry? Will it make things better to follow our nose to the source of trouble; can we help? Or will our efforts only antagonize one or both of the newlyweds? And I love Zona’s father, the laconic Jacob who tells his wife that Zona has made the choice to marry, and she’s made the choice to stay there, so “Let her go, Mary Jane.”

But it’s a terrible mistake.

A secondary thread alternates with this one. The year is 1930; attorney James P.D. Gardner is consigned to a segregated insane asylum following a suicide attempt. His doctor is the young James Boozer, who has decided to try the new technique that involves talking to one’s patients. This device works wonderfully here because it provides Gardner the opportunity to discuss a particularly interesting case he tried many years prior, one that involved defending a white man accused of murdering his wife. The conversation flows organically, rather than as a monologue shoehorned into the prose. I am surprised at first to see McCrumb write dialogue for African-American men; I don’t think she has done this before, although I can’t swear to this.( I have been reading her work since the 90s and may have forgotten a few things along the way.) The dialogue between Gardner and Boozer is dignified and natural, and this is a relief; those that have read my reviews know that there have been others that failed in this regard. And just as the discussion starts to drone—intentional, since one of the two men yawns just at the moment I do—everything wakes up, and we learn about the trial of Trout Shue from a different vantage point.

Every aspect of this novel is done with the authority and mastery of Appalachian fiction for which McCrumb is legendary. The dialect is so resonant that I find myself using it in writing, speech, and even thought—just tiny snippets here and there—and then laughing at myself. And I cannot help wondering how much of it stewed its way into McCrumb’s own conversations while she was writing. You may find it in yours.

The result here is spellbinding, and the use of Appalachian legend, herbal medicine, and folklore make it all the more mesmerizing. Again, skill and experience tell here. How many novels have I read in which an author’s research is shoehorned in to such a degree that it hijacks the plot? Not so here. The cultural tidbits are an integral part of Mary Jane’s personality, and there’s no teasing them apart. Instead of distracting as it might in less capable hands, the folklore develops character and setting, and ultimately contributes to the plot, when Zona’s ghost returns to let Mary Jane know that she has been murdered.

This is no-can-miss fiction, strongly recommended to those with a solid command of the English language and a love of great literature.

The Unquiet Grave is a retelling of a folk story about a ghost who appeared as a witness at the trial of the man who murdered her, through her husband. The narrative is broken up, as far as the timeline and point of view, between the mother’s present in 1897 and the lawyer’s assistant in a 1930s asylum. It’s based on real life and though at times I felt impatient with the various characters involved with the trial, it’s the mother, Mary Jane, and the details of her life in West Virginia and her pursuit for justice that had me engrossed. The big story question, did she make up the part about seeing her daughter’s ghost? is not quite resolved, though her gut instincts about the murderer help to get the killer prosecuted. A truly fascinating study of domestic violence.

I’d forgotten what a powerful and compelling storyteller the author is, and I’m ready to go back to her backlist to see what I’ve missed.

review post to blog to come...

The Unquiet Grave is an interesting story with no real lasting power. I suspect it means more to those who are familiar with the folklore prior to reading the novel. Even without any prior knowledge, very little of the story is an actual surprise. Ms. McCrumb is very heavy-handed in her foreshadowing, and the modern-day obsession with true crime stories makes it all too easy to see where Zona's story is heading.

From a historical perspective, Ms. McCrumb gives readers a decent insight into the lasting tension that existed even forty years after the Civil War. She raises awareness that this was more than racial tension, although that did obviously exist. Things like someone's war record, in which campaigns they fought, for which side, all played a role in establishing someone's position in society. Set in the foothills of West Virginia, it is a side of the turn-of-the-century America most readers do not get to see.

She also paints a realistic picture of the hardships farmers in Appalachia faced. These are not the coal farmers one typically thinks of when envisioning West Virginia. These are the types of farmers who founded our country - small, family-owned, barely able to survive in the lean times, for whom frivolous things like a separate dress for a wedding is as unthinkable as it is unpractical. Understanding Zona's background makes it easier to understand why she married a man she barely knew as well as the reasons her mother did not discover her fate until it was too late.

Had the story stayed focused solely on Mary Jane, the flow would be smoother and more engaging. Unfortunately, the story splits its time between Mary Jane's search for justice and that of one of the lawyers assigned to the case. Except Gardner's story takes place forty years after the fact, so the context is wrong. Plus, we find out that he was not the head lawyer for the case. He was nothing but the associate lawyer assigned to do most of the research. His role in the novel is misleading and disappointing and more than a little confusing. Some of this is because of his lack of role in the proceedings. The rest is due to the shift not only in narrator but also in point of view. With Mary Jane, we get a first person perspective, allowed access inside her mind as she processes her life and her actions. With Gardner, it is a third-person limited point of view. We only learn his story as he tells it to his doctor. It is too distant in time and perspective to blend well with Mary Jane's sections of the novel, and they did nothing to improve my understanding or enjoyment of the story. I often found myself skimming if not skipping entire passages of Dr. Gardner's scenes in order to get past them as quickly as possible.

Much like the mode of travel Mary Jane must use to travel to see her daughter, The Unquiet Grave is a relatively slow, plodding novel. The details about Mary Jane's life and her search for clues is interesting and one of the saving graces of the story. The rest is a meandering slog through racial, socio-economic, and generational tensions that attempt to establish the setting but do more to distract and disengage. The scenes involving Gardner are disappointing and relatively meaningless in the overall context of the story. Those potential readers who already know the story of The Greenbriar Ghost may have a greater appreciation for The Unquiet Grave and Ms. McCrumb's research into the details behind the legend. As it is, I found it a tedious read with only occasional sections of historical interest.

The Unquiet Grave is another entry in Sharyn McCrumb’s long bibliography in which the author takes an Appalachian folk tale and turns the story into a novel. Here, she shows the depth and breadth of her research in telling the story of Zona Heaster Shue, the Greenbriar Ghost. This book has some very good characterization, but I feel there were missed opportunities, as well as a lot of repetitive text that needed to be edited out.

While The Unquiet Grave opens with James Gardner, an African American lawyer who defended Zona’s husband during his murder trial, the heart of this book is Mary Jane Heaster, Zona’s mother. The way she tells it, Mary Jane always knew Edward Shue was no-good. Unfortunately for her daughter, Zona was so stubborn and in love that she wouldn’t listen to a word of caution. It breaks Mary Jane’s heart when she learns that, only a few months after her wedding, Zona is dead.

Then Zona’s ghost shows up to tell Mary Jane the Edward killed her.

The novel shifts back between James and Mary Jane. From Mary Jane, we get the more emotional side of the story, one of a mother who will not rest until her daughter has justice. From James, we get the more rational side of the story, with dueling lawyers and a stack of circumstantial evidence. We also get a lot of local history from James, so much that I started to get exasperated at the way one anecdote would back into another so that we get a whole capsule biography of one of the lawyers and learn what happened in Greenbriar County, West Virginia, during the Civil War. It’s only towards the end of the novel that we get back to Edward’s trial and (maybe) find out what really happened.

McCrumb did a lot of research for The Unquiet Grave, but there are many sections where I feel she gave into the temptation to show off everything she knew whether it advanced the central story or not. If you are the kind of reader who enjoys listening to older relatives tell stories about the old days and folks they knew, perhaps you will enjoy The Unquiet Grave more than I did.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley for review consideration. It will be released 12 September 2017.

In 1930, successful attorney James P.D. Gardner is an inmate of a segregated West Virginia mental asylum following a suicide attempt. In 1897, the beautiful, reckless, and headstrong Zona Heaster defies her family and marries Edward "Trout" Shue after a whirlwind courtship. Within months, Zona is dead, and her mother, Mary Jane, a stoic West Virginia farmer's wife, is left bereft, certain that Zona's new husband is responsible for her death. When Zona's ghost begins to appear to Mary Jane, dropping hints about the circumstances around her death, Mary Jane sets out to see justice done for her daughter. As the two narratives weave in and out, the story of Zona Heaster, The Greenbriar Ghost, is slowly brought into the light.

I've read several of Sharyn McCrumb's novels and have always been impressed. McCrumb is able to take local West Virginia legends and folklore and create spellbinding mysteries. The Unquiet Grave did not disappoint. McCrumb weaves a story together from two view points: Zona's (white) mother in 1987, and James Gardner, a (black) attorney in 1930. The story incorporates the roles of race, respectability, and class during America's Guilded Age.

As usual, McCrumb vividly brings her story to life. You can almost feel the biting winds of the West Virginia Mountain winter. Her characters seem to jump off the page as fully realized people. The story is based upon "The Greenbriar Ghost" legend from the West Virginia hills, but is also painstakingly researched; every character in this book is based upon a real, historical person. This blending of history and legend is what makes McCrumb such a unique writer. In The Unquiet Grave, the supernatural and the factual twine around one another, each a part of a seamless whole.

Fans of historical mysteries should definitely be adding McCrumb's books to their to-read pile. The Unquiet Grave is a fine example of the genre, and should appeal to most readers.

An advance copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a very beautiful love story. The characters are very complex and well-written. The setting is very atmospheric, which makes the reader want to learn more. Overall, it was a nice historical ghost story. I'd recommend it for fans of Woman in Black, Miramont's Ghost, and the Curse of Jacob Tracy.

I really enjoyed this book. I will recommend it to many readers!

Times change, but men mostly don't.

James P.D. Gardner sits quietly in his darkened room in this former hotel now serving as an asylum for the insane. Although a renowned African American attorney of long standing in Lakin, West Virginia, Gardner had attempted suicide. Like the legal volumes stacked on his office shelf, life's complications carried oppressive weight and took up too much space.

Dr. James Boozer, young and inexperienced, leans in closer and encourages Gardner to participate in the "new talking cure" being turned out now in 1930. Dr. Boozer returns for brief moments day after day until Gardner begins to reveal details of a most unusual murder case in 1897 in which a man was arrested on suspicion of killing his newly wed bride.

Sharyn McCrumb presents a well-researched story based on a true crime that parallels along the lines of this Greenbrier Ghost. Locals stand fixated on the idea that some things just cannot be explained in worldly terms. McCrumb guides the reader down a fork in the road with tellings by James Gardner and with a very earthy rendition by the victim's own mother, Mary Jane Heaster. McCrumb sprinkles this with very colloquial dialogue aimed at bringing the reader into the full mix of this strange story.

Zona Heaster, young with sparks afire, meets Eliasmus Trout Shue as if by the heavy twisted hand of a cruel fate. Trout, as he is called, is a newly arrived blacksmith in this small country town in West Virginia. His handsome face is his calling card and Zona clutches it to her heart. The voice of these chapters is Mary Jane's who tells of her daughter's questionable involvement with the shifty Trout. You feel the mother's anguish as Zona and Trout announce their upcoming nuptials.

Mary Jane feels the severe disconnect as her daughter, Zona, seems to cut ties with the family immediately after the wedding. She fears for her daughter's well-being. It is only after Zona's death that Mary Jane receives "messages" from Zona herself which have been well-documented during this true trial. Although being a time ripe with Spiritualism, this mother points out directives from beyond the grave.

I was drawn in by the time period, the well-developed characters, and the leaning full-handed on the facts of this case. I must say that McCrumb does web out her storyline with so many layers of memories and recollections by James Gardner that tend to bloat out the story at times. The crucial elements of Zona's story should have laid enough texture to this pie without unnecessary crumbs in the mix. But it is exactly the reality of Zona's short life and exhumation that draws you in like a beckoning hand. Oh, now that in itself is a tad bit unsettling, fellow readers. Yowsers!

I received a copy of The Unquiet Grave through NetGalley for an honest review. My appreciation to Atria Books and to Sharyn McCrumb for the opportunity.

Thanks Atria Books and netgalley for this ARC.

You have to have patience and look for the big picture with this one. It's one of those books that wash over you in meaning when you least expect.

I love a book with a surprise ending and this book did not disappoint. Sharyn McCrumb presents historical situations in a fictional book, weaving truth, presumptions, and storytelling into a twisting tale that will educate the reader while entertaining them at the same time. While I was not familiar with the West Virginia legend of the Greenbrier Ghost, it is presented in a way that leaves me wanting to know more, to know what parts were based on truth and which ones were conjured by McCrumb. Seems so real, how could this book be fiction?

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this title. Unfortunately, I was not able to finish this book which means I will not be able to review it. I truly appreciate the opportunity and apologize for the inconvenience the lack of review may cause you.

Considering it's supposed to be somewhat of a ghost story, this book was a lot different than what I'd originally thought it was going to be like. I thought it'd be more folklore and superstition based rather than what is essentially a look at a particular place in a particular period of history, that all happens to connect to this original ghost story. That's not to say that I didn't like it (rather the opposite in fact), but it's less plot and character driven than setting driven, which lends itself well to a historical semi-fiction.

I hate calling this straight-out historical fiction, because McCrumb clearly did a lot of research before writing this novel. It follows the story of a family who lives in Greenbrier County, West Virginia, just post-civil war, and how their unlucky daughter was allegedly killed. The only made-up parts that I could tell were of the actual motivations of the characters and conversations, but as for plot points in general, it almost exactly follows the recorded history of what happened. The story is told through two different perspectives; at one point, it's told by a black lawyer who's been locked up in an asylum due to attempted suicide. He was on the defense of the husband of the woman who died, and he reflects to a doctor on what happened in that case. One the other side is Mary Jane Heaster, the mother of the woman who died. The two stories are beautifully interwoven to create a thorough look at the struggles of the area in that particular time period.

It took some time to get used to the style of narration, but I was okay after a couple of chapters, and the story overall is fascinating. I feel like I have more of a grasp of the importance of the Civil War, especially for West Virginia, and how that affected people living there at the time. The characters were complex and interesting enough to compel me to move forward in the story, though when a story follows real people who have lived, I always get a little sidetracked by thinking about what their real motivations might have been, and whether it seems plausible. I do, however, think that McCrumb does an excellent job in fleshing out characters that seem real and complex. The mystery itself I found underwhelming, which is why this book lost a star, but the way McCrumb delves into the setting and explores the time period makes up for the lost interest, and certainly sparked my intrigue and made me want to learn more about it. So, definitely read this if you're interested in the historical side of things, but if you're looking for a ghost story, this is not the book for you at all.

(Link will go live on 9/12/2017)