I wanted to read this book mostly because I liked the author’s narrative style in The Forgiving Kind. This was not as good but has the same feel to it. It is historical fiction and focuses on a family of self termed ‘hillbillies’ who make moonshine.
The story begins with the narrator, our troubled Jessie, remembering her mother. The loss of whom affected her deeply. She is so traumatized by the events surrounding the death, the faint images she has of the day, and her father’s steadfast refusal to talk about her that it is quite painful to watch her grow up and lead her life.
This is the kind of book that you better appreciate when talking about in places like this review but find hard to digest while reading. There is nothing extremely graphic about the trauma they experience, but it is the little things that amount to more important things that cause the maximum impact. She does not like being a moonshiner’s daughter and struggles with all its implications.
Her family and another have been rivals for generations, and this will be deadly for them all. Jessie struggles with her body image, going to school as well as dealing with her family (who, for the most part, are obnoxious).
Finally, the story covers the moonshine industry, the pros and the cons. As the plot was trying to cover both sides of the conversation, I was left uncertain about what I felt about the whole thing by the end. It is not a book that I would freely recommend to people because of the heavy context, but people who like reading about different locations/families in their historical fiction that does not feature wars, might enjoy it.
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience of this book and the author’s previous work.
Superfluous Reading 