Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an e ARC of this book.
Excellent character development, a plot filled with surprises. One of my favorite books of the year.

I enjoy Jeannette Walls writing. She takes you right to the time period and each character has such an impact to the story and the reader. You get to know "all" about each character and why Jeannette put them there. Lawlessness, bootleggers, infidelity, wealth, dirt poor, black and white, and last but not least survival. The author knew what she was writing and the book captures you right away. I'm hoping for a sequel, because the story is not finished. At least not to this reader.

I've been a fan of this author for ages. Her characters are believable and well rounded, and the topics her stories revolve around are usually not without conflict and are important. This book follows the formula that works for Ms. Walls. Unfortunately, I couldn't get past how women (especially the in the South) were treated, even as a Southerner. Women treated as possessions or bossed around as if their feelings and wishes didn't matter is abhorrent to me. They existed solely to serve their father, their husband or other male relatives. During the book's timeframe, the pettiness and meanness was very ugly (ex: the funeral). I am pretty sure the book was much better, or maybe more hopeful, after twenty-five percent but my pandemic-weary brain would just couldn't keep reading. Best wishes for a successful book launch!

Sallie Kincaid is the heir apparent to the bootlegging business in a county in Virginia during Prohibition. Given that the manufacture of illegal corn liquor is the community's primary source of income, she leaves a life full of responsibility-and danger . She has it all under control. Or does she?
An intriguing plot with surprising twists and turns of events, colorful characters, and a totally believable characters make this a great page turning read.

Sallie Kincaid is a whipper snapper just ask her dad the Duke, he’ll tell you she’s just like him except she’s not a boy! The Duke ran the town of Caywood in Claiborne County in Virginias Appalachian foot hills, he owns the Emporium which is stocked with everything you could ever need and a few things you don’t, you can warm up before the fire, play cards and get the local gossip, what folk’s don’t know is that the real money making goods are in the basement and it’s called moonshine, the Duke doesn’t make his own but the land renters sometimes use the whiskey to pay for the rent and other goods and to keep their families warm and fed and keep the Emporium books in the black, profits are used to make improvements in the town, everyone benefits this is before prohibition and a shift in power that sees the towns people struggling and the violence that comes with, Sallies own sister Mary and her husband Rev. Phillip are in the middle of stirring up the troubles. A family feud between the Kincaids and the Bonds which goes back generations from when the Bonds say the Kincaids stole property from them, not stolen but bought real cheap, is reignited to the point of shoot outs, bombings and blood shed. As Sallie gets older and her eyes are opened, she sees the Duke isn’t as righteous as she once thought, there are many children he fathered, not all from his 4 marriages that were left to fend for themselves as employees in his house or parceled out and raised by relatives as cousins, as Sallie finds out all these family truths along the way she realizes these women and children are her life and responsibility and in the light of tragedy she embraces her family.

I just love this woman Sallie Kincaid, She is so smart and clever with her head on straight. At the first of the story I just couldn't believe she got sent to her Aunt to live, But then it was alright because it sure taught her a lot and she because who she was,--much better. The Duke (her father) seems like there is always a man such as this in every small town. Don't you think so? I Would recommend you to read and enjoy this book and if you haven't already then go back and read her other books. She is great!

Jeanette Walls writes an interesting historic tale of a small town complicated family, set during the prohibition era. Sallie Kincaid idolizes her dad Buck who is head of their family. She’s not your usual female for that time, but just as smart and feisty as the men around her and she wants her dad to see that.
With her wonderful style of writing, filled with a delightful set of characters this book is another masterpiece from Walls.

I really enjoyed Jeannette Walls new historical novel. Hang the Moon is set during Prohibition in a rural town in Virginia. This novel is the story o0f Sallie Kincaid and her complicated family and involves moonshiners, rumrunners, feuds, tragedy and love. It is a exciting coming of age story of a feisty and fearless girl.
Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book!

Jeannette Walls simply does not disappoint! Her latest novel Hang the Moon is a historical fiction set during Prohibition that will completely captivate from start to finish! This addictive read is a coming-of-age of Sallie Kincaid. Sallie’s father, Duke, is the leader, hero, and mentor of a small Virginia town. From a very young age, Sallie’s primary goal is to make her father proud and that goal will ultimately shape and reshape her life time and time again.

I am in complete awe of Jeannette Walls’ ability to create such a powerful and riveting storyline! There were so many unexpected twists and turns! Honestly, this novel is one of fastest historical fictions I’ve read—unputdownable! The character development is on point!!! The entire cast of characters are all still bouncing around in my mind—I would LOVE more novels centering around them! Hang the Moon is a 5++++ star read that will most definitely be on my 2023 favorites list! Hang the Moon would make a fantastic book club selection!

I love everything written by this author. She is a stellar storyteller. She is so good at weaving the characters and the setting and the drama all together.

I have read and enjoyed Jeanette Wall’s earlier novels. I enjoy her bold, exaggerated style. Living next door to beautiful Franklin county, Virginia, I have read several books about its history of bootlegging. Hang the Moon was an enjoyable read, tied together by a very likable main character, Sallie, who matures into a outstanding example of a woman before her time. I was interested in the author’s notes about her research and the real life woman who inspired the character of Sallie. I will be recommending this book to my book club, I think it will appeal to any reader who likes historical fiction with a strong female lead.

Jeanette Walls is a modern classic, and I readily recommend this continuation of her work. Insightful, well-written and a story of person and place.

This book takes place during prohibition. What a time that must have been! Her main character is full of grit and sass. I enjoyed reading this book.

Jeannette Walls is an absolute master at creating fearless, flawed and lovable female protagonists, and Sallie is no exception. In her newest novel Hang the Moon we are transported back to the 1920s when men held all of the power, whiskey was illegal and family secrets were kept for generations. As the daughter of Duke, the county's most powerful man, Sallie considers herself lucky until an accident with her half brother leaves her living miles away with her aunt Faye and ostracized from the rest of her family.

Sallie is eventually welcomed back to the family home nearly a decade later, and she proves that she is invaluable to keeping the family business afloat. While the town is in a heated uproar over bootlegging and the long lasting feud between two families comes to a vicious head, Sallie is repeatedly faced with nearly impossible decisions. She proves herself time and again as a leader who is strong, fair and unflappable even as family secrets are uncovered and loyalties are tested,

This is another Jeannette Walls masterpiece that will stay with you for years to come.

Jeannette Walls delivers another brilliantly composed historical fiction. This is a story of friends and family in the days of prohibition in Virginia. The history and the characters come alive on the pages of this captivating story.

ARC was provided by Scribner and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Pub Date: March 28, 2023

A fascinating family drama in the days of Prohibition in the mountains of Virginia with a strong female protagonist. I couldn't put this book down as I wanted to keep reading to see what happened to Sallie Kincaid and how she handled all the curveballs life threw at her. Highly recommend. Thank you netgalley for this ARC.

This book is a story of family and friends…characters who come alive on the pages…an author who is talented and gifted at weaving a story that is fiction but reads like.nonfiction…the book was sent to me by Netgalley for review…thanks to the publisher for the electronic copy…surprises…secrets…what will happen next? This is a difficult to put down book…I liked it…I enjoy books by this author…enjoy…grab a warm blanket…cozy up in a comfy chair…enjoy a cup of steaming herbal tea…get lost in this story…

I was so excited to read this book - I have loved all of Jeannette's other books, and The Glass Castle is one of my all-time favorite books. I absolutely love Jeannette's writing style, which to my mind, is reminiscent of Harper Lee's writing style. But...(and you knew that was coming)...this one is a bit of a miss for me. I do really love that it follows the Tudor storylines and the characters are named similarly. The references there were interesting to me because I have so much interest in Tudor history, but it also made the story somewhat predictable. This story isn't a happy one; it's filled with tragedy. It's also very slow and it feels like nothing really happens except people feuding and dying. While I generally enjoy the trope of "young woman does all the things she shouldn't be doing according to her time/era", I am kind of getting tired of it. That trope does a LOT of heavy lifting in this book.

Overall, I would recommend this book because of my love for the author. A library should have it on the shelf. But, it is not her best,

I received a free galley copy from NetGalley. My review and comments are my own

Writing: 5/5 Plot: 5/5 Characters: 5/5

Sallie Kincaid — a larger than life heroine if I’ve ever read one — comes of age in hillbilly country during Prohibition. Daughter of “the Duke,” who runs the county, she eventually inherits all that was his — the power and the immense responsibility. Unwilling to marry (having seen how badly women fare in the imbalance between the sexes), she is going it alone.

Inspired by the Tudor dynasty, specifically Elizabeth I, this story is a fascinating and seamless transposition of that singular journey — a female growing from child banishment to the leadership of a patriarchal empire — from the Elizabethan Era (late 1500s) to the Prohibition Era (1920s). With outstanding writing, Walls brings to life a set of utterly believable characters with bold depictions of their inner and outer lives. Character interactions bring out both the individual striving and the (usually invisible) impact across other lives. Plenty of every day philosophy and thinking. Impossible to put down.

Some great quotes:
“I don’t for one second forget that what we are doing is illegal, but legal and illegal and right and wrong don’t always line up. Ask a former slave. Plenty of them still around. Sometimes the so-called law is nothing but the haves telling the have-nots to stay in their place.”

“This man whose approval I so craved. He loved being loved, but he never truly loved anyone back. He took what he wanted from people, then once he got it, cast them aside.”

She got what she deserved… “That’s what some people said when Mama was killed. It is what you tell yourself sometimes, a way to make sense of things, a way to make you feel safer, that people who get hurt bring it on themselves. But it’s such a lie. Lots of folks don’t serve what they get.”

“I’m not sure if I’m remembering what happened or just finally understanding it, but all these years, I’ve been hearing stories about Mama as told by others, and now, I finally understand the story as Mama would have told it.”

“What else are you going to do? You can get married or you can become a schoolteacher or a nurse. Other than that, it’s slim pickings — a nun or a whore or a spinster peeling potatoes in the corner of some relation’s kitchen.”

“If a woman wants to get ahead in this world, she marries well and mark my words, Sallie, no man worth the clothes on his back is going to let a woman outshine him.”

“A handout. You think you’re being all generous, but what you’re also saying is you got what the other person doesn’t — so much of it you’re giving it away.”

“It’s when the boss asks you to do something you know to be wrong and you do it anyways. That sort of work whittles away at the soul.”

“There are two kinds of brave people in this world, it hits me, those who fight and those who protect the ones who can’t fight.”

“I thought being in charge meant I was beholden to no one. What it truly means is that I am beholden to everyone.”

“He’s going on about how, back in Scotland, we Kincaids fought the highlanders who tried to rustle our cattle and the English who tried to take our land, then we fought the Irish when they wouldn’t let us take theirs, and when we came to Virginia, we fought the Indians for the same reason, then the English again with a lot of talk about defending freedom, then the Yankees with a lot of talk about defending slavery. When we were defeated, we still declared victory but we also swore revenge. I wish I could say we were always on the side of right, but that would be a lie. We fought people for doing to us exactly what we did to others, fought for them wanting the same rights we had.”

Hang the Moon is a new novel by Jeannette Walls, the author of the amazing memoir The Glass Castle.

Hang the Moon is fiction set in Prohibition Virginia, telling the story of Sallie Kincaid and the whole Kincaid family. Readers see Sallie grow from childhood, when she’s hoping to be the fastest in her wagon to impress her father, to adulthood, supporting her neighbors with a little nighttime rumrunning…

In The Glass Castle, I was constantly amazed by how the children just accepted their upbringing, no matter how weird or dysfunctional it got, and Walls does the same thing in Hang the Moon. Sallie Kincaid just accepts her life as the Duke’s daughter, obviously she’s the local princess with a volatile father. Obviously, the Duke rents out most of the nearby housing, and accepts payment in cash, whiskey which will be sold in the family’s Emporium, or in Kincaid scrip, a local currency for buying and selling in Emporium. Of course, that’s the way it’s always been, hasn’t it? The story is wildly different from The Glass Castle, of course, but there’s the same feeling of a charismatic, volatile, confusing father.

There’s a great deal of family drama in Hang The Moon, all around this moonshine empire that the Duke inherited and then expanded on. The Kincaids are the wealthiest, most powerful family for miles. I have to say that the Tudor family tree works incredibly well for a Southern Gothic family. It works so well that I didn’t pick up on the parallels for a while, since Mary, Jane, Eddie, and Tom are pretty common Virginia names, too. While I was reading, I had a passing thought that there was a Jane and a Seymour in this convoluted family, and isn’t that funny, like Jane Seymour? And Jane is the Duke’s third wife, just like Jane Seymour! And then I kept reading without putting it together. It was only the part about Mary’s pregnancy that tipped me off, and even then, I was still thinking that I must be reading too many Tudor dramas…

Hang the Moon tells a drama about rural moonshine makers and heavy-handed Prohibitionists, about inheritance and class. There are funny moments, like when successful rumrunner Sallie agrees to take a bored deb along one night, but the joke is never at the expense of the rural residents. The Tudor parallels work particularly well here, so when there’s shootout or standoff, it feels more like a royal rebellion than a redneck story. Overall, I loved Sallie’s creative, unusual solutions to unsurmountable problems in her family and in her community.