This one kept me turning pages late into the night. Loved Sallie Kincaid’s indomitable spirit (and bit of spunk) despite all the hardships thrown her way. I also really appreciated the theme of unlikely bonds and friendships and women supporting women through work and found family throughout. So glad I read this one—it’ll be a great one to hand sell to our customer base in Western NC!

Wow. What a phenomenal read. Jeannette Walls hits it out of the park with this prohibition-era novel, Hang the Moon, with a fierce female MC who becomes a bootlegger. Throughout the story, Sallie navigates complicated family dynamics as well as right vs. wrong, as the law prohibits liquor sales but people have been surviving from the sales, putting what’s “right” at odds with survival.

This is Walls’ first foray into fiction, having published three memoirs previously. However, it’s not too far fetched since she has personal ties to the story, living in Virginia and having a father who was a Moonshiner. This is an era we don’t hear about often, so it was great for her to bring that side of history to life.

Most know her best for her work The Glass Castle, which was a Book of the Month selection some time ago. Hang the Moon is a choice for April Book of the Month, so if you are a member, it would be a great selection as you build your box!

She narrates the audiobook and does so fantastically. I was rapt from start to finish, rooting for Sallie all the way through.

A strong female character, an engaging and action packed story, social commentary, and a little romance -- what more can you ask for? I really like Jeannette Walls' writing. In this book, she has created several memorable characters in Sallie and her father, Duke. Even the "minor" characters are wonderful -- evoking strong emotional reactions no matter how briefly they are featured. Every character is important to the story set in 1920s Virginia mountains. This small town has been left to its own devices, setting its own rules for life (Duke's rules), so when Prohibition laws threaten the lively hood and very existence of the town, things are bound to happen.

This is a story of love, relationships (familial, neighborly, romantic), resilience, secrets and lies -- a perfect storm for an exciting and gut-wrenching and heartwarming story. I could not put it down!

Sallie Kincaid is a well rounded heroine and it was a true pleasure watching her grow up over the course of this book. Her life was not an easy one but she had strength and determination. I've never read anything by Jeannette Walls, this was the first, but I truly enjoyed her writing style.

Hang the Moon by Jeannette Walls is the story of Sallie Kincaid, the daughter of the most powerful man in the county, in Prohibition era United States. Inspired by the Tudor family, the book is very fast-paced and full of twists and turns. Sallie is a fantastic, strong female protagonist during a time when society just expected women to let men oversee everything. I loved Sallie’s growth throughout the book as she realizes the way things have always been is not the way they should be. Recommended for fans of the author’s other works and historical fiction fans in general.

I was very excited about this book, but maybe my expectations were too high. I did not finish this book as I was not interested in the story and did not care enough about the character to continue.

Sallie Kincaid grew up in Virginia in the early 20th century as the daughter of the most powerful man in Claiborne County. When her stepmother encouraged Sallie’s father to send her away to live with an aunt, Sallie’s life is dramatically changed. She has gone from a comfortable life of means to a life of squalor. Her lifelong determination to live her life on her own terms springs out of her childhood.

Years later, she is brought back to the homestead and must re-adjust to having nice things. She’s always admired her father’s power over the town and when she is expected to exert her own position, she looks to her father’s example. The secrets of his success come as no surprise to her and given the chance, she will take the reins and show she is her father’s daughter.

Sallie is a strong woman who is determined to outsmart the bootleggers and the authorities during the era of Prohibition. Her father was called Duke and he treats his community like it’s his private fiefdom. Sallie is young when she takes over the business but her hardscrabble life prepared her for the tough stance she must take when there are others in the county ready to take her down. She becomes known as Queen of the Kincaid Rumrunners. The story gives a nod to the world of England’s Henry VIII with his multiple wives, various children and one strong daughter who will carry on his legacy.

Readers will feel for little Sallie who is cast aside like Cinderella. But she grows into an assertive adult who is not afraid to stand up to those who threaten her. She will follow her father’s model and make her own rules. The discarded child becomes queen of the county, no longer the sweet victim. Walls brings another story of overcoming childhood adversity to the page. This is not as riveting or powerful as The Glass Castle or Half Broke Horses but it does showcase a girl with grit and determination who refuses to be kept down.

I loved this book from the very beginning. I was sucked in by the daring and charming main character and her larger than life father.

I appreciated how strong most of the women are in this book even if they don't appear to be. Living in this time period would have been difficult, and "needing"a man was how you survived. But Sallie Kincaid knows her own mind and doesn't want a man controlling her, plus she doesn't trust very many of them. As she sees it they cheat, they lie and the women bear the brunt of it.

Through many tragedies Sallie starts to run the Duke's business. I loved that Sallie is just as competent in running the business as her father the Duke and that others see it as well.

Overall this is a fantastic historical fiction novel set during prohibition and the struggles that put on so many families. So many families relied on their production of whiskey and other spirits as payment - and while the Duke knew its worth I feel that Sallie with some help really grew the business in new ways.

If you like strong female characters who break stereotypes and are interested in the prohibition period this book is a sure thing...even if you aren't interested in the history portion its still an amazing read.

I loved Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls and was excited to have the opportunity to read an ARC of Hang the Moon. This novel is a rollercoaster of a story about wealth, poverty, prohibition, family feuds and a strong willed girl with big dreams who grows into a powerful woman. Thanks #NetGalley #Scribner

Thank you Scribner Books for this gifted copy!

Jeannette Walls is the author of my absolute favorite memoir - the Glass Castle - so I knew I needed to read Hang the Moon. I was very intrigued by the Prohibition timeframe for this historical fiction book, since I haven't read many (any?) books in that time period. I also loved that the book was centered around a strong, independent woman who was doing "man's work".

I was immediately sucked into the story, but after the first half or so, the pace definitely slowed down. i found myself slightly bored during the second half of the book, But overall, this was still a strong historical fiction read.

Jeannette Walls has done it again!

From the book blurb (and what caught my attention): "A riveting new novel about an indomitable young woman in Virginia during Prohibition. Most folk thought Sallie Kincaid was a nobody who’d amount to nothing. Sallie had other plans."

Hang the Moon follows the twisted Kincaid family as well as bootlegging in Virginia during the 1920s. Sallie, the main character, is the daughter of an entrepreneur and landlord known as “the Duke.” She is intelligent and complex, someone you can't help but root for from page one until the very end.. Walls shares her strengths and weaknesses. Sallie can be fearless, reckless, stubborn, and outspoken, but her strength comes from her damaged past and her belief that she hears her fathers voice guiding her decisions.

Talk about a twisty tale! The writing is wonderful and the plot is compelling. Hang the Moon is full of lies, deceit and secrets! I was fully engaged in this family drama and the many surprising turns and the surprising revelations within the narrative. This is a tale of tangled of family intrigue, complications, questionable morals, and hidden secrets.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Scribner books for the opportunity to read this page turning, can't put down book! Thanks for taking me into the Virginia backroads during Prohibition, keeping my head spinning with plot twists, doomed romances, and betrayals. I hope Walls continues to write as I will continue to read each and every one!

I love Jeannette Walls. Her previous 3 books were some of my favorite books ever, and this one took SO long to come out. That said, this is the first one not based on her life, and I felt like the story, while an exciting one, fell a bit short as a result.
Glass Castle was an amazing read (as was Half Broke Horses and Silver Star) because they were based on her life. While Hang the Moon was inspired by real-life people, the story was almost too crazy to be believed.
What Hang the Moon did well-there are so many twists and turns, the story was engaging, and the protagonist, Sallie Kincaid, is definitely someone you root for as she comes of age under her dad, "The Duke's" reign as the leader of a Virginia county in the early 20th century. Sallie is whipsmart and thinks on her feet as hurdle after hurdle is thrown at her. Her story is engaging and once the action starts, this novel is hard to put down.
Where Hang the Moon slightly falters is the amount of characters to keep track of and without spoiling too much-the amount of storylines to keep track of. I feel like there have been one too many tangents that Walls throws at us in this book.
That said, for historical fiction fans, or Jeannette Walls fans, this is certainly worth picking up. My thanks to Jeannette Walls, NetGalley and to Scribner for an advanced copy. The book is out now!

I really enjoyed this one! Thank you @netgalley and @scribnerbooks for the gifted digital copy. Great family saga with intriguing characters. Hang the Moon by @the.jeannette.walls publishes on March 27th, highly recommend!

What could have been a great novel - set during a fascinating time in American history - fell very flat. Shallow character development and to make it worse, shallow plot development. It seems everything that could go wrong for our main character does, and life is a series of funerals and bad news as everyone around her dies or leaves. Disappointed to say the least.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book for my honest review.
Another beautifully written book by Jeanette Walls. Keeps you wanting to read after bedtime and I always enjoy strong female characters especially in a historical book. I love how she incorporated this book from real life based on actual facts from during the prohibition period. Highly recommend.

Family drama, fast cars, ax-wielding teetotalers, multi-generational feuds, and moonshine: it’s the Prohibition Era in rural Virginia. Duke Kincaid runs his county with a grip that would have made Tammany Hall proud, like his father before him, and his father before that. Sallie Kincaid is his second daughter, exiled by Duke’s third wife to live with her aunt. Fast forward nine years, and Sallie is recalled to the Big House, as Duke’s residence is known, and thinks she is ready to reclaim her place in the family. Things are even more complicated than she imagined, and she grows from the discarded daughter to a bootleg boss in her own right.

Sallie is a character you can root for, flaws and all. It was a compulsive read, for the most part, and hard to put down. There were a few points where things dragged a bit, and I wondered if this was just maybe one too many calamities to fit comfortably in the story. That being said, Walls points out in the author notes that many of the most ridiculous sounding events are in fact inspired by history and really did occur in bootlegging areas. As you might expect, Jeannette Walls has delivered another strong work that is sure to please historical fiction fans. Definitely recommended for a weekend or a day off - it is hard to put down!

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley for an honest review.

4.5
An amazing read with a cast of characters that entrance you.
If you are looking for a historical fiction that gives you feeling of hope, this is the one.
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

I had such high hopes since I loved The Glass Castle so much. This fiction novel focuses on family and community drama; there was just so so much going on! It was an interesting read, but not as captivating as her nonfiction memoir.

"Women these days are doing all kinds of things---"

This is a perfectly serviceable novel. It offers drama and intrigue, tragedy and humor, thrills and sentimental feelings. And, who doesn't love a story about strong female characters who can kick ass when the chips are down? Book clubs will probably love it.

But . . .

It all felt familiar. Too familiar. Though the addition of the moonshine war was a unique touch, I feel like I've read this book dozens of times. Plucky Gal takes on the world and wins. Yadda, yadda, yadda. This is certainly not a bad book by any means. It just needed some spark to really bring it to life, and set it apart from the dozens of similarly themed books out there. I suspect many will love this one. I just wasn't one of them.

Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner for the eARC.

Sallie Kincaid is a young child when her stepmother banishes her from the Big House and sends her off to live with her aunt, with her father - the prominent Duke, the leader of the county - promising to bring her home soon. The years pass before the Duke finally calls for Sallie, in the wake of the stepmom's death. It's now Prohibition and Sallie quickly begins to learn what it means being Duke's daughter, a Kincaid, and who she is meant to be.

This was a fantastic novel. There are so many little twists and turns that the story holds from the first chapter all the way through the last page. Can't wait to recommend it!