The Saints of Swallow Hill transports the reader back to a Depression-era America that dwells in an atmosphere where hope was waning and options were severely limited – men had few and women had fewer. The author, Donna Everhart, educates by focusing our attention on the long-forgotten, but lucrative, naval store industry that supplied the tar, pitch, rosin, and turpentine essential to waterproof wooden ships, sails, masts, rope and used in the production of basic necessities like soap, paper, paint, and varnish. The extraction of the pine sap was hard, brutal work in densely wooded, rural places where the laws of the camp were strictly enforced by company-appointed foremen. These turpentine camps were nothing more than slavery by another name, peonage systems in which the workers were paid by store credit (not cash) resulting in insurmountable indebtedness to “the company.” This was common knowledge - so why would anyone consider working in these camps?

Everhart’s plot answers the question with Del, Rae Lynn, and Cornelia’s stories - each character has enough depth to allow the reader to empathize and sympathize with their plight - they are good people in bad situations. Each character has to deal with their share of desperation, loneliness, and bizarre circumstances that land the three of them at the hellish Swallow Hill Turpentine Camp. The novel is well-researched and communicates the details of the back-breaking work, tireless schedule, ill-treatment, and forms of punishment common in such places. Kudos to the author for the inclusion of realism in the plotlines (racism/discrimination against African Americans, misogyny, classism) - difficult to read, but necessary to convey the social climate of the era and locale (American South, 1930’s Georgia). I kept turning pages to see how things would play out; somewhat disappointed with the string of coincidences toward the end but enjoyed the tale and historical aspects nonetheless.

Highly recommended for Historical Fiction fans.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review!

Thank you netgalley & publishers for The Saints of Swallow Hill by Donna Everhart. Also thank you Donna Everhart for such a great novel.

Prior to reading this novel I saw the description of Where the Crawdads Sing meets The Four Winds, and having read both I would agree it is a good mix of both. The poverty and abuse of Crawdads intermixed with the unemployment and struggles women face of the four winds. I also knew nothing of turpentine camps and in some ways this also remained me a bit of some of my other favorite historical reads this past year.

If you like US historical fiction reads or HF with women that overcome, this is the book for you. I also loved the aspect of friendship, survival, and found family. There is often evil people, but also just as many friends and helpers willing to give the shirt off their back. "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."

It takes courage to save yourself... this is a statement from the novel that couldn't be more true. Leaving a bad situation sometimes is impossible, but also sometimes a matter of life and death. This is a great HF novel.. 4.5*

I read this book in one sitting!. It was an amazing book with strong characters, Rae Lynn, Del, Cornelia and others. They all had their story to tell of a life before they met and the reasons why they came to be in Swallow's Hill at the same time. It is a sad and haunting tale of people with tragedies that lead them to leave their current lives and go to work on a turpentine farm. It's hard work but the bonds that they make there are strong and life long. You cannot read this book and not feel some emotion in parts of it!!. It's beautiful and I loved it!!
Many thanks to Netgalley for the free ARC book for an honest review.
#kensingtonbooks

This is my first book by Donna Everhart, but it won’t be my last. The Saints of Swallow Hill was an atmospheric, enlightening historical fiction about The southeast during the Depression. Silly me, I never knew the reason NC was called the Tarheel State.
This is a dark story and a reminder about how evil some men can be. It tackles the easy racism and misogyny of the day. The camps were just one step up from slavery. Corporal punishment was allowed. Because of the script program, most workers owed the camp more than they made and could be hunted down if they left.
Del Reese isn’t exactly a Boy Scout. But he finds himself in a turpentine camp, just trying to stay alive. He’s targeted because he’s a white willing to work with blacks. Rae Lynn also finds herself in the camp, disguised as a man in an attempt to stay out of jail.
It took me a while to get truly invested in the story, but once I did, it just grabbed me. I cared deeply about both of these characters, along with several of the secondary characters.
The story centers on finding one’s own strength, yet also learning to trust. This would make a great book club selection and the author was smart to include discussion questions in the back.
My thanks to Netgalley and Kensington Books for an advance copy of this book.

I almost stopped reading this book in the first chapter since the whole thing was about this man having sex with other men's wives and describing scenes of him doing it. I went back and read the description of why I decided to read it and gave it another chance. The setting was definitely interesting and unique - turpentine farms during the Great Depression. I knew nothing about that and did learn a lot. However, there was too much sexual scenes and references in the book for me and I thought that the ending was way too perfect for the story leading up to it.

North Carolina is named the Tar Heel State. Ever wondered why?

After turning the first page, it was as if author Donna Everhart took me by the hand, offered me a slice of water pie, a cool refreshing glass of sweet tea, and gently encouraged me to follow her down the dusty road to Swallow Hill, Georgia. Taking me inside the turpentine camp during the Great Depression, I could almost hear the dialect, almost feel Rae Lynn’s fear as much as I felt the sore muscles earned from the back-breaking work, almost see the squalor, discrimination, prejudice, and racism and almost taste the water pie…and yes, of course, I could smell the turpentine and pine.

A master at her skill, Everhart immersed me in the unique setting – the turpentine camps and pine forests of the South during the Great Depression – and captivated me with her story about friendship, survival and the intersection of three vagabonds’ lives.

I read about Rae Lynn Cob, a graduate of ‘the school of hard knocks,’ who wanted to leave her old life behind her, so she assumed the role of a young man named Ray and headed to Swallow Hill. She endured backbreaking work and almost managed to keep her secret safe. Everhart highlighted Rae’s inner strength making her someone I wanted to see succeed.

I read about a drifter, Delwood Reese, also on the run from his past, who tried to watch out for Ray and keep ‘him’ out of Crow Sweeny and Otis Riddle’s path. His bravado in fighting for what was right won me over after I almost wrote him off for womanizing!

I read about Cornelia Riddle, who befriends many in the camp, sharing her compassion and knowledge. Stifled under Otis’s watchful eye, she doesn’t allow being bullied to affect her standing up for what’s right.

Everhart has truly honoured the Southern states and offered a tribute to the original tar heels who lived and toiled in the deep piney woods of the South. This five-star tale featuring naval stores and camps, and told by two lost souls who need to confront their past before they can move on, needs to be on your reading list come January 25, 2022.

I was gifted this advance copy by Donna Everhart, Kensington Books, and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.

A historical fiction novel set in the turpentine farms during the Great Depression era, this story focuses on hard work on the farms, poor treatment from some bosses, and the determination in some workers to make a better life for themselves. While this was an interesting read on a new subject for me, I found parts of the book dragged.

I have followed Donna Everhart’s journey as an author since her debut novel, The Education of Dixie Dupree, and it’s been wonderful to watch her writing evolve. With The Saints of Swallow Hill, Donna has taken a chance by going in a different direction than her previous books, and not only do I applaud her courage in taking this chance, but I also congratulate her on what might be her best book yet. There is something very special that sets her books apart. All of her characters face really tough challenges, and resiliency is such a huge part of the appeal to me, but it’s even more than that. I read a lot, and one thing I crave lately in the books I read is originality—a story, a setting, and characters that are different from everything else that I’ve read before. The sense of time and place in this book is so spot on—I believed that I was right there with the characters—feeling what they felt, fearing their deep-rooted fears , believing that somehow, some way, it would all work out. The author has captured the essence of a Georgia turpentine camp during the Great Depression with intricate detail, organically and naturally. Another thing that I loved so much about this book is the way the characters spoke—the dialect, the accent, and their language reveals so much about them. All of the characters, from the main characters Del and Rae Lynn on down to minor characters in the story, are authentic and complex—people I came to love, and others I came to detest. We are taken directly into the turpentine camp, with painstaking work and danger that went beyond the work itself. With the backdrop of The Depression, bigotry, and the desperation that permeated every aspect of life, The Saints of Swallow Hill is a poignant and intimate story that fed my soul, broke my heart and then made it whole again.

A fascinating, disturbing and eye-opening history of turpentine camps during the Great Depression and portrait of workers who lived there in inhumane conditions. Imagine making 75 cents a day facing a long, physically grueling day with a never-ending workload, breathing in the pungent odor of turpentine. The workers in these camps were poor and it angered me how much they were taken advantage of.

I loved the characters of Dell and Rae Lynn, their perseverance and steadfast will to survive during desperate times.

Swallow Hill turpentine camp in North Carolina during the Great Depression wan't an easy place to work. The men harvesting the turpentine from pine trees were all dirt poor and forced to rent dirty, run down shacks for they and their families to live in. Instead of a real wage they were paid by a token or 'scrip' system and the high prices at the commissary meant they were constantly hungry as well as in debt and never able to leave. However, there were few other jobs available at the time and there was the benefit of working outdoors in a beautiful pine forests.

The novel centres around two new characters who show up at the camp seeking a job. Del Reese is a drifter whose skirt chasing ways got him nearly killed in his last job. Lucky to be alive he decided to try a turpentine camp like the ones his parents worked in when he was young. Told there are no jobs available for leaders of the work teams, the positions usually assigned to white men, he agrees to work collecting the resin from the trees. He is assigned to a team lead by a vile, racist man called Crow who whips and bullies his men and is so aggrieved to have a white man working on collecting resin that he makes Del's life a misery.

The second new worker to be hired, is a young woman called Rae Lyn, who is running away after the death of her beloved husband from an accident on their turpentine farm. Posing as a young man, she also soon attracts the attention of Crow who denigrates her apparent weakness and tries his best to harm her. Cornelia, the wife of Otis, the cruel man who runs the commissary, is a downtrodden and bullied woman who gradually befriends Rae Lyn.

How these three come together to fight against the cruelty of Crow and Otis and find their own paths to redemption makes for a great story. I loved the atmospheric historical setting and could feel the fear of the men working under Crow to make their quotas as well as smell the smoke of the campfires and hear the lively music played in the juke joint after work was over. I also enjoy learning about something I've never heard of and now know a lot about turpentine collection and distilling, as well as why North Carolina is known as the Tar Heel State. Recommended for all those who enjoy good historical fiction in an interesting setting with a moving story at its heart.

I received this from Netgalley.com.

Set in the turpentine camps and pine forests of the American South during the Great Depression, Rae Lynn finds friendship.

An okay read about a time in American history I didn't know much about. Great characters, although I found the behavior of the villain Crow overdone and a titch unbelievable.

3.25☆

This was my first book by this author. Will definitely be reading more of her books.
This is a beautiful historical fiction novel set in Great Depression era in North Carolina. It’s a story of injustice. It deals with prejudice, discrimination and inequality. But it is also a story of love, friendship, courage, determination and perseverance. the characters will stay with you. Loved this book. Well written. I highly recommend it.

Left at an orphanage as a baby, Rae Lynn marries older widower Warren Cobb and for security. He owns a small run down turpentine farm in Harnett County, North Carolina, Warren’s not keen on changing his ways and he harvests his trees the old fashioned way. He’s rather frugal and a stubborn man and unfortunately this leads to his downfall.

Rae Lynn’s left to deal with the repercussions of her husband’s actions, she flees the farm, disguised as a man, she changes her name to Ray, driving her husbands truck and heads for Georgia. A turpentine camp called Swallow Hill is located there, Rae Lynn hopes to get work and find somewhere to live. Ray's shocked by the squalid conditions in the camp, the flimsy shack's filthy, her fellow workers are colored people, and everyone has to buy their provisions from the commissary shop, and are quickly in debt.

The workers days are long, chipping, dipping, scraping and tacking tin and Ray struggles to meet the daily tally. Some of her fellow co-workers complain, it also makes her a target of Crow Sweeney, he’s one of three foreman, he rides around on a horse all day and he’s a bully. He’s extremely racists, he treats the colored workers like their still slaves, and he has a whip and uses a punishment box. Otis Riddle owns the commissary shop, he’s a miserable man, he abuses his young wife Cornelia and he’s almost as mean as Crow.

Delwood Reese, is a drifter, he's been on his own since he was a teenager and is a bit of a ladies man. He started working at Swallow Hill just before Ray, he can’t abide anyone being abused, he's spent time in the punishment box himself, Crow hates him and Del wants to change the conditions in the camp. He sense that Ray is hiding something, a unlikely friendship forms between Ray, Del and Cornelia.

Del’s given the opportunity to be a one of the overseers, you can imagine what Crow thinks, Del gets to know his workers by name, treats them fairly and they reach their daily tally with time to spare. This causes tension, when it escalates Ray's hurt, they discover she’s a woman and Rae Lynn decides to leave, so does Cornelia and Del.

Set during the great depression, The Saints of Swallow Hill is a story about how it takes courage to save yourself, and Del and Rae Lynn do this by facing their pasts and returning home to North Carolina and for Cornelia leaving her abusive husband. Written by Donna Everhart as a tribute to the original tar heels who lived and worked deep in the piney woods of the South, it’s a story full of interesting information about the turpentine industry, types of trees used, the workers and how they were treated.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and Kensington Books, Rae Lynn, Del and Cornelia were my favorite characters, they didn't tolerate racism, the friendship and dynamics between them, added an emotion and feeling to the narrative, and five stars from me.

This book is described as a cross between Where The Crawdads Sing and Four Winds, and I couldn't agree more. The Saints of Swallow Hill takes place during the Great Depression in the South. It's a novel about a friendship, gender, and tradition. This one is a true pageturner that you won't be able to stop reading.

THE SAINTS OF SWALLOW HILL by Donna Everhart is gripping and poignant story of friendship, kindness and survival even under unimaginably difficult circumstances. Set in the dense forests of the Deep South during the Great Depression, the story chronicles the hardship of the daily lives of those working the turpentine camps. The lives of three characters unexpectedly intersect in the squalid turpentine camp in Georgia called Swallow Hill. Del Reese, Rae Lynn Cobb and Cornelia Riddle are all trying to come to terms with secrets and pain from their past. They eventually form a strong bond that give them the strength and courage to start a new life. As with all of Donna Everhart’s books, the characters are intricately and authentically portrayed and they face unthinkable challenges, yet find the will to carry on. The vivid descriptions transported me to the towering pine forests near the camp. I could imagine every detail as if I was actually there. I love when I learn something completely new to me as I did in this beautiful book. It is obvious that the author did extensive research on the turpentine industry, something I knew nothing about. I was captivated by this gritty, yet uplifting story of friendship, love and resilience and I highly recommend it. Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for allowing me the chance to read and review an early copy.

4.5 stars.
If there was nothing else, I could say I learned something - why North Carolina is called the Tar Heel State and a good bit about the history of turpentining in the South around the depression. But I certainly got more than learning some facts. I found the same sense of place and time, characters that you can easily feel for, as I found in the three other novels that I’ve read by Donna Everhart.

The deeds of some vile characters bring Rae Lynn Cobb and Del Reese to the Swallow Hill work camp and their already difficult lives , are once again affected by other evil characters. This is dark in places, reflects horrific racism in other places but there is strength and determination and grit in the face of these things by Del, Rae Lynn and others. Both a learning and moving reading experience. Excellent historical fiction.

I received a copy of this book from Kensington Books through NetGalley.

A big historical fiction fan, I was really excited to delve into this book which is set in South Carolina during the Great Depression. The author depicts well the extreme poverty of the era and what people were willing to do to get by. It delves into the commonly held views of the time and place regarding women, people of color, and the working poor.

I enjoyed learning about turpentine farms, but overall found the book a slow read. After reading several other reviews, I realize my opionions put me in the minority by far, but this book was just an ok read for me.

My thanks to Kensington Books who permitted me access to an ARC of this book via NetGalley. The book is scheduled to be published on 1/25/22. The opinions expressed in this review are my own and are freely given.

THE SAINTS OF SWALLOW HILL has all the charm and vivid prose you'd expect from Southern literature as well as a fast-paced plot that keeps you on the edge of your seat.

One of the many wonderful things about Donna Everhart's novels is the writing is as lush and evocative as the landscapes the stories are set in. You can smell the pines and feel the oppressive heat in the turpentine camp. In the THE SAINTS OF SWALLOW HILL we are immersed in the lives of Rae Lynn and Del who are beautifully flawed, yet heroic characters.

Rae Lynn's tragic life is upended when her husband is injured and eventually dies, but she is no shrinking violet who lets the Depression happen to her. She is tough. At several points in the novel, Rae Lynn could have taken the easier path, yet maintains a deep-seated integrity that only further complicates her life. Del is also at a crossroads in life. After a near death experience and with nowhere else to go, he too ends up in Swallow Hill and is forced to navigate the cruelty of a turpentine camp. I don't want to give too much away, but you will be rooting for these two to survive the camp and find happiness.

Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced copy of the novel for review.

The Saints of Swallow Hill is southern fiction at its best. The setting is circa the Great Depression era. People are hungry and survival is paramount. Rae Lynn, an orphan found a comfortable home with her husband in North Carolina. His untimely death catapults her into deception, danger, and hard work. Eeking out survival in a pine tar company she finds friendship and sometimes protection from Delwood. Both are struggling with a boss that is cruel to anyone that crosses him and sometimes to those who do not. It will take all the strength both can muster to survive in this hostile environment.
This is a well-written story of survival during one of the darkest times in our history. It showcases the strength of the human spirit and those character traits both good and bad that make up all of us. Rae Lynn is a strong, smart woman for her day. Delwood is a kind, practical common sense man that knows no racial or gender prejudice. Family of the heart becomes everything for them in the end. Author Donna Everhart writes a book about the Tar Heel state and tells a tale of an industry that exploited the workers during their neediest times in work that was dangerous and backbreaking. Readers will learn much about the cruelty of human nature and the goodness of the spirit in this intriguing tale. I highly recommend it. Thanks to #NetGalley#TheSaintsofSwallowHill for the opportunity to read and review this book. I look forward to reading more from author Donna Everhart.

Thank you for the ARC. I wanted to like this book but I didn't. It felt long, complex and I lost interest after couple hundred pages. The writing was good, the backdrop was interesting and some readers may enjoy this book. It was not for me.