I thoroughly enjoyed The Road To Bittersweet. This book is well written with a great plot and well developed characters. Historical fiction is not my favorite and I was surprised that I enjoyed this one so much. I highly recommend this book.

Before the Stamper family's idyllic Appalachian home and all their worldly possessions are destroyed in the historic floods of 1940, Momma and Papa are young and in love. Gorgeous sister Laci was a musical genius born void of voice and emotion, two years prior to 14-yr old narrator Wallis Ann; their much younger brother Seph is a joy to all. The Road to Bittersweet is a sentimental look at the risks and effects of burdens that parents put on their sturdiest children, and a warning about the psychological effects of guilt. Everhart has a way with southern cadence, and I really appreciate her eye for historical detail.

However, her timeline was seriously skewed; a third of the way in to the story, after the family reunited and experienced their first tragedy, the coldest air of the year settled around Wallis. That weather was so persistent I was rendered stupefied - it lasted for half the book. Meanwhile they practically starve, spend a few weeks at an inhospitable relative's home, wander from town to town singing for loose change until finally joining a traveling circus that requires more suspension of disbelief as it fails to travel.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. A page turner for me from the beginning!

A riveting piece of southern historical fiction! I love stories of Appalachia and the south in general. This is a story of hardship and survival through the eyes of Wallis Stamper. This is somewhat of a coming of age story as well. I loved the author's writing style which puts you in the setting and nailed the language of Appalachia.

Wallis Stamper and her family were caught in the flood of the Tuckasegee river near Cashiers, North Carolina in 1940 when a dam broke after torrential rains. The flooding was devastating and the Stamper family lost everything. Fourteen-year-old Wallis and her parents, her sixteen-year-old sister Laci (a mute savant, who can play any musical instrument), and her three-year-old brother Seph survive the flood but have to start over with nothing - nowhere to sleep, nothing to eat, no change of clothes, and no money - nothing at all.

Wallis is a very strong character who seems much older than her years. She has a lot of courage and determination and shoulders much responsibility.

Thanks to Donna Everhart and Kensington Books through Netgalley for an advance copy of this novel.

The Road to Bittersweet is about Wallis Ann Stamper and her family living in the mountains of North Carolina. A flood rolls through the town and they escape their home with the clothes on their backs. It is a beautifully written book about family, love, and hope. The descriptions in the book make you feel like you are part of the story. You can picture everything the author writes. I read this book in one sitting as I couldn't put it down. I loved Wallis and her family. Wallis is 14 and the strong one of the family. Laci who is 16 is mute but can play any instrument and any song she hears one time. LIttle Seph and all his energy! Their Mom and Dad even after losing their home still have hope. I received an ARC from NetGalley and Kensington Books. All opinions are my own.

Wallis Ann Stamper is just an ordinary girl. She lives at Stampers Creek with her Momma, Papa, Sister Laci and little brother Seph, money was tight but they had everything they wanted. They lived a peaceful life until the day the Creek broke it's banks and they were swept away in their car.

Wallis Ann's Momma relies a lot on her, Laci was born mute and little Seph is only three so much of the outside work helping her Papa is left to Wallis Ann along with helping her Momma too.

They are a good Church going family and have the lovely ability of singing in Church, even though Laci can't talk it was discovered one day that she can play musical instruments, just hearing a tune once and mastering it immediately.

When tragedy struck, the Stampers found themselves near to starvation and with nowhere to live they went on the road trying to stay alive by singing for money. After a chance meeting with a young man, Wallis Ann and her family joined up with a travelling Circus and found they finally had food in their bellies and some money to start building a life again but more heartbreak was in store for the Stamper family and with Momma now at breaking point and the family breaking apart, Wallis Ann can't help but blame herself for what had occurred because of her jealousy.

This book was very easy to read, the story flowed really well and I would definitely read more by this Author.

Thanks to Netgalley and Kensington Books for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Set in the Appalachian Mountains in 1940, we find the Stamper family. Times are hard, but soon enough they will be even more difficult. Wallis Ann Stamper, 14 years old, takes full responsibility of her older sister Laci who was born mute and is what the doctor called a "savant." Not able to express herself verbally, she does so through music, having the ability to listen to a song or piece of music and then playing it on her fiddle, or whatever instrument is available. Their home destroyed after a horrific storm and waters breaking free from a damn, the Stampers have no choice but to leave. There is tragedy as they lose their youngest child, a little boy of three. Leaving behind the only home Wallis Ann knew and loved, the family travel thru country roads and do what they can to earn some money. They are a singing group, singing in small towns to earn a few coins. Eventually they come upon a Traveling Show and luckily get hired. But it is Wallis Ann who looks after her sister, who has the weight of that responsibility on her young shoulders. She is strong, resilient and helps take the lead in bringing the family together. Yet there is a vulnerability about her, in spite of that strength..

I was so emotionally invested in this story of hardship, family love and above all what it takes to keep the faith. This story held me from the first page through to the last. I could almost see the family, hear them talking watching them from afar. We watch as Wallis Ann matures, we listen as we hear the family's conversation and learn from their wisdom. With each page, with each set back, we will them to survive, we root for them and cheer them on!

This is the first story written by Donna Everhart I have read and I only hope there will be more. I know I will read this book again and I have to believe it will be one of the best books out in 2018. Thanks to NetGalley for the privilege of reading this novel in exchange for an honest review.

A picture of a casually sweet, demurely seated young girl in a crisp, white sundress adorns the cover, her legs crossed at her ankles, her feet bare and almost tucked into the grass beneath, delicately holding something between her hands which seems to be almost imperceptibly, the bare old wood porch lending an air of hardship to their humble home. Off to the side are the words: ”It takes courage to find your way…”

That certainly holds true in this story.

The Year is 1940; the Stamper family lives in Stampers Creek, their creek off the Tuckasegee River near Cashiers, North Carolina. Wallis Ann is fourteen, two years younger than her sister Laci, who does not speak, has never spoken, but has the ability to play music after hearing it only once or twice, on a variety of instruments: piano, fiddle, banjo, Mountain dulcimer.

”Only the music truly speaks to her.”

Seph is the youngest at three. As a family, they sometimes perform locally; the girls wearing their feed sack dresses, and sometimes receive tokens of thanks in exchange for the gift they bring to others. A simple life, a life that suits them fairly well.

And then the rains came.

Hold back the river, let me look in your eyes
Hold back the river, so I
Can stop for a minute and see where you hide
Hold back the river, hold back.
--- Songwriters: Iain Archer / James Bay

They grab what they can, trying to get away in their truck while they still are able. The water keeps rising, and the driving gets more treacherous. Eventually, the waters take control of the car, pushing it along, as Wallis Ann’s family struggle to get to the highest point of the truck, Wallis Ann is swept away, eventually grabbing onto a sturdy enough tree branch, and finds a place to hold onto something solid, unmoving. She holds on long enough to see the waters subside, climbing down to the mucky surface.

Tried to keep you close to me
But life got in between
Tried to square not being there
But think that I should have been.
--- Songwriters: Iain Archer / James Bay

Finding her way back home through sheer determination, a need to reunite with her family, and the kindness of strangers, she heads back to what remains of their home, their barn, and tries to work on, rebuild, what she can.

Lonely water, lonely water, won't you let us wander
Let us hold each other
Lonely water, lonely water, won't you let us wander
Let us hold each other
--- Songwriters: Iain Archer / James Bay

Rebuilding begins to seem like an insurmountable task, even after time passes and her mother and father and sister Laci return, there are no tools, not enough food, and winter is coming on. And so, once more, they are forced to leave their home, this time in the hopes of finding salvation somewhere.

There is an aspect of this that will be seen primarily as a coming of age story, but in truth Wallis Ann seems as though she was born an adult, and has certainly seems to have carried the weight of an adult in her household. There are some momentary glimpses of her more innocent, youthful side especially when it comes to more adult ways outside her ken, but there is the larger side of her that seems to take on responsibility for things beyond her control.

I read, and really enjoyed, Donna Everhart’s ”The Education of Dixie Dupree” so I was really looking forward to reading her soon-to-be released ”The Road to Bittersweet” and I was not disappointed. They are very different stories, but this has a strong, young heroine that will surely grab hold of your heart and have you rooting for her to not only find safety, but acceptance and love.


Pub Date: 26 December 2017

Many thanks for the ARC provided by Kensington Books

"It takes courage to find your way." Oh Wallis Ann, how I adore you! At 14 our heroine is just finding her way==and she is delightful and sympathetic throughout her journey. The 1940s time period is rendered beautifully and with such specificity that I felt I was present with this memorable family. I huddled against the torrential rains right along with them! I like the pace at which the plot moves and the characters have SUCH heart and courage. Everhart's writing it top=notch and masterful. And finally the ending wraps things up in a satisfying way. A winning coming of age story for sure.

You could call this a coming of age novel and I would agree, but it's not a typical coming of age story. You could say that the ending is a little too pat, maybe even a little too predictable and I could agree with that . For me though, the important thing about this story is that I found it to be an excellent work of historical fiction.

It's 1940 in North Carolina, and the dam of the Tuckasegee river has broken with the torrential rains. Fourteen year old Wallis Ann and her family, her mother and father, her three year old brother Seph and her older sister, Laci, a savant who doesn't speak but plays music from memory and accompanies the family when they perform as a singing group on occasion, make a harrowing escape from the flood. The descriptions of the devastation are fantastic and so realistic as evidenced by the photographs I found online (link is below). I could see Wallis Ann hanging on to a tree limb , desperate to survive, thinking about the rest of her family who were torn from the truck as they attempted to escape. Wallis Ann is smart and tough and manages to stay alive , find her way back to what was left of their home and desperately waits for her family's return. Such a burden on this young girl as she helps her father try to rebuild their home, try to find food to survive, and watch over Laci. Such a heavy burden on a fourteen year old girl, the hard labor, the guilt she carries over her little brother Seph.

Rebuilding becomes impossible with no tools, and little in the way of food, so they leave and end up as a singing group in a carnival and things get complicated for Wallis Ann and her family and they return home. I don't want to say more about the plot. This is a story of a close family and their hardship and hope as they try to survive the tragic circumstances of loss from the devastation of the flood . Of course I had to do searching to find out more about these floods in NC in 1940 and there was truly devastation and loss as this story reflects . 4 stars and recommended.

Some photos of the devastation caused by this flood:
http://www.thesylvaherald.com/gallery/collection_40efecd2-d93c-5134-a766-bb5837a19846.html?mode=jqm#&ui-state=dialog

I received an advanced copy of this book from Kensington Books through Edelweiss and NetGalley.

I am always a sucker for a book where family bonds provide the strength to prevail over any obstacle, and in the end that's the strongest theme that ran through The Road to Bittersweet.

The Stampers, seen through the eyes of Wallis Ann, their middle child, are unexpectedly uprooted from their remote home. What follows is their struggle to remain together and survive in a world where they are absolutely all they have. It was a beautifully written story, and each character just jumped out from the page.

Unable to comment as book not sent.Would love the opportunity to read