Great book, very character driven! Vividly written, you can see the story play out as you read it. Although the book revolves around Sadie blue, who is 17 years old, pregnant and newly married to an abusive husband- I liked Birdie & Kate! I will remember them most when I think about this book.

This was one of those books that when you finished it you let out a big "ah" and with a smile on your face as you think good for you Sadie Blue. In this debut novel we are taken to a small town in Appalachia West Virginia where we meet its inhabitants, the good and the really bad elements that make these character come alive in the reader's imagination.

Ms Weiss lets us into the thoughts and the desires of people who live in abject poverty. Sadie Blue, seventeen years old and pregnant, is married to a brutal wife beater Roy Tupkin. Roy is the quintessential bad man who rivals the devil in his words and actions. Into Sadie's life comes a middle aged school teacher who lifts Sadie up and provides a very lifeline to her.

The grittiness and humanness of the characters living within Baines Creek make for a wonderful exploration into the soul and character of people living in poverty. The novel is narrated by ten different characters giving one a look into their lives, their needs, and the way they interact in world where life is ever so hard. We see the goodness in people as they band together helping one another as well as the very evil some do.

This was a powerful look which will break your heart into the life of Appalachia. It points out so well what is needed and found in the resilience of the human spirit. The only drawback to this novel was the fact that in many cases we are left without knowing the fate of most of the characters. I found myself wanting more which is perhaps the very feeling of those who lived and struggled in this part of our nation experience.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for providing an advanced copy of this novel for an unbiased review.

“She was a promisin’ girl who got ruint by a trashy man.”

This is book that transports you to Baines Creek, North Carolina deep in the Appalachian mountains in 1970. There is poverty and ignorance there but also wisdom and strength.

The author does a great job giving several narrators their own unique voices - Sadie, a young, pregnant girl that fell for a no-good man; her grandmother; the preacher; Birdie, the local midwife and healer; my favorite character - Kate, the new schoolteacher who is from out of the mountains; and more. There were a few characters that I felt that I didn't get to hear their full story. I wish the book had been a bit longer, or had an epilogue so that I could have more of a sense of this segment of their stories being finalized.

It was a pleasant change to read a book that let me visualize the countryside and the characters so vividly. I felt like I was a silent bystander watching and hearing all that transpires in this little community.

One of the only things that bothered me was a single word that was used often in the book. Nitpicky I know some will say but oh well. The author wrote a bit of the book trying to use the mountain dialect. She used "won't" to mean was not, or wasn't, or were not, or weren't. Other authors have used the word "waren't." It actually sounds more like the actual word used and is less confusing.

I enjoyed the storyline and the characters. It reminded me in some ways of an author I used to read years ago - Gene Stratton-Porter - and that's a good thing.

I received this book from Sourcebooks Landmark through Net Galley in exchange for my unbiased review.

I have to confess I've never heard of Appalachia before I read this book which really puts all the information you need in a nutshell. All the apparent poverty, backardness, all the violence...We can percieve it like this, through the eyes of Miss Kate Show, the newly-arrived, oldish teacher whose liberal actions and opinions are rejected even by the modern society from "the valley". But living in the middlle of this community is an eye-opener. Yes, the hardship people in Baines Creek experience can turn you into a sadistic wife-beater and/ or murderer, but it can also make you stronger and more human. As you read the vivid and well-written life stories of its characters, you become fascinated by this remote world, with its own myths and its own dialect.

Maybe more 3.5 stars than 3.

An interesting enough book about tough life in the mountains of North Carolina told from the perspective of several townfolk. But a tough review to write since it wasn't boring enough to give up on, but not exciting enough to want to pick it up every day.

This is a beautifully written book that transported me to a small town in North Carolina. The book centres around 17 year old pregnant Sadie Blue, who is in an abusive marriage. The opening scene really drew me in and I could almost hear the characters talking the way the book was written:
"You knock them fake stars outta your blind eyes, Sadie Blue, or you gonna lay with the devil and lay in hell'
For me though, whilst I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book and the various character's stories, it lacked a certain oomph to bump it up to 5 stars. However, a decent book and I will be keeping an eye out for any future work from the author.

I received an advance readers copy of this title from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This was a very quick read for me. At first I wasn't sure about the dialect as it felt slightly forced. After a bit though, I felt myself getting into the mindset of each character and feeling as though I walked the paths of Baines Creek.
All of the details in this book are painted in a way that makes one feel as though they are standing just outside the frame of the story. many of the scenes felt as if I was watching them play out in person.
The struggles of the characters could easily lend themselves to further storylines and I find myself curious about what happens to each person after the last page. I don't know if a sequel is in the works, but it certainly could happen.
Overall I found this book to be a very enjoyable read that I fell into from start to finish.

Very good book set in poverty stricken Appalachian mountains with a life unknown to most of us. Recommend as a good read for all, entertaining and informative

I've been in a slump of just ok books and was craving one that was special. Well, I found it. Weiss has a unique voice. She captures the whole Appalachian scene - the vocabulary, the falling down houses, the likker, the poverty. I'm a sucker for the well turned phrase and I was highlighting sentences here, one after another.

Told from various perspectives, including Sadie, a young pregnant wife constantly beaten up by her no good husband, Gladys, her grandmother, Eli, the preacher and Kate, the teacher come up from the valley. Every character is unique and you feel like you have actually met each and every one of them. You won't like all of them, but you will understand them. I have discovered I really like books that use multiple perspectives; at least those done well. Fans of Elizabeth Strout will enjoy this book for that very reason.
This book would make a great book club selection and the publisher has wisely included questions in the back of the book.

I can't get over the fact that this is a debut novel. It is just that wonderful. A great ending that I didn’t see coming but fit perfectly. Highly recommend.

My thanks to netgalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for an advance copy of this book.

Leah Weiss was able to capture a place and the voices of her characters. The moment I began reading If the Creek Don't Rise, the voices of her characters filled my head. It's a rare author that can give her characters such vibrant and real voices you can't wait to see what they'll do or say next. I didn't read this book to solve a mystery although there is one. I read it for the shear love of finding a good book. I would like to thank Ms. Weiss for this amazing novel.

From the way the author communicates the local dialect to the magnificent sense of place she's created, this is a story that won't soon leave you. The story is told from the perspective of a number of residents of a very rural Appalachian town, all of whom are struggling in some way with the limitations and difficulties of life in their community, where they face a lack of money, lack of education, lack of connection. The story centers primarily around young Sadie Blue, who has found herself pregnant and married to an abusive ne'er-do-well, and her relatives and friends in the mountains. It's a moving depiction of a complicated place. Despite all the previous comments about the atmosphere of the story, it's truly a character-driven piece. The author keeps the story moving, right up through the very last sentence.

Have you ever read a book, seen a movie, or watched a play that made you shift in your seat because what you were reading, seeing, hearing made you so uncomfortable you couldn’t keep your body still? Leah Weiss’ book IF the Creek Don’t Rise had that effect on me. This book was horrifying in its simple descriptions of how cruel men can be to women, women can be to other women, women can be to outsiders. It was also uplifting in its descriptions of those that see the destruction, hurt, and pain and try to heal, cure and protect.

“It’s the same tired story these hills hear a million times.” Written in the vernacular of Baines Creek, a mountain town in Appalachia, the story is told from the viewpoints of all the major characters. I fell in love with Sadie Blue, Marris Jones, Birdie Rocas and Kate Shaw. I found it disturbing that I could feel such extreme antipathy toward Roy Tupkin, Billy Barnhill and Prudence Perkins. The author states in her notes; “No detail was too small to bring authenticity to Baines Creek residents in 1970”. Those details made the story live for me and evinced strong emotions. Great writing, fabulous ending.

Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for an ARC.

This impressive debut novel is set circa 1970 in the mountain community of Baines Creek in the Appalachian Mountains in NC. Weaving back and forth in time, we get point of view chapters from the various denizens of this town scratching for survival, centered around Sadie Blue, seventeen, pregnant and two weeks into her marriage to Roy Tupkin. Her grandmother and elderly neighbor tried to warn her, but she was stubborn: two weeks into her marriage, after enduring brutal beatings, Sadie knows she has made a mistake.

We also see life through the eyes of her grandmother Gladys, who knows plenty about drunken, abusive husbands—and her good-hearted neighbor Marris, who had an excellent husband, but he’s dead.

Slowly the viewpoints spiral out to the preacher Eli Perkins, who really is a saint, doing his best for sinner and faithful alike, and Kate, Shaw, the new teacher in town, with whom he forges a friendship despite her being an unbeliever—and in spite of his sour sister Prudence, jealous with deadly bitterness.

Then there is Birdie Rocas, the local wisewoman . . . oh, I think it would be a mistake to get too deeply into the story in this review. It’s best encountered one chapter and person at a time, as the tale winds as slow and inevitable as the seasons around Sadie Blue and her story.

The prose is full of local dialect, richly vivid, evoking the sights and smells and seasons in those deep mountain valleys. The reader gets to know every dish, every piece of furniture, every worn and mended rag, and what they mean as these people survive at the edge of the filthy coal mining industry that mars the stunning and wild beauty. It’s a remarkable tale, like nothing else—immensely unputdownable until the quiet knell of the end.

Sleep is gonna come. It always does, but so do rememberings. Sometimes they take me places I don't wanna go. Sometimes the take me places I don't wanna leave.


Probably 3.5 stars, but I learned so much about the Appalachian region that I had to up it to four stars. Life is very hard and isolated in this area, and the people are very poor, some of the kids only have sacks to wear for clothing. They also talk their own dialect (which is beautifully portrayed in the book), and ways of making money includes digging ginseng and selling moonshine. If The Creek Don't Rise is written in first-person, but each chapter by a different "first person". Every perspective provides you with more insight into their own backstory and choices they have made. I loved that the voices were all very distinct, and that the author could make me feel sympathy for even the evillest of characters. I think I would have liked this book to be longer, with more complete stories for all of the people in the book. Except for Sadie most of the stories were left up in the air. I suspect this may become a series, in which case I will definitely be reading the next installment.

The Story: Sadie, pregnant and newly married to Roy Tupkin, has experienced hell and heartache over her 17 years. Abandoned by her mother as an infant, orphaned when her father died when she was an adolescent, Sadie lived with her cold, curmudgeonly grandmother, Gladys Hicks, until she tied the knot with Roy. And so far, her honeymoon has consisted of violent beatings and berating tongue-lashings.

Although the setting and the story caught my attention from the time I read the blurb, I struggled a lot with the writing. I thought the pace and the voice were confusing and at first I didn't know what was going on. I think this is a book that requires a lot of patience and I would've definitely enjoyed it more had I read it in another moment. Leah Weiss is surely a wonderful writer but this novel wasnt what I thought it would be.

This is one of the BEST books I have read in years! I love the way the culture of the area is represented and the tenacity and strength of those living somewhat off the grid.
This is sure to be a best seller and I hope there is more to come from this author!

For a debut novel, this has some amazing writing and characterisation of strength and courage in what appears to be the dead end of the world. Told by several different players, its basically the story of Sadie Blue, young and pregnant with no future to speak of. My favourite parts of the story contained Kate Shaw and Birdie Rocas, strong and independent women who were not afraid to be themselves, even if the hillbillies didn't like it.


Thanks to Sourcebooks and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I received a free electronic copy of this novel from Netgalley, Lean Weiss, and Sourcebooks - Landmark in exchange for an honest review. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me.

This novel is set in Appalachia in the 1970's and is written in first person of several of the protagonists. This is an interesting presentation, and not as confusing as it would at first seem. I found myself more heavily invested in some of the characters. The bad guys are mostly all bad. Roy Tupkin is a snake and at first seems the most dangerous to Sadie, but Billy is mentally challenged as well as pretty crazy. I really enjoyed Birdie and of course Sadie Blue held my sympathy throughout the novel. I love that she confides in both her dead daddy and Loretta Lynn, or occasionally Patsy Cline or George Jones. Of course that sounds crazy, but she is for the most part simply very young and naive. I enjoyed watching her mature. Leah Weiss is an author I will follow.

This was somewhat of a tough read, not only for the story, but also for the dialect. I really enjoyed how we got to see different backstories, and how they all came together. I will be writing a full review and will send the links to that. Thank you for the opportunity to read this book!