The Saints of Swallow Hill: A Fascinating Depression Era Historical Novel

It Takes Courage to Save Yourself This intriguing story is set during the great depression in the 1930's. Set in the South among the turpentine camps, it showcases the lives of three people each running from something, each trying to save themselves and find their way in life. Times were hard during the depression. Homes were lost, poverty was high and employment was hard to find. One took what they could get and sometimes the places they worked were hard, unforgiving . This is the case in the turpentine camp of Swallow Hill is isolated and ran by a racist Woods Rider named Crow. The store is ran by a man named Otis who wishes to control his wife Cornelia. He is mean and cruel to her. The housing is sub standard and the job of collecting sap from trees for turpentine is grueling and dangerous. Del Reeves arrives to work there, he runs afoul of Crow and suffers for it. He tries to make the best of it even though Crow makes it almost impossible for him to do so. Rae Lynn, running from her past, starts working at the camp. She goes by the name of Ray and poses as a man to get the job. Although she works hard all day, she never meets her quota and is dogged by Crow although Del tries to give her some protection. Rae Lynn forges a friendship with Cornelia and when it is found out she works at the store with her instead of in the field after Crow finally has his revenge on Rae Lynn. Del and Rae Lynn are both running from their past, Cornelia is running from her present and all three need to find a way to come to terms with their past and present to forge a future. It is a story of survival and of friendship. A story of heartache and finding redemption. Learning to trust again. It shows the ugly and the despicable in people and it shows the kindness and compassion as well. A well written story steeped in history a good portrait of the sorrow during the depression era and the turpentine camps in North Carolina during this time in history. It was an interesting and educational read for me as I know little about this time in history. I enjoyed reading this book and I would recommend it. Thanks to Donna Everhart for writing a great book, to Kensington Books for publishing it and to NetGalley for making it available to me .

I requested this eBook a couple of months ago, from the library. The premise made it sound like an interesting book, set in the timeline of the Great Depression in the South, a young woman living and working disguised as a man in a turpentine camp in Georgia. Unfortunately, I didn't get far into the story. The man whom the leading lady will marry was sexually involved with all of his friends' wives, I couldn't get into the story. This was happening in the first few pages of the book.

A wonderful historic trip through the southern states. Filled with interesting characters and the unique setting of the ancient pine forests of the region.