“If the Creek Don’t Rise” by Leah Weiss

Leah Weiss has written of a poor small town in Appalachia. A novel that is richly and honestly written. It is a story using present day first person and is told from the perspective of several main characters. In telling their present day stories, the characters also reach into their past to provide a fuller and more reliable history of themselves and their relationships with others. The characters are all so varied and flawed; so realistic and human. So well written.

This is an authentic read that brings forth the heart of Appalichia, the effects of a poor town where present day hooch, ginseng root, and mining are all means of trying to make a living. For some, it is via stealing. Whatever it takes to get by.

This novel addresses the stereotypes, truths, falsehoods, and the mysticism of small town life in an area that is not well educated or well spoken. The author has nailed the dialect of the area as well as their cultural and belief system. To cement this aspect, she introduces a character from “the city,” as a means of bringing forth the cultural, verbal, and even dress differences within the two areas of Virginia.

Leah Weiss has written a fabulous, meaningful, and captivating novel that will remind the reader of many well-written southern writers, making this a must read for so many.

Rating: 4.7
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

**I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this novel. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

"This high place is hard on folks who give in or give up. For those who stay, Baines Creek is enough."

In building this moving portrait of 1970s Appalachia, Leah Weiss manages to capture the voice and character of a fascinating region.

Told from the point of view of members of the Baines Creek community, each voice is a diverse note weaving into the one harmonious whole. As one of her characters says - here the author has written about the baby, not the bathwater. While the poverty is a background character in it's own right, the people are what we are focused on, and it's those people who ensure this becomes a story of hope.

One of my favorite books of the year - my sincere thanks to the publisher and to Netgalley for providing a free copy in return for an honest review.

This debut novel has everything a reader wants: well-detailed characters, interesting setting, unexpected plot twists. Leah Weiss has created characters that touch emotions, whether it's Sadie Blue and her wife-beating husband, her cantankerous grandmother or the unexpected strength of a new, yet older school teacher. All the characters come together in the rural and mystery-laden backwoods to fuel a novel that's rich, honest and gritty. Readers will find themselves drawn to know more about the characters, and Weiss feeds that hunger with well-developed back stories. The characters literally jump off the pages as they try to come to grips with how the past (superstitions) and the present (knowledge) to create a stronger community.

How I loved 'If the Creek Don't Rise'! I couldn't believe that this was Leah Weiss's first novel. It is beautifully written and carefully crafted, so that I felt every word was carefully chosen and nothing was wasted. The characters felt so alive to me, so real and present. I loved the way the book was written from the point of view of different characters, so that we saw some of the same events from different perspectives. I can't recommend this book highly enough. I hope Ms. Weiss will be writing another novel soon.

Sadie Blue's story grabbed me from the very first sentence and would not let me go until I reached the breathtaking conclusion. With each chapter narrated from the point of view of a different character, readers get an ever-widening view of Sadie's life in Appalachia in the 1970s. For fans of Olive Kitteridge, Bastard Out of Carolina, and Kentucky Straight.

I liked this book but there were several characters whose stories weren't fully told. I wanted to know more about them. The book had an interesting story line, I just thought it could have been better.

WOW! This book blew me away. Powerful storytelling and I loved the characters. I hope that the author does a sequel! I fell in love with the characters and their back stories!

A debut novel set in the Appalachian region of North Carolina, a place I find enchanting. It was Christy meets Cold Mountain, and if you get those references, you're probably on your way to get this book right now. I instantly felt a connection to the characters of this book, and enjoyed learning about how each one saw their world, even seeing particular happenings in the book through the lens of various individuals. A well crafted novel.

absolutely loved this. the voices ring clear - the pure as well as the evil ones. the poverty. hope, strength and spirit of these downtrodden Appalachian souls was so compelling.

Some books you just read, escape, and enjoy until they're finished. Other books, they have this way of getting under your skin, staying on your mind, crawling around inside your head as you move on with your life. If the Creek Don't Rise is just that kind of book.

It was difficult to read in so many ways, yet completely impossible to put down. All in turns it broke my heart and gave me hope. Shattered my faith and gave me reasons to believe.

"I prayed hard to the devil cause my prayers to God won't never answered."

While this is set in the past, it isn't a far off past. It's one that my mother lived through, filled with places that are set in my home state. Following a group of rural people, it isn't a far removed fantasy, or a tragic piece of history. It's still raw and unhealed, with time only barely softening the edges.

"Times like these I wonder if I ever been happy. From the start there's been a film of dingy on my days. I've always done woman's work; man's work too. Woke up with work to do and went to bed before it got done. I see some folks walk easy and carry peace on their shoulders, but I been chained to a iron life."

I recognized the speech, because it was akin to the speech I grew up hearing from my Mamaw. The author captures that deep southern twang, the kind that comes across sounding ignorant even when it carries oh so much wisdom. I grew up in a world where woman's work was never done, and when there wasn't a man to do, they did for themselves. Not that women can't do now. Oh, but we can. There was just something a little more exhausting perhaps about having to do it all in a n age that refused to recognize you as an equal person. It's a great way to compare just how far we've come, and how far we have to go. How much those who are still struggling need our help.

"The good and bad of me is that I see blessings most every day in every way. Even when it's a speck that shines in a great see of sad."

So much sadness. The children, who deserve more. The parents who don't know how to offer more. Then the main characters, who are stuck with their lots in life and trying to decide if it's better to rebel, to dare ask for more. Or easier just to live it while they can. So much depth in the characters, they could have been my neighbors, my family. I knew them. I was them. When it all came to an end, I wasn't dissatisfied, just empty. It was too much and not enough all in one. It's hard to distinguish this as a happy ending or sad ending because there were no magical happy ever afters in a time and place that made them lucky to even get an ever after. It left me with a contentedness, a satisfaction. Yet still, just like Sadie, I want more.

"I look at this tin can of a trailer that don't look bad in the dusky light. I straighten my back, lift my chin, and call out in a strong, strange voice I claim as mine."

The blurb was correct on this very entertaining book. I did get way down deep with my feelings for the characters and the setting of this book.

I really feel as though the author did a great job with the characters and making me feel as though I was really there in those hollers and mountains. The dialect used for the characters just really brought it all together.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. Sad that the women had to "take things into their own hands" to get rid of their problems.

Thanks to Sourcebooks Landmark and Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

This book had a lot of interesting characters, set up in the backwoods where outsiders are discouraged from entering.

I liked the depth of characters in this book however where it fell short for me was where the story never really resolves itself. The book just sort of ends and while there is a sort of resolve to the main character, all the side stories never really get told.

I have never read anything like If the Creek Don’t Rise by Leah Weiss before and I mean this in a good way. The story turned out to be different from what I was expecting. One thing that set it apart was the narrative style. The story is set in Baines Creek, a small, mountain town in North Carolina. The town was a character in itself. It was the kind of town where all residents knew each other. What I didn’t understand though was the education sector in the town. It sounded like there were no schools apart from the kindergarten where the kids learned. I thought this was a bit odd though a minor detail.

The book is about the residents of Baines Creek told through multiple narrations. Each POV is told in about only two chapters. However, the stories are interwoven so that the only thing that changes is the narrator. At first, the style was frustrating. I wanted to hear more from some of the characters like grandma, Gladys and Sadie but then new narrators kept being introduced. It took a while to adjust to the changing POVs but once I did, I ended up really enjoying the narration. By the way, apart from the narrators, the author used a different dialect in some of the dialogue to reflect the setting.

This being a character-led story, readers get to really know each of the MCs. I think my favorite one was Sadie because I sympathized with her. She was a lovely girl, unfortunately married to an abusive monster. I liked how she was friendly, her love for Loretta’s music and in general, her kind, gentle spirit. I was frustrated by her inability to leave her husband although I did understand why. I liked her auntie, Marris and grandma, Gladys and the teacher, Kate. Even the herbalist, Birdie, was a delight to read about and so was Pastor Eli. Okay, I liked most of the characters. Some I really disliked though like Roy (Sadie’s abusive husband) and his sidekick, Billy. The reverend’s sister , Prudence, was kinda mean too. The author did a fantastic job with the crafting of characters such that all of them felt familiar by the end of the book. I got to know them and form attachments with some of them and I enjoyed the fact that we got to hear their side of the narration.

The writing of this story was done well. I found it addictive even though this wasn’t a suspenseful read like what I usually go for. However, I was invested in the story and the characters and for a while, I got lost in Baines Creek. The ending was twisted, unpredictable and perfect for the story. I think that this book will appeal to readers of character-driven stories and Southern Literature. If you like small town settings then I suggest that you take a trip to Baines Creek.

Only 15 days into her marriage to Roy Tupkin and Sadie Blue is already regretting it. Baby or no baby, she never should have married a man who beats her for no reason other than singing along to the Loretta Lynn song she loves — and that's not even the worst of it. But Sadie Blue is not the first or the last woman in Baines Creek to deal with a no-good husband. If The Creek Don't Rise, by debut novelist Leah Weiss, paints a fascinating, gripping portrait of the interconnected and often unseen ways people help each other get by in this remote Appalachian town.

Like her granddaughter Sadie Blue, Gladys also had one hell of a husband (but she ... did something about her Walter). And then there's her neighbor Marris who's always dropping by help with a pie or the dishes or unexpected cleanups. Together, these two women know they can't force Sadie Blue to quit her marriage, but they let her know she'll have a place to turn to.

It's the arrival of Kate Shaw, the new teacher from down in the valley, that gives Sadie Blue an idea that there's "a special life" for her that doesn't involve Roy — or maybe it's something darker, maybe it's the disappearance of the mysterious Darlene. After all, everybody knows that no-good Roy and his "shadow" Billy Barnhill had something to do with that girl vanishing.

Weiss steadily builds the tension to an ending you knew was coming — and, let's be honest, probably hoped for — yet it still arrives as a sudden, powerful shock.
The very real threat of danger to all these women — Sadie and Kate, especially — is like a black cloud hovering over the story. Surly and distant Prudence Perkins, sister to the town preacher, thinks: "Even being four, I wondered who defended us girls. I was too shy back then to ask. Now I know — it's nobody." But it's not always nobody. It's women like Marris or teacher Kate, or preacher Eli Perkins, who is relentlessly dedicated to serving his neighbors, especially Sadie: "I've been planting seeds a long time to help her believe in herself," he says at one point. And it's "crazy" old Birdie Rocas, who knows the healing power of the plants and other secrets of the mountain.

In Baines Creek, it's the women who don't have that network of support who run into real trouble — the missing girl, Darlene, or the mothers of bad boys Billy and Roy, whose tough and unforgiving circumstances, we're given to understand, turned these boys into men who can't love even when it comes to a girl like Sadie Blue. Or Gladys.

While If The Creek Don't Rise is Sadie Blue's story, Weiss tells it through the perspectives of those who help — or hurt — her, delving deeply into each character's point of view and backstory and creating a different, perfect voice for each character. Layer upon layer of perspective reveals what happens to Darlene and Sadie Blue, and provides an immersive and deeply emotional reading experience — especially satisfying for readers who love richly drawn characters and a strong sense of place.

Weiss steadily builds the tension to an ending you knew was coming — and, let's be honest, probably hoped for — yet it still arrives as a sudden, powerful shock. It's a shock that lingers, leaving you thinking about what it means to be a strong woman — and what it means to escape.

If the Creek Don’t Rise is a glimpse into the remote Appalachian culture. The dialogue and the character development, pull you in and make you feel like you are a part of it.

The main character is Sadie Blue. Sadie is pregnant, and has been married for 15 days to Roy Tupkin. Everyone in town knows that Roy is bad news and now with the beatings that are occurring regularly, Sadie knows it too.

The story is told through the eyes of several characters, Sadie tying them all together. Most of the characters know what is happening to Sadie, but they dob’t want to get in her business. They are hoping that she will decide for herself to leave Roy and then they will be there to help her.

There are several interesting characters. A fresh voice comes from Kate Shaw - a new teacher that has just come to town. The town goes through teachers quickly and no one expects her to stay.

On the whole, I enjoyed this book. I thought the writing was excellent and the character development really made the book shine. Growing up with physical violence in my own childhood, made this book hit a little too close for comfort. I almost stopped reading it, but I’m glad I kept with it. The ending was perfect.

I received an ARC of the book.

a big 5 stars! Weiss takes us on a wonderful journey in a fictional North Carolina holler in the 1970's. It's so creatively told with many narrators who weave together the story of Sadie Blue, a pregnant teen with a new husband who beats her regularly. It's all about the characters, so if character studies aren't your thing this one isn't for you. I intentionally read it slowly, just 1 chapter at a time to make it last as long as possible... Not that it wasn't a captivating read because it is but I knew I wouldn't find another book like this for a while and didn't want it to end.
If I could think of a flaw it would be that I am left wanting to know so much more about each and every one of the characters, I would have liked the book to be twice as long just to get to know everyone a little better, but I think that's a good flaw.

I highly recommend to all lovers of Southern Fiction

Can't stop thinking about the characters in this book. Great new author that really gets Appalachia.

Seventeen-year old Sadie Blue is pregnant. Despite having only been married for fifteen days, she knows that her drunken and abusive husband, Roy Tupkin, is bad news based on how regularly he knocks her about. Sadie wants more for herself than a life as Roy’s battered wife, but the small mountain town of Baines Creek, where she lives, is not a place where change is welcomed. However, when a stranger arrives in town to teach at the school, the locals are suspicious and confused by her unusual ways and attitudes, but Miss Kate Shaw may, in fact, be the friend that Sadie needs to escape from Roy’s clutches.

Written in the first-person perspective of a multitude of colourful and varying characters, “If the Creek Don’t Rise” is an engaging and moving story about strength and self-belief and the difficulty of breaking free from the inertia of small town life. The book was extremely readable and the different narratives all felt as if they were truly coming from different characters – from the kind-hearted preacher, Eli Perkins, and his judgemental sister, to Sadie’s bitter grandmother, to the controversial teacher, Kate, and even Roy himself. As a reader, I naturally felt sympathy for the ‘nice’ characters and wanted things to turn out well for them but the author also manages to show the other side of the ‘nasty’ characters and the events in their lives that have led to them being the way they are, making their personalities extremely multidimensional and realistic. You come away from the story feeling as if you know each of the different people involved and asking yourself questions about their lives and what you yourself would have done had you been in their circumstances.

The setting of this book was masterfully created by the author and the writing really sets the scene in a way that vividly transports the reader to the mountainside throughout the story. Whilst not exactly thrilling, the narratives are engaging and mostly keep you turning pages to see what happens next. Some of the subjects that the book touches on are quite dark and upsetting but the author tackles them sensitively and manages to excellently and honestly portray a way of life that is extremely different from the one we know.

Unfortunately, some of the characters’ stories didn’t seem to have a real ‘ending’ to them, but I felt that this was probably done deliberately by the author in order to give us a realistic snapshot of life in Appalachia rather than creating an artificially rounded tale for each of her characters. I found the ending a little unsatisfying as a result but still enjoyed the book and found myself thinking about the characters after I had put it down, imagining how things might have turned out for them. My other criticisms were that at times multiple different characters described the same events in a way that was a little repetitive, and also the narratives would sometimes move back and forward in time between characters, which could be a little confusing.

Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone interested in reading about a different way of life or is interested in human stories, although fans of thrillers and extreme drama may find it a little slow-paced. Nonetheless, I very much enjoyed it and would be keen to read more by this author.

Daenerys

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review

I received this ARC from netgalley.com in exchange for a review.

Baines (means bones, referencing the Civil War era) Creek is high up in a very remote part of the Appalachian mountains. Dirt poor, scrabbling to have basic human needs met, Sadie Blue realizes she made a big mistake marrying Roy Tupkin about 15 days into the marriage, even though she is very pregnant.

The story is told by all the people who are involved in Sadie and Roy's life, but Sadie's story which is woven through everyone else's story rings out the loudest. Sadie is courageous and tenacious, living a tough life. Good read.

4☆

I added If the Creek Don’t Rise: A Novel to my summer reading list because the setting and description reminded me of Hillbilly Elegy.

This book is fiction, but many of the themes are the same as in Elegy: people in isolated communities, living in poverty, with addiction and violence, and no easy way out.

I was pleasantly surprised by this novel, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

First of all, It includes strong women characters, one is Sadie, who has followed the usual path in marrying a bad husband too young, but she has a plan. And another character who isn’t even mentioned in the publisher’s notes, Miss Shaw, a teacher who comes to the area to attempt to make a difference, was my favorite. No previous teacher has lasted very long in this area.

The story is told by alternating (mostly women) point of views in a readable Appalachian dialect. While Sadie gets inspiration from Loretta Lynn songs, Sadie’s grandma, who also once did what she had to do, pays tribute to Mother Jones who called out the coal mining industry:

“Mother Jones don’t like that coal miners put a pile of gold coins in rich men’s pockets and nary a penny in their own. If daddies got hurt, boys got sent into the mines. When bills weren’t paid, then families got put out on the road -their stuff crammed in a paper poke. If a man was to say out loud That ain’t right, he’d be gone without a trace. When Mother Jones says That ain’t right, folks listen.”

There is an interesting dynamic and friendship between Miss Shaw (an atheist) and the town preacher, another good character. Not all the characters are likeable but mostly we find out why they are the way they are, for example the preacher’s sister Prudence, who can’t stand the happiness Miss Shaw is bringing to the children of the community:

“I come to the schoolhouse and look in the windows at an odd sight. The children twirl and whirl with their arms up and out, and old Miss Shaw does the same thing. Even through closed windows I hear their voices singsong, Autumn leaves are falling down…yellow, red, orange, and brown! At the end little heads drop from sight as bodies fall to the floor and giggle. Then the door flies open, and boys and girls with rosy cheeks spill out and swirl past me. I’m shot through with envy at simple joy that won’t mind, and anger grabs me so tight I can’t breathe.“

I found this a solid, entertaining, and interesting read in a setting I wanted to know more about.