Sallie Kincaid has numerous talents that would be helpful to her father and his business. Despite this fact, she plays second-best to her younger brother, who is lauded and encouraged merely for being a boy. He is nothing like Sallie, but is timid, uninterested in business. Sallie strives her entire life to make her father recognize her and be proud, but it's not years of being discounted that she finally makes her own way. Interesting story and characters, and a good read.

This is a moving story of finding one’s place in the world and in their own family. I was entranced by this story and these characters, specially the protagonist. A novel about being a part of something and protecting those who matter while just trying to survive. It was poignant and smart and very well written.

Jeannette Walls is just a superb writer. I remember so distinctly reading The Glass Castle for the first time and absolutely falling in love with Walls' storytelling. I remain in love. Her way of developing characters, how we root for them even when we don't like them very much, is phenomenal. She's just a wonderful storyteller and I'm never sorry to have spent time with her work. I would recommend Hang the Moon to anyone who wants to be engrossed in a great story.

I usually like Jeannette Walls books, but this one was a little harder for me to get into. Once I forced myself to stick with it and read a few chapters, it got better, but it didn't hook me from the beginning like her other stuff has. Still it's a great book, by a talented writer who has an amazing story to share.

Jeanette Walls is the author of outstanding memoirs, most notably The Glass Castle. Her new novel, Hang the Moon, is brilliant, and you should read it. My thanks go to Net Galley and Scribner for the review copy. This book is for sale now.

Sallie Kinkaid is born and raised near the turn of the twentieth century in a tiny backwater in Virginia, daughter of its wealthy scion, “Duke” Kinkaid. Her mother has died, and Duke has remarried, and now Sallie has a younger half-brother, Eddie. Sallie is a daredevil, given to occasional recklessness, whereas Eddie has a gentler, more introverted nature, with a love of learning and music. But one day, hoping to awaken some more adventurous aspect of his personality, Sallie takes Eddie out for a ride in her cart, and he is injured. Just like that, Sallie no longer lives with her father; she is cast out to live with an impoverished aunt, and there she remains for nearly a decade.

Sallie is a young woman when she returns, and now she must navigate the shoals of local politics, keeping clear of Duke’s sometimes unpredictable temper. Duke owns nearly every property in the county, and he is deft at doling out favors and keeping the local peace, always in a way that works to his own advantage. Sallie has a hundred questions, some longstanding, and others that develop as she works for her father. However, questions are discouraged in the Kinkaid home. An aunt tells her, “Honey, there are some rocks you don’t want to look under.”

When the local economy is shaken by the unthinkable, Sallie must make some hard choices as she comes into her own. Moonshine has long been an unofficial, yet pivotal way that the local working class makes its living, and when feuds erupt and the government attempts to intervene, Sallie must choose sides. In doing so, she discovers some hard truths about the family she thought she knew.

Walls is at her best here, with a strong, resonant setting, a clear, credible plot, and unforgettable characters. This is the sort of book that one comes back to. Highly recommended.

Sallie is only three years old when her mother dies during a fight with her father. Shortly after Duke marries Jane and finally has a son, Eddy, but Eddy is not like his dad. He would rather read and play the piano than hunt and shoot. When Eddy gets in an accident while playing with Sallie Duke sends Sallie away to live with her Aunt Faye. For NINE years and he sees her once a year at most until Jane dies and then he needs Sallie to help take care of Eddy. Sally is feisty, never wants to get married, and just wants to be her own woman. There are a lot of secrets in this book to the point that I started rolling my eyes. I could hear a voice in my head saying, "but wait, there's more!" The writing was fine. There were a lot of characters but I had no problem keeping track of them but I would have liked more character development and fewer secrets.

Thank you to Netgalley and Scribner for providing me with a digital copy.

Requested this book from NetGalley because Jeanette Walls’ memoir “The Glass Castle” was a great read. I had not read any of her fiction prior to reading “Hang the Moon”. This is a historical fiction set in the south during the time of Prohibition. Part coming of age, part sweeping family saga, I wish one or the other had been done well. In fact the middle was so haphazard with bullets from the action scenes flying all over the place. One of the main characters falls by the wayside until the very end of the book. Overall, this book was just ok.
Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for giving me a digital ARC.

This is not The Glass Castle. It is VERY important to go into Hang the Moon clear on this. I was able to fully enjoy this novel once I let all expectations go as fiction is very different from memoir. Walls clearly knows how to write fiction just as strongly as she does memoir. I was gripped by this story and cared SO deeply

Jeannette Walls, with unparalleled perception and kindness brings to us the inner voices of people who survive and thrive, despite their extraordinary dysfunctional families. I have loved each of her books for her gift of writing, so much that I read hours and hours until my eyes will not let me stay awake. Hang the Moon may be her best book.

Duke Kincaid, owner of the Big House and the Emporium Store in Caywood, a small town in Virginia, is tough and in charge. He's married to his third wife, Jane. Sallie is eight years old, the daughter of Duke's second wife. Her mother died when she was three. Jane, wife number three is mother to Eddie. He's three years old and very much a "mama's boy." Rough and tumble Sallie loves her brother. Jane doesn't love Sallie though and things she's bad for Eddie. So, when something happens that gives Jane leverage, Duke agrees to send Sallie to live with her Aunt Faith, until this blows over. Faith is very poor, a little disreputable, and a loving aunt who does her best by Sallie. It is around 1910. Almost ten years later, Duke brings Sallie home. Jane has died and he wants her to teach Eddie, 13, and to make sure he"mans up" and becomes a real Kincaid. Duke knows Sallie is all Kincaid. The brilliant sensitive Eddie takes to Sallie and she to him, but she nurtures him in his grief for his mother, ignoring her father's directive.

As the story unfolds, changes come to the family, with disputes over property and power. Duke marries again to an unexpected type of woman, Kat. She's a widow, a bit bawdy, but she could just give Duke the kind of son he wants. Duke goes on as usual. He dispenses justice. Looks over his vast property holdings. Continues to accept payment for goods from the store in the form of fine locally distilled whiskey, even into prohibition. He makes sure handpicked men, like his brother-in-law Earl hold positions of authority and influence in the town. Sallie still adores Duke. As things evolve, Sallie grows up and learns a lot more about her background, her family and Duke's nature.

Over time, there are deaths, murders, bootlegging and a fortune to be had through running bootleg liquor to better places with better prices. The characters in the novel are fabulous. Eddie, the piano playing, sensitive and brainy small boy; Aunt Mattie, Duke's sister who would have been Duke if she were male; Aunt Faith who is judged for bad choices all driven by poverty, while the wealthy people who judge her profit from immorality; Sallie, an independent, smart girl, then woman who is not interested in marriage and who has great business sense and common sense; Frank Rawley, an entrepreneurial handsome man who helps Sallie figure out how to improve revenue; Nell, longtime housekeeper and cook for the big house; Tom Dunbar, a law student and Sallie's childhood friend who wants more than friendship with Sallie; various ordinary townsfolk, some rough and scary drunks and some kindly, but poor and all beholden to Duke.

Ultimately, Walls poses a universal question for people whose families are not okay and cause them trauma. How do we find peace and connection with people so that our lives have meaning? How do we let go of what has hurt us and move on? This period piece, placing us smack in the years of prohibition, with its boozy parties, its small town caste system and the roles of strong women who are typecast into expectations of marriage and children and sensitive boys who are expected to be rough and tough rings true throughout. It is moving, sad, triumphant, full of loss and redemption. Highly, highly recommend. But if you've read Jeannette Walls, you already bought the book.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster Scribner Books for gifting me a digital ARC of the latest novel by Jeannette Walls - 4.5 stars!

Sallie Kincaid is the daughter of The Duke, the biggest man in the county at the turn of the 20th century in rural Virginia. Sallie's mother died when she was young and Duke quickly remarried and had a son. When an accident happened that Sallie was deemed at fault, she was sent to live with her aunt. It was supposed to be for only a month but ended up being 9 years. She lived quite the different life during that period - she went from a rich home to scrubbing laundry for money enough to get by at her aunt's. When she is finally allowed back home, things are very different. She soon gets involved in things she could never have imagined.

Jeannette Walls can certainly write, as proven in her memoir The Glass Castle as well as her other novels. This is such an interesting look into the times of Prohibition as viewed through Sallie's eyes. Everyone in her family had so many secrets, yet Sallie was such a strong character, trying to do what was right, even if it was not legal. She stood up and took charge when she needed to, and took care of those around her. Loved the ending!

4.5 stars

Nothing like a true strong woman and a devotion to family.
(More to come)

Was I intrigued? Yes, indeed! I so enjoy books about strong, stand on your own two feet women, women who are capable of withstanding the hard knocks of life and come back with her fists raised and ready for battle.

Such a girl was Sallie Kincaid second daughter of the backwoods titan, Duke Kincaid. She adored her powerful father, and sought strength in him and his name, but Duke was a hard taskmaster and demanded the best from his children. He was a denizen in town, a man not to be messed with, and Sallie did whatever Duke desired. When Duke married for the third time, his new wife did not cotton to Sallie and after a childhood type of accident involving her and her step brother, she was sent off into the wilds of her aunt's home, a place where tough work but kindness and love resided.

It was suppose to be for a month, but it turned into nine years when Sallie returns to the big house where she learns to deal with tensions and quite a bit of unlawfulness. When Duke passes, her step brother and older step sister eventually die, and sadness fills the household, but tough resilient Sallie goes forward and of all things becomes a bootlegger in order to not only ensure her survival but that of her beloved aunt, and the people who so rely on the Kincaid name.

I so enjoyed Sallie's story, her toughness, her courage, and her ability to shine in a time when Prohibition reigned. Tough times demand tough people and Sallie was certainly the one to step into the life she was destined to fulfill.

Thank you to Jeannette Walls, Scribner, and NetGalley for a copy of this story which published March 28, 2023.

ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

I honestly had no idea what this story was about before starting the book and I was pleasantly surprised! The writing is well done and the characters all have long backstories. It can be difficult to to remember who’s who at first but as I continued reading it got easier. I really enjoyed the place and tome that this story was set and how most people were just trying to survive by any means necessary, mainly bootlegging whiskey. If you’re into historic fiction with the story centering around family drama, be sure to check this book out!

This extraordinary novel about a fiercely independent girl growing up during the 1930’s in the remote hills of Virginia, her no-good, two-timing, powerful Daddy, and how she emerges a force to be reckoned with during Prohibition mesmerizes. It has all the earmarks of an American classic, and once again like Wells’ other novels draws heavily on true family history.

Sally Kincaid is the daughter of Duke who ruled the small-town business, government, and police in the small rural Virginia mountain town where Sally grows up. Sally’s mother, a free spirit herself, had died during a violent, and not-spoken-about since, argument with Duke when Sally was just a toddler. Remarried, Duke exiles Sally from their huge home her at age 8 to live with mother’s sister as her stepmom sees Sally’s wild ways as endangering her younger frail step-brother Eddie.

Sally lives with her impoverished Aunt Fae, taking in wash to soak in lye in order to meet ends meet, until summoned back home by Duke at age 17 after her stepmom dies. Tasked with looking after Eddie, Sally’s smarts, sharp instincts, `and forthrightness take her instead deeper in Duke’s business dealings and tenant rent collections. Sally also has to contend with the contentious family politics of the extended Kincaid family, and the intrinsic violence of a long-standing feud between the Kincaids and the Bond Brothers family.

Well’s recreates the dialog and slang of the age with an ear of perfection, drawing you into a time when hillbilly twang and generational feuds ruled the area.

Sally’s fierceness, boldness, empathy and resourcefulness rushes the book along through turbulent years of bootlegging whiskey from the mountains to well-paying city folk, along with betrayals, political showdowns, and revealed deeply held family secrets too numerous to count.

In short: an irresistible heroine and another brilliant novel served up by Wells.


Thanks to Scribner and NetGalley for an advanced reader’s copy

I am feeling quite at odds on how to review this book. The story takes place and the early 1920s, during the time of prohibition, in a small Virginia town. In the beginning, I felt sad for this little girl Sallie. Her life was thrown into a tailspin with the death of her mother. Her father, being a very powerful man in stature, and in the community, she had no one else to look up to. The majority of the story has many tragic encounters. I began to wonder what the plot of the story was. It reminded me of a soap opera set in the 1920s. I’m not sure what possessed me to continue reading but it was as if I could not put it down. I think I was hopeful for redemption or happiness for Sallie. I won’t give any spoilers, but I will say I’m glad I finished it. Because of her hardships Sallie had no choice, but to become a strong independent woman.

“Outlaw. Rumrunner. Bootlegger. Blockader. 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.”

Hang the Moon is a historical fiction book about prohibition Virginia in the 1920s. Sallie Kincaid is born to the richest and most powerful man in the county but he has no problem sending her off when his third wife wants her gone. Years later Sallie returns and tries to fit back into her family and the business.

I liked Sallie and her determination but overall the book was just okay. I found it to be heavy on convenient deaths and marriages. There was plenty of family drama to go around and lots of secrets coming out. I’m in Kentucky so a lot of this was familiar or relatable in some ways. Mountain people are tough and make the best of what they have. They do what they have to to survive and I love that theme throughout the book.

Great read! Characters are well developed and the plot is interesting. I love the time frame and the setting of this story. Can't wait to get this in my library so I can recommend it to patrons!

Hang the Moon by Jeannette Walls is my first book by this author. I do have a couple by her that I've hung onto because they were gifts and I always wanted to read them. I think I have to make room for them in my schedule now that I have tasted her writing style.

This book takes place in the 1920's during prohibition. It has it all. There is bootlegging, family feuds, love stories, cheating and everything in between. It was a good story and kept me turning the pages. Don't you just love a great story?

Reading the author's notes at the end, it looks like she put a lot of research into this book. She  based some of the characters and happenings with historical events. I enjoy a story that has some truth to it. I will have to say there was an awful lot of cheatin going on in this family. It just wasn't in the current generation but went back many generations. 

If you like Historical Fiction and reading about different time periods, then this book might be for you. Until next time…Happy Reading!

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Quick and Dirty⁣
-Southern historical fiction⁣
-Prohibition-era⁣
-coming of age story⁣
-fiercely independent female MC⁣
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Musings⁣
I love a good Southern setting in a novel. It takes me home without the cost of a flight! And joining Sally Kincaid and the gang in their small Virginia town was like stepping back into familiar yet foreign territory. I really enjoyed the character development in this book, particularly that of Sally. She's the daughter of the town's most prominent businessman, The Duke, who all but owns the town. We meet Sally when she's young and being sent to live with an aunt after her stepmother decides she's a bad influence on her young, feeble step-brother. We meet her several years later, a young woman now back in town to help her father hold the family together after the sudden death of her stepmother. As you can imagine, drama ensues! But the death of The Duke a short time later sends everything into a tailspin. Everyone is jockeying for power, including her family. Sally is eventually forced to step up to take control of the chaos, and in doing so proves she was the rightful heir all along. The book is action-packed, particularly the latter half which has late-night whiskey runs and shootouts! And I have to say the parallels with the Tudor dynasty are pretty cool when you zoom out and see the full picture. If you enjoyed Sandra Brown's Blind Tiger, you should not miss this book!

Prohibition Era in the deep South is the plot. I wanted so badly to love this authors work of fiction. The female lead was well developed but the plot stayed somewhat stagnant for me.

Jeannette Walls is one of my favorites, so I was so excited to see a new book coming out after years of silence. I didn’t go in expecting anything comparable to The Glass Castle (one of my all-time favorites), but I read her novels Half Broke Horses and The Silver Star years ago and loved them, so I was thrilled to see a new novel from her.

Unfortunately, this book was a swing and a miss. 😞 There was so much potential here — A spunky female heroine, a small southern town in a prohibition setting, whiskey bootlegging, family drama, racial conflict… unfortunately it all just fell flat.

There were definitely moments where Walls’ writing shone through and reminded me what a good writer she is, but those moments were few and far between. My biggest complaint was that the plot had so much going on and yet, none of it really felt central. It was like there was so much going on, it was boring and felt like nothing going on. The whole thing read like a first draft and if the plot had been reworked and focused a bit and the characters developed a little more, this book could have been much more.