Thank you to @kensingtonpublishing for the eARC of The Saints of Swallow Hill by Donna Everhart! This was my first read by this author. I feel so blessed to have been granted a chance to read this book and it will stay with me for quite some time!

In the 1930's, Del has had a near death experience at a Turpentine Farm and heads to Swallow Hill; another Turpentine Farm.. He meets Rae Cobb who has also left home in the South to work at Swallow Hill But there is something different about Rae Cobb that Del can't quite put his finger on. Rae can't keep up with the work load and is soon punished for it in a very inhumane way. Cornelia nurses Rae back to health. Then, a secret is discovered about Rae setting a series of events in motion at Swallow Hill. Soon, Del, Rae, and Cornelia find themselves leaving Swallow Hill to start over. But where will they go? And just what will happen to this trio?

The Saints of Swallow Hill is a story of injustice. He deals with heavy topics; prejudice, discrimination, and inequality. But, it is also a story of love, friendship, courage, determination, and perseverance. This book is well written and the characters will stay in your heart. This is just an excellent read!

I highly recommend this one! The Saints of Swallow Hill releases on January 25, 2022!

This was definitely a divergence from the historical fiction I usually read. It’s the 1930’s and we head to the South. The difficulties, cruelties and hardships the farmers faced and the incredibly horrendous working conditions will have you gasping. Work on a turpentine farm was dangerous and extremely rigorous work.

Del, a man that experiences a near death experience finds himself working at the Swallow Hill Turpentine Farm as well as Rae Lynn a recently widowed woman. The strength Rae Lynn discovers she has while working in the most inhumane conditions was truly inspiring. You will find yourself turning the pages faster and faster as you read through this story and come to understand a time that fortunately most of us have never had to endure.

Donna Everhart writes a truly inspiring, heartfelt story of a very difficult era. The author is able to transport the reader through time and space as you read this novel. You can literally smell and feel what the characters do with her descriptions and the language she uses as they speak you an literally hear in your head.

Thank you to #netgalley and #kensingtonbooks for allowing me to read this book.

This was my first novel by Donna Everhart, and it won't be my last! This is a beautiful historical fiction novel, set in The Great Depression era in North Carolina. I learned so much about the efforts making turpentine. Donna Everhart's writing style is detailed, comforting and engrossed me in every page. I highly recommend this novel to any historical fiction lover. Such a great story of survival and humanity.

I love me some southern historical fiction and Donna Everhart knows how to write it best. I loved and gave five stars to both The Forgiving Kind and The Moonshiner's Daughter. Ms. Everhart did not disappoint with her newest novel, words like compelling and engaging come to mind when describing this one. The characters were drawn sympathetically and I cared about what happened to most of them. It was in no way mawkish and difficult issues weren't avoided.

Donna Everhart has written an eye opening book in beautiful prose. I savoured every page. Her characters are believable and memorable. I felt so much while reading this and by the reality of the story and the beauty in which it was told. I am humbled by this beautiful story and the author herself. All. The. Stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Kensington Books, and Donna Everhart for allowing me to read the ARC of The Saints of Swallow Hill in exchange for an honest review.

Leaving trouble behind, hard-working, dependable Del Reese, heads to Swallow Hill, NC, to take a job tapping trees to make turpentine. He soon discovers the great injustice the workers endure, including being locked in a box under the blazing sun for not meeting quotas.
Rae Lynn, also running from her troubles, dresses as a boy to get a job tapping trees, lives in the hut next to Del. They form a friendship of older man watching out for the younger man. When Del discovers Rae has been locked in the box for three days, he goes to rescue the young man and discovers something that will change everyones lives forever.
Del and Rae are strong characters, fighting for the rights of others, no matter what happens to them. This book is so well-written and descriptive, you will remember these characters and their story for a long time.

Billed as: "[a]...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." Not really.

Set primarily in the turpentine camp at Swallow Hill in North Carolina.

Rae Lynn Cobb, raised in an orphanage, married to Warren, until...

Delwood Reese, who comes to Swallow Hill "hoping for his own redemption."

Otis Riddle, commissary owner, and his browbeaten wife, Cornelia.

Crow, the mean as a snake woods rider who checks each laborer's tally and particulary has it in for Rae/Ray, Del, and the blacks who work at Swallow Hill.

Peewee, a decent man, who runs the camp at Swallow Hill.

I did learn a lot about tapping turpentine, the variety of trees, and different tapping methods. I was surprised to learn it was used "medicinally." [much like Windex in Big Fat Greek Wedding]

The Depression is a challenging time, turpentining is challenging work, and the situation of the workers is grim. The system is set up like indentured servitude--company store, poor housing/horrific conditions, long hours, etc. And the box--more like a coffin used for punishment. Hardships and abuse. This hardscrabble story did have friendships among good people but also was populated with evil, hateful people.

Save for the final chapter, the story is told in the alternating voices of Del and Rae Lynn.

I wanted to love this book, but did not. Written well enough, but I found it somewhat pedestrian. I thought it might have a neat and tidy ending [no spoiler], and it did--which is always a downside for me--as well as figuring out some of the trajectory.

And what seemed strange was almost at the end, the book took on a totally different tone for a chapter--was so noticeable that it was a disconnect!

I am in the distinct minority of readers--who overwhelmingly loved the book. So--go ahead and read it, but...

This story grabbed me from hello. I so enjoyed it. It is rare when the story creates such an anxious feeling and you do not want to stop reading so you can see what happens next. This one sure did. The descriptions were so detailed, I could envision the corn crib, the old truck and almost smell the filth in the shacks.
I admired Rae, Kellie and especially Del. I also feel like I learned a bit about the turpentine extraction, never knew it was from trees. The ending was great. I highly recommend.
Received an ARC from Kensington Books and NetGalley for my unbiased review – This one comes in with high 5*****.

I've had a really good run with ARCs lately, so I reckon it had to come to an end sooner or later.  This book was not very good, and I kind of resent it being described as "Where the Crawdads Sing meets The Four Winds".  It does have the love of nature like Crawdads and the Great Depression/work camp of Four Winds, but it's not nearly as good as either book.  My main reason for this opinion is the attempt at dialect is abysmal.  It also needs some very serious editing due to lots of missing words.  I found myself re-reading entire sections between the missed words and bad attempt at vernacular.

Thank you to NetGalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A vivid and emotional story about the South during the depression. Del Reese is a man who is down on his luck and he heads to Swallow Hill, NC to take a job tapping trees in order to make turpentine. The people who work at the camp are treated horribly and absolutely terrible conditions. One of them, a woman (Rae Lynn), even pretends to be a man just to work at the camp.

A story of hard work, low pay, racial inequality and corporal punishment but also a story of kindness, friendship and even love during very difficult times.

I always enjoy this authors books as they give real life hardships of people from long ago who worked hard any way they could to make a way for themselves. Very interestingh info regarding the long leaf pines and turpentine. A good character development and the writing made you feel the environment all around you. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC.

This is a wonderful historical fiction piece set in the Depression-era South. Although the plot is fairly predictable, it was a pleasure to follow these interesting characters along their journeys. I knew nothing about the turpentine camps in the forests of Georgia and NC, but they serve as a fascinating backdrop. An easy, engrossing read!

Every since her debut novel, The Education of Dixie Dupree, I have been a huge fan of author Donna Everhart. She writes southern fiction about some of the most unique topics that transport her readers back to the days of our ancestors and let’s us experience just some of the hardships and triumphs they went through. Her latest work, The Saints of Swallow Hill, takes us to Georgia where we learn about life in a turpentine camp and then later to North Carolina to a family homestead. Her characters are all very well depicted and some of them you will grow such an attachment to while others you will really come to hate. What I enjoy most about reading this authors work is that not only does she give us a beautiful storyline that captures your heart and attention but that I also learn something from my reading. In this book I enjoy hearing how they score the pine trees to collect sap to be refined into turpentine. This is not something I had ever learned about. I was also very impressed with the strength and resilience that Rae Lynn showed throughout the story. I believe she was the character that impressed me the most. And the fact that she was able to move on from her past and start a new life with Del made for a very happy ending. I’d like to thank Donna Everhart for writing such a wonderful story that I found both entertaining and educational, Kensington Books for accepting my request, and NetGalley for the arc to read, review and enjoy. This is a book and author that I highly recommend other readers check out. I personally own all of her books in both ebook and paperback form and look forward to reading any and all of her future stories. For me, this was a 5 star read!

The Saints of Swallow Hill - Donna Everhart

Growing up an orphan, Rae Lynn had always dreamed of having a family. When Warren began stopping by, trying to woo her, she came to realize that a life with a caring man like that might not be so terrible. And she was right. They fell into a very simple life, and Rae Lynn felt she had a home. When things took a turn for the worst, and Rae Lynn helped Warren escape his pain, she knew she had to leave this home behind, and try to start over. Her new path leads to a turpentine camp in Swallow Hill where she must pretend to be a man to get by in some of the most grueling conditions.
Delwood Reese came to Swallow Hills to get his own fresh start. After a rough start, he meets a young fellow named Ray and believes there is something different about him but feels the need to protect him all the same.
When Rays truth comes to light, it sets in motion a change through the camp like no other. Delwood now understands his first initial instinct to protect him and from then on, their paths are connected as they both have the same end goal, a simple life, unnoticed.
While I've read numerous historical fiction books, this one was unlike any others I've read. The book provided perspective into a very different way of life, and the desperation for work during the depression. I honestly never knew turpentine camps were a thing, and especially not the work it entailed.
I loved watching both Rae Lynn's strength to go against the grain and fight to provide for herself in any way possible. I also loved Delwood and how in such man ruled world, he had respect for Rae Lynn and wanted to protect her.
My ONLY dislike was that I found the pace of the book slightly slower, but definitely worth it for the given closure.
This book comes out in January, and for any historical fiction loves, I definitely recommend this one.
⭐⭐⭐⭐/4
Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!

I very much enjoyed reading The Saints of Swallow Hill by Donna Everhart. Could not put it down!
This story is set in the 1930's during the depression and the turpentine labor camps of Georgia and North Carolina. Everhart has written the story from the point of view of it's main characters, Rea Lynn Cobb & Delwood Reese, with period language and cultural references to help the reader understand the harsh realities of everyday life at this time. These characters lives took twists that brought them together in the brutal, abusive, frightening and hopeless existence of turpentining. And yet they chose to find strength, courage, resilience, lasting friendship & love among the people of the camp and into the rest of their lives.
I will definitely be reading more by Donna Everhart!!! Thank you NetGalley and Kensington Books for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Emotional read for me. I found myself actually feeling some of the awful hardships many endured, working in the turpentine camps, during the great depression, in North Carolina and Georgia. The author’s research, into these turpentine labor camps, owned by large landowners, was extensive. “A tribute to the original tar heels who lived and toiled in the deep piney woods of the South,” (Author’s note). The impossible working and living conditions, beg the question, how did anyone even survive? I found the book well written, with acutely depicted likable and horrid characters. I actually thought about some of these characters and their privation, in oft times during the day. Thank you NetGalley and Kensington Bools for this ARC and the opportunity to read it prior to publication. #netgalley #KensingtonBooks #SaintsofSwallowHill.

Set during the 1930s and told from two perspectives, this is a story of strength and perseverance. I enjoyed the glimpse into the world of turpentining and how the author treated each character’s storyline.

I found this book a fascinating look into a little known craft that no longer exists. The author takes the reader back to the American South's turpentine camps of the Depression. And believe me, you feel like you are there via the language, the food, and amazing cultural references. The author clearly did her research writing this book from snake bites to the unfair labor practices of the time. I know this because my interest was piqued by events in the book and I checked them out online! I liked the alternating chapters given to the two main characters. My only criticism is the sale? purchase? of Warren's house. That was unclear to me.

Set in 1930s Southern USA, this is a harrowing story of abuse and hardship. The bleakness of the story is redeemed by the good-heartedness of some of the characters and the friendships that develop.
The story is told through alternating chapters focusing on Del and Rae Lynn. The story built up slowly but is interesting and very emotional. I found the second half of their stories seem to jump ahead quite a bit and wasn't as smooth as the first part. In some ways the book felt as though it could have offered more in terms of the plot and the characters. Nevertheless it was a moving and interesting read.

This wasn't always easy to read because you felt like you were experiencing the things that Rae Lynn and Del were. It was interesting learning more about the turpentine camps. I wanted to see more of Rae Lynn and Del's relationship blossom.

Kindly received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve loved her other books but this one missed the mark for me it didn’t hold my interest even though it spoke of a history I wasn’t familiar with overall was just ok for me . I like her others much better