While I enjoyed the main characters of The Saints of Swallow Hill, I felt as though it took a bit for their story to start being told because of the need for so much background information. I think it’s important to know the era and the setting, but for me, it got a bit lengthy. But, once the book got going at Swallow Hill and we got to know Del and how he handled himself in difficult situations, and Rae Lynn and her background story and lengths she went to in order to keep herself safe, and Crow, Cornelia, and Otis, I really enjoyed the book.
I do feel this author is very talented. I also really appreciate the discussion questions at the back of the book to think about the book in new ways.

In this novel, there are two stories woven together. One story is of Rae Lynn, a recent widow, who packs up and flees danger. She disguises herself as a man in order to get a job in a turpentine field. Bad luck befalls her and she must learn to protect herself from danger.

Del also runs from his past and finds a job in the Carolinas mining for turpentine. He soon gets a promotion on the job and learns that not everyone is his friend.

As the story unfolds, Rae Lynn and Del cross paths. They soon learn that they are each running from a dark past. This is a beautifully written southern historical fiction novel. Everhart has carefully developed a story about two characters that are trying to survive during the Great Depression in the South by mining for turpentine. Forgiveness is possible and change will help growth. I highly recommend this historical southern fiction book.

An interesting but slow moving, character driven story. A worthwhile read if you want to learn about a piece of US history that perhaps you know very little about. I have heard about similar types of camps in the US but turpentine camps were new to me.

3.5 stars

The Saints of Swallow Hill is a dark, moody, Depression-Era, Southern page-turner. Once I adjusted to the dialect, I was quickly invested in the lives of Del and Rae Lynn, and I adored the relationship between the female characters.
My only reservation was the morally dichotomous nature of the characters- they were either pure goodness or as nasty as they come (the malicious deeds of the nasty characters at times read as sensational). Apart from that, the plot was was enthralling and I could practically feel the humidity and mosquitoes of my home state.
This is an exciting read for those who enjoy Southern historical fiction!

The story is set during the Great Depression. Times are rough, jobs hard to come by. You really get a feel for the history and what life would have been like, back then.

Del Reese is a young man, a drifter & a ladies man. His chasing after skirts ends up in him having to look for a new place to work.

Rae Lyn Cob also finds herself in need of a job, after her husband dies. But, who will hire a woman?

They both end up working at Swallow Hill, a turpentine camp. And tbh there are some vile people working there, who make the lives of people working there even harder.

The story gets really dark at times; e.g. racism, abuse. So please do check the TW.

The Saints of Swallow Hill probably isn’t a book I’d usually pick. But I’m glad I read it, it’s really good!

Donna Everhart can pick anything from the south and write a bestseller about it. The Saints of Swallow Hill was a fantastic book about the pine tree farms that were used to make tar. Or more specifically about the workers and the exhausting and harsh conditions they were under collecting the sap from the pine trees. This was a mind-opening, thought provoking lesson about these people. I love that she has a strong female character to take us through this history lesson. Unforgettable characters in an unforgettable story. Thank you so much to #netgalley and the publisher for my requested ARC in exchange for my honest opinion of the book. #thesaintsofswallowhill #donnaeverhart

Lyrical prose and lovable, relatable characters make this a must-read for 2022. The unique setting in which tar is made is fascinating. Both evil and good (and everything in between) characters populate this rural, southern setting, causing suspense and intrigue. And the ending was immensely satisfying, making this an all-round winner. This will be a big hit with book clubs.

Let me say this: I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I was nervous that it would be disgusting and very racist at first. Don’t get me wrong - it is. But not in the way where it seems as if the author is as well. She wrote the behavior of some people that was accurate for the time and called out the horrible behavior. It was fun, it was heart wrenching how people were treated, and it was interesting. The characters felt a little one dimensional and the pacing was maybe a little off. I can definitely say one character deserved so much more than she got. But I still enjoyed it and am interested in reading more from this author.

I read this as an ARC from the publisher.

This is a slow-paced first person POV novel about people meeting at a turpentine camp in Georgia during the Great Depression. It has the feel of Steinbeck about it, though the style is completely dissimilar. This is written really simply in dialect to reflect the uneducated, and in one case, naïve, natures of the protagonists.

It’s also about poverty, social power, sexism, racism, and bullying, and if those things bother you a lot, you probably shouldn’t read this as parts of it are horrific and brutal. But you have characters you really, really care about, so that helps you get through the awful parts where the bullies are winning.

It is unflinching about the nature of racism in the South of this time and the utter exploitation by owners of poor white and black people alike. It is not somewhere you want to be, or to visit. The injustice is infuriating, when people just want to work hard and make a decent living and are not given even that.

You also learn a lot about turpentine production, right down to how to score the trees to gather sap and how the turpentine gets made in this old process. That’s really interesting.

If found Del and Rae Lynn very appealing protagonists, though you do get a bit annoyed at Rae Lynn’s naiveté, but you understand it. She gets better as the story goes along and there are many, many reasons to root for her.

And not to spoil, but the book is not completely bleak. There is a satisfying ending where things are better. But the ride is very interesting and will keep you reading along after you should probably be going to bed. I would recommend to anyone who can stomach the warnings above.

I really enjoyed my previous read by this author, [book:The Forgiving Kind|42176788], so was really looking forward to it.

I can agree with many reviewers who've said that they've learnt something new from this book — about the reasons behind North Carolina being the Tar Hell State. The amount of research that Everhart did into the naval store industry and camps behind turpentine production shows, and really adds to the book. Even knowing nothing about it, I could picture vividly what was happening.

It was very easy to get into the story, with characters that felt immediately familiar.

Much like in The Forgiving Kind, the historical setting is richly painted and easy to picture in the mind, with distinctive characters and a good sense of pacing throughout the story.

What let the book down for me, sadly, was the romance, which ended up playing a key part. When one of the romantic interests makes your skin crawl with their behaviour towards their counterpart — despite being likeable as a character in most other ways! — it ruins things slightly.

With a different outcome, it would have been a 4/5, but I've got to mark it down slightly for that. But I still recommend the book if it sounds interesting to you, because I enjoyed most of it, and was a story I could have easily stayed in for longer.

I was not aware that turpentine was harvested from mostly pine trees in North Carolina. This book described the process and how deplorable the conditions were for people doing the work. The book showed the cruelty coloured workers endured under white bosses. The book also showed in the midst of suffering and despair there are good people who do not judge others by race . Life was hard during the depression years and this book was a testament to that. But the book also showed the kinder side of people. A book about finding love, happiness even during difficult times.

I was drawn to this one because the synopsis said it was like where the crawdads sing. I disagree. While the writing is sound, the characters are interesting, and the historical information about turpentine production is fascinating, all of this is overshadowed by the tired gimmicks of dual points of view and each chapter ending in a cliffhanger. Add in more crudeness than necessary and a sensationalism fairly often, and we are left with a big disappointment.

Thank you to Donna Everhart, Kensington books, and NetGalley for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Saints of Swallow Hill is historical fiction at its best. At least it's what I look for in the genre.

The depression-era story revolves around the South's turpentining industry. Few modern readers will have much knowledge of this grueling work, but by the time they finish this book, they will never be able to forget it.

Likewise, the Jim Crow South is underrepresented in American Literature, and this novel helps fill that gap.

Everhart's characters are the core of this story and are remarkably complex and intriguing. Some are evil - so evil I shudder to recall them. The main protagonists, Del and Rae Lynn, well, I just kept rooting for the entire time I read. Even the minor characters came to life.

Everhart's writing took me straight into the longleaf pine forest. I could envision the sites, smells, and sounds like I was there. The descriptions of some very claustrophobic situations made me shudder - they were hard to read and so real.

I found it hard to find any meaningful criticisms of The Saints of Swallow Hill. OK, if I'm super picky, there was a burned pie, a chocolate pudding-filled pie. Ms. Everhart must not make pies much because one never bakes a pudding filling. The pie is refrigerated after the pudding is added to a pre-baked crust. This did not detract from my enjoyment of the book. At all.

Watch for this book to come out on January 25th. Order it now - if you like American-themed historical fiction, you'll want to add this to your 2022 reading list.

I received a copy of the book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Saints of Swallow Hill by Donna Everhart is the kind of historical fiction I love. Set during the Great Depression in the South, this tale has rich characterization, a vivid setting, and research that blends seamlessly with the story.

Delwood Reese has a bad habit of going after married women. On one occasion, when his boss catches him with his wife, and after receiving a near-death punishment, Del decides it’s time to move on. He slowly makes his way south to a turpentine camp called Swallow Hill.

Meanwhile, in North Carolina, Rae Lynn Cobb lives with her clumsy husband, Warren. Together, they operate a small turpentine farm. The work is dangerous on its own, but it is even more perilous because of Warren’s reckless actions. His clumsiness eventually backfires on him, resulting in a grave injury. This disaster forces Rae Lynn to make some hard decisions, and she elects to leave her home disguised as a man. With her new name Ray Cobb, she makes her way south to the same camp where Delwood has recently arrived. Both will witness the racism and physical abuse that occurs at these sorts of camps.

The Saints of Swallow Hill captured my attention from the very first page. I wasn’t sure how I would feel about this one, but the characters are so well-developed that I couldn’t flip the pages fast enough. Some of these characters will likely stick with me for some time to come. Del, Rae, and a few others go on a journey of self-discovery, of learning to trust and to love.

This is the first time I’ve read Donna Everhart, and I look forward to reading more from the author.

Thank you to Kensington Books for an ARC provided via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

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Rae Lynn's life has never been easy. An orphan whose life turned around with a convenient marriage to a kind older man, Warren Cobb. Together they kept a home and turpentine farm, and while accident prone worked hard together to make an honest living.

Warren is stubborn, and when he slips and falls off the roof during a particularly bad storm he won't let Rae Lynn go for help. As the days pass he goes from bad to worse, begging her to take his life. After a failed attempt on his own she finished the job, but bad timing puts her in the crosshairs of Warren's friend Butch.

Out of fear Rae Lynn shears her locks, buried her husband, and heads south, to a turpentine camp called Swallow Hill to start life anew. Dressed in Warren's shirt and overall's she hopes to pass as Ray.

Del Resse is also running away from his past at Swallow Hill. A womanizer whose luck ran out, after he was caught with his bosses wife. A near death experience had him escape to the turpentine camp without a cent to his name.

But life in the camp is tough, and both Del and Ray fall under the scrutiny of woods rider Crow. A truly brutal boss who brutalizes anyone who steps in his path. Both targets of his wrath, and both hiding secrets from their pasts, they will have to work together to survive.

I wasn't expecting this story to be as heart wrenching and gory. There are some absolutely horrific descriptions of accidents, and I can't even imagine how back breaking the work would've been.

This is an excellent story of friendship and perseverance.

The Saints of Swallow Hill is a character-rich novel that takes place in North Carolina in the 1930’s. The story focuses on the importance of strong friendships and family while also delving into the hardships and poverty faced by many during the Great Depression. I learned about turpentining and tar harvesting and now know why my home state of NC is known as the Tar Heel State. Historical fiction fans will enjoy this one!

Thank you to Kensington Books and NetGalley for this ARC.

I struggled with this book and this review.

Was it a well written book? I am not sure. The author certainly knows how to write and I could certainly picture it all. But did it keep my attention? No. I thought it was a very slow read and it kept bogging down.

It was super interesting to read about the turpentine camps - I love learning new, interesting things like this.

ON the other hand, I thought it was bleak and depressing. Yes, I know it was tough conditions and it was during the Depression, but I could just feel myself getting into a funk while reading it. So did the author do a good job? I guess, but then again, who wants to feel like that?

For some people I think this will be an outstanding read - if you love literature and love the english language. . But for those like me who read to be entertained, and who need to feel connected to the characters - it just might not be the book for you.

This was closer to Of Mice and Men (but not as good) than the Four Winds.

I do want to thank the author, the pulbisher and #netgalley for the ARC which did not impact my review. I just wish I had better things to say - I really tried to like this book.

Donna Everheart does Southern so well. Story is set during the great depression and really shows how rough it really was.This was a gritty, brutally honest but truthful story of love, courage and survival. You won't want to put it down till the very end.

Without doubt, the turpentine camps of North Carolina were brutal places, closer to slavery than free labor. The detailed descriptions of that brutality were hard to read, and I’ll admit to skipping ahead in the book to find out when the most villainous character would get his comeuppance.

Interesting historical details made this a worthwhile read.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Set in the 1930's during the great depression, Everhart's story is all about "turpentining" in North Carolina. I had never even heard this phrase, so it was fascinating to learn about it. However, i found the plot rather slow-moving and sections got bogged down with details about turpentining. The story and its characters certainly highlight the poverty & desperation felt by so many during this time in our history. (And I did learn why N.C. is called the Tar Heel state!)

Thanks to NetGalley & Kensington books for the ARC.