Kimberly Brock always crafts a truly Southern story full of mystery and intrigue, and no one writes more descriptively about the Georgia coast than her! I could smell the marshy water and feel the ocean breeze on my face as I read her latest, The Fabled Earth. A historical dual timeline mystery set in a small community where secrets grow and change is feared, this book captivated me from the first word. The mystery at its heart will leave you guessing until the end as the twists and turns are as dramatic as the coastline. If you loved “Where the Crawdads Sing,” this book is for you!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC.

Kimberly Brock's new book, her third, THE FABLED EARTH, is a beautifully written, compelling story that will grab you from page one!

Oh my, Kimberly Brock has written another amazing and unbelievable story. She will take you to a place filled with fable, truth, love, hate, despair, sadness, history, and mystery. You will meet and get to know all of these well written characters, as you will become part of their story. You will meet the Buie family, Harl, Nan, Amanda, and Archie, along with Will Tremmons, Glenn & Jimmy Walker, Ambrose Devane or Rosey, Frances Flood, Audrey Howell, Cleo Woodbine, Tate Walker, Joanna Burton, Lumas Gray, Ellis Piedmont, Dr. Johnston & Morrie, grandaddy Dooley, and so many more amazing characters.

There are so many parts in the story that will have you holding your breath in what you witness unfolding in disbelief. The aftermath at Marvel movie theater outside with Will, Audrey and the Buie's, wow. What happens in June 1932 with Joanna on the rings at the Dungeness pool was shocking. The fable story of Lorelei and her pearls. The mystery of what happens to Lumas Gray & Ellis Piedmont. Cleo getting shot. The fire 🔥at Dungeness Mansion. Many more events, some true some not.

I love the friendship that happens between Frances and Audrey. The love in the old & new friendship between Cleo & Tate and Frances & Rosey. The relationship that Cleo has with the tagalongs, Little Hannah, making faces at her in the window, the fiddler that kept her up at nights, Grim the black dog 🐕, scratching at her door, and there's the giant, the Timucuan, all truly unforgettable.

I highly recommend this beautiful tale of The Fabled Earth, a 5 ⭐ read.

I enjoyed discovering this new place and hope to one day visit Cumberland Island.
https://www.nps.gov/cuis/planyourvisit/placestogo.htm

Thank you Netgalley, Harper Muse Books, and Kimberly Brock for the e-book advance reader copy.

Another gorgeous story by Kimberly Brock.

Historical fiction told in dual timelines. We meet Cleo, who has lived a secluded life since a life altering event. Then we fast forward almost 30 years and Frances arrives in Cleo’s world to uncover the mystery involving her mother. Kimberly Brock uses description so powerful, you feel like you are on the land, living with the families in 1932.

Thank you to Net galley for an early copy of the book!

With the Gilded Age past its prime, the robber barons and captains of US industry continue to flaunt their riches. The Carnegies often held hunting parties, and host guests at their mansion Plum Orchard on Cumberland Island. At one such end of season party in 1932 several young men are wined and dined with an annual bonfire on the beach at the end of the night. Expecting scary stories to be told, the young men didn’t anticipate being a part of their own ghost story. A visiting young debutante and an artist with a tenuous connection to the family are the ones left carrying the burden.

Cleo Woodbine has lived alone for decades on the tiny bit of land Kingdom Come that once was home to the servants of the great homes on Cumberland Island. Though she mostly keeps to herself, she has a feeble relationship with a young woman named Audrey on the mainland who she supplies with jams from the fruit she gathers on the island. So, when a folklorist named Frances, and a ghost from her past, Tate, both show up on her doorstep in one week, Cleo knows things are about to change. That night from 1932 that haunts her is going to rear its ugly head, along with the storm of the century building in the Atlantic.

The Fabled Earth is a multi-layered piece of southern historical fiction that will slowly drag the reader in with the tides. The characters fight for the spotlight in this tale, with Cleo always edging the rest out. Though the premise was interesting and the writing superb, I could have done without so many story lines fighting for supremacy. Audrey’s POV felt like an unnecessary tangent, that should have been given less page time in the same vein as Glenn or Will. With so many POVs there were times with the story dragged a bit. This story reads like literary fiction, multilayered with rich prose, and at times consuming.

Thank you to NetGalley, Harper Collins Focus, and author Kimberly Brock for the advanced copy of the book. The Fabled Earth is out on October 1st! All opinions are my own.

Rarely does a work of historical fiction result in me spending hours down rabbit holes on the internet, but "The Fabled Earth" did just that. I was fascinated by the history and lore Kimberly Brock wrote into this story. The ruins of the Carnegie mansions, that are still there today and can be visited, like ancient temples from that era of excess fading from reality and becoming memory and folklore of their own. Brock does a wonderful job of layering tension upon tension creating a very dynamic story that keeps readers turning the page.

’Every one of us has a library we’re carrying around right inside us. All those stories just waiting…Did you know that’s why all stories are ghost stories? They’re our ghosts and we give them life to walk this earth and keep us company.

Set in Georgia’s Cumberland Island, this covers more than one timeline, going back to 1932, as well as in 1959.

This shares Cleo’s story, along with several other characters. Cleo has lived a relatively secluded life, living alone for so long that she seems somewhat reluctant to open her life to others. Eventually, old secrets and mysteries start to be uncovered.

When Frances’ mother dies, she goes to Cumberland Island, seeking answers about her mother, and of what happened the summer of 1932.

This is a beautifully written story, although at times I found the relationships somewhat lacking a feeling of being genuine. There are also moments of danger, and more. There were also some lovely moments when their stories were being shared, which I loved.


Pub Date: 01 Oct 2024


Many thanks for the ARC provided by HarperCollins Focus / Harper Muse

This dual timeline flips back and forth the Guilded Age post-Korean War. Set in a small town on Georgia’s coast, repercussions from events occurring at summer homes of industrial barons impact the next two generations. The current generation tries to unravel the secrets of the past and find their place in their world. Running throughout the book were fables brought by each family. It was a fascinating read. I was able to read an ARC on #NetGalley.

A well crafted southern, historical fiction that weaves in stories that definitely leans on magical realism. All the characters have secrets, some more about protecting others than themselves but they always find the light of day. I enjoyed the backstory but it was the 1959 part of the novel that really had me hooked. At times I had to remind myself that it wasn’t current times and that wasn’t always pleasant. There is a great cast of characters that are flushed out and all have an important part to moving the story from the 1930s to the late 1950s.

Brock’s writing is like slowly slipping into the waters of coastal Southern Georgia, one toe at a time, bit by bit, until you’re fully submerged in an entirely different time and place.

Mesmerizing, rich with mystery, and rooted not in the past but in truths as old as time . . . that myths and legends and monsters far worse than the ones found in fables roam the earth and that disaster can become our salvation if we allow it.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Muse for the complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

In her third novel, Brock (The Lost Book of Eleanor Dare, 2022) proves marvelously adept at intertwining mythic stories and contemporary reality and showing how people reconcile the two. In 1959, painter Cleo Woodbine has lived alone on a tiny isle near Georgia’s Cumberland Island since the terrible events of one long-ago summer. When she receives a mailed obituary for a woman she knew back then, it rocks her world and introduces her to others seeking connection, including folklorist Frances Flood, the late woman’s daughter, and young, widowed innkeeper Audrey Howell. Their viewpoints alternate with Cleo’s experiences in 1932, when a night of storytelling around a bonfire culminated in two young men’s drownings and the potential sighting of a river siren. While tackling issues of race and class prejudice, Brock’s lush, multilayered writing begs to be read slowly as she gently unfolds the mysteries of this picturesque yet haunted Southern landscape, where once-elegant Carnegie mansions still stand. An ideal choice for admirers of Delia Owens, Sarah Loudin Thomas, and Sarah Addison Allen. (Published in Booklist, 9/15/24)

This is a full book... and I mean full! (perhaps too full, at times... I did find it to drag a bit.) But that being said, the story that most fascinated me was Cleo's and her timeline dips back into 1932. I loved her back story tremendously. I knew nothing about Cumberland Island at all before reading this book. But Brock has inspired me to learn more (always a very good thing!)

This story mainly takes place though in 1959, and we find Cleo living somewhat reclusively and there are a few characters that I felt swirled around her, but they did not feel the same to me as Cleo did.

If you like Historical Fiction, you will like this book. It is very much worth a read!

Thanks to Netgalley, HarperCollins Focus | Harper Muse for this advanced digital copy. This book will be out for publication on October 1, 2024.

I’ve been to Cumberland Island so that’s really the main reason why I wanted to read this book. I do think it’s a well written book. There’s a lot going on. The story switches back and forth and at times it’s a little hard to follow. While I enjoyed the story it seemed perhaps a bit too long.

What an interesting story centered around Cumberland Island. These characters are so wonderful and entertaining. I can’t even pick a favorite. This has a wonderful story line, which takes place in two separate time frames. I felt like I was right there with these folks. I loved it!! I received this book from NetGalley, but my opinion is my own.

I enjoyed The Lost Book of Eleanor Dare so I was excited to get this ARC. Kimberly Brock loves Southern lore. She loves storytelling and the stories we pass on to others. This one is about Cumberland Island, GA in 1932 and 1959. Cleo has lived on her own island off of Cumberland since 1932. She came to Georgia to be a chaperone but she was hoping she could stay and be an artist in residence. This is the time of Carnegie opulence. In 1959, Frances' mom has died and she has come to Cumberland Island to get some answers about her mother from something that happened in the summer of 1932. Audrey is a widow who runs the inn on Cumberland Island. We get all three of their perspectives and also the fables from 1932. But really happened? I felt like I was right there in the heat of the south. The author gives great descriptions and making you feel apart of the story. Of course after reading I had to look up Cumberland Island and now I want to visit.

-That was the thing she'd forgotten about hope, how it only serves to remind you there's so much to lose.

-Cleo could be both practical and full of fancy ideas. She believed a life worth living required a bit of both.

-In the myths Frances studied, the stories often began with a lie, and the endings were not always happy ones.

-Rosey wants the world to be like his theater, a place where people sit in the dark and listen to stories and believe they're all friends. That's not the real world. That's not how things change.

Thanks to Netgalley for this advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review - all of which are completely my own.
I wanted to love this book. For the first 25% I was comparing it to Where the Crawdads Sing in the way the author spoke of the island. It felt rich and loved. There was that mystery you know is there and you want to follow along.
But I got lost and couldnt recover. I can't put a finger on where, but slowly after the newness of the book wore off, I found myself drifting away from the story and then unable to snap back in. Most books when you tune out for a page or two, its not hard to rejoin this story, but I found this to wander into a confusing story that becaem harder to follow as I went on. I wanted to go back to the lush island descriptions.
Maybe unpopular. But it was ok for me, mostly because I struggled to stay connected to the story of the novel.

A beautifully written historical fiction. I always love a dual timeline and multiple POVs, & this book delivers both. Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced copy.

OOK REPORT
Received a complimentary copy of The Fabled Earth, by Kimberly Brock, from HarperCollins Focus | Harper Muse/NetGalley, for which I am appreciative, in exchange for a fair and honest review. Scroll past the BOOK REPORT section for a cut-and-paste of the DESCRIPTION of it from them if you want to read my thoughts on the book in the context of that summary. PS Harper Muse sent me an email that said I had to include this language, so here it is: “I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.” I mean, not like you hadn’t figured that out already……just covering all my bases here, kids.

I swear I thought this book was never going to end.

Like, never-EVER going to end.

Yeah, yeah, I get that it was supposed to be a saga and all that, but man did it drag. And no kidding, when I got to page 372 (electronic book) and realized that I still had 12 more pages to go I sighed so loud that I startled all three cats, not just the skittish one.

In addition to thinking that this book was too long, I didn’t much care for/believe in any of the characters. And I thought there was a lot of—shall we say “sanitizing?”—going on, both about the behavior of the rich white men and the racism. I’ve been around both in my life, so trust me, I know whereof I speak.

I guess I should have known when I not only willingly but happily put it down last night with only 100 pages to go in order to eat supper and watch a really bizarre and disturbing Vincent Price horror movie that I really wasn’t a fan. But I felt some sort of responsibility to NetGalley to write what on my planet passes for a review, so I went back at it again today, and here is the result.

If you’d like to read an actual review, go here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

If you’d like to know more about the Vincent Price movie (Cry of the Banshee), go here: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065597/

PS
Came back here the morning after to add this: I should've realized when I found the font on the cover of this book to be extremely off-putting that I wouldn't be a fan. You'd think I'd learn......


DESCRIPTION
Sometimes the truth is found in a folktale.

1932. Cumberland Island off the coast of Southern Georgia is a strange place to encounter the opulence of the Gilded Age, but the last vestiges of the famed philanthropic Carnegie family still take up brief seasonal residence in their grand mansions there. This year’s party at Plum Orchard is a lively group: young men from some of America’s finest families who come to experience the area’s hunting beside a local guide, a beautiful debutante expecting to be engaged by the week’s end, and a promising female artist who believes she has meaningful ties to her wealthy hosts. But when temptations arise and passions flare, an evening of revelry and storytelling goes horribly awry. Lives are both lost and ruined.

1959. Reclusive painter Cleo Woodbine has lived alone for decades on Kingdom Come, a tiny strip of land once occupied by the servants for the great houses on nearby Cumberland. When she is visited by the man who saved her life nearly thirty years earlier, a tempest is unleashed as the stories of the past gather and begin to regain their strength. Frances Flood is a folklorist come to Cumberland Island seeking the source of a legend—and also information about her mother, who was among the guests at a long-ago hunting party. Audrey Howell, briefly a newlywed and now newly widowed, is running a local inn. When she develops an eerie double exposure photograph, some believe she’s raised a ghost—someone who hasn’t been seen since that fateful night in 1932.

Southern mythology and personal reckoning collide in this sweeping story inspired by the little-known history of Cumberland Island when a once-in-a-century storm threatens the natural landscape. Faced with a changing world, two timelines and the perspectives of three women intersect where a folktale meets the truth to reveal what Cumberland Island has hidden all along.

• Historical women’s fiction
• Stand-alone novel
• Book length: approximately 120,000 words
• Includes discussion questions for book clubs

The Fabled Earth,by Kimberly Brock is a wonderful character driven story. It's delicious, moody, and rich, and I enjoyed every page. If you like dual timelines, historical fiction, or women's fiction then this is your book.

The Fabled Earth is a work of complex literary fiction. The writing is moody, etherial and deeply layered. The descriptions of the Cumberland landscape are mesmerizing. This is a story of past and present, forgiveness, redemption and finding ones self. I recommend this book for lovers of literary fiction and expressive writing. 4 stars.
Many thanks to Net Galley and HarperCollins Focus | Harper Muse for a chance to read an ARC version of this book. All opinions are my own.