Published September 10, 2013; Gallery Books
Genre: Southern fiction, historical novel
Opening paragraph, first chapter:
September 1935
The salt from the ocean hung thick and heavy in the air. The only breeze came from the boat moving. Roger and me stood together side by side at the boat's wheel, him driving, me watching.
Ebb tide gave me the creepy crawlers. Ebb tide was unnatural, bad, nothing but bad.
"That sorry fool Mr. Benton is bringing his colored mistress to stay for two weeks. Mr. Tyson be letting them sleep in his house. He never struck me as one to put up with that mess, but by gosh he is...."
Publisher description:
"Shelly Parker never much liked Faith Dobbins, the uppity way that girl bossed her around. But they had more in common than she knew. Shelly tried to ignore the haints that warned her Faith’s tyrannical father, Pastor Dobbins, was a devil in disguise. But when Faith started acting strange, Shelly couldn’t avoid the past—not anymore.
Award-winning author Ann Hite beckons readers back to the Depression-era South, from the saltwater marshes of Georgia’s coast to the whispering winds of North Carolina’s mystical Black Mountain, in a gothic tale about the dark family secrets that come back to haunt."
Based on the opening paragraph and book description, would you keep reading?
