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by: Sharyn McCrumb
Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780525947189
ISBN: 0525947183
Label: Dutton Adult
Manufacturer: Dutton Adult
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 333
Publication Date: July 14, 2003
Publisher: Dutton Adult
Release Date: July 10, 2003
Sales Rank: 635093
Studio: Dutton Adult
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
The New York Times bestselling author of She Walks These Hills and The Rosewood Casket returns with another sweeping novel that juxtaposes the legends of the Civil War with the lives of the modern-day mountain folk immortalized in her award-winning books.
In 1861 the Civil War reached the mountainous South-where the enemy was your neighbor, the victims were your friends, and the wrong army was whichever one you joined. When Malinda Blalock's husband, Keith, joined the army, she dressed as a boy and went with him. They spent the war close to home in the North Carolina mountains, acting as Union guerrilla fighters, raiding the farms of the Confederate sympathizers and making as much trouble as they could locally. As hard-riding, deadly outlaws, Keith and Malinda avenged Confederate raids on their kin and neighbors. McCrumb also brings into her story the larger-than-life narrative of the historical political figure Zebulon Vance, a self-made man and Confederate governor, who was from the mountains and fought for the interests of Appalachia within the hierarchy of the Confederacy.
Linking the forces of historical unrest with the present-day stories of mountain wisefolk Rattler and Nora Bonesteel, McCrumb weaves two overlapping narratives. It is up to Nora Bonesteel and Rattler to calm the Civil War ghosts who are still wandering the mountains, and prevent a clash between the living and the dead.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Great book, but not her best
This is in the same style as McCrumb's other books in the series. I really enjoyed it. In several of the other books she has referred to the civil war and the effect on the mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee, and in this book she addresses it full on. She has done a lot of research, and did a great job bringing historical characters to life, as always. The books only weakness is that the modern story is hardly existent, which is unusual, and a little disappointing.
Rating:  - A faint interest
This was a historical fiction book about the Civil War. Most of the places mentioned in the book were right here in North Carolina. Asheville, Statesville, Blowing Rock and Raleigh were mentioned several times. Even Charlotte was mentioned towards the end. I really tried to enjoy this book but after I finished it, I felt really let down. I am not sure if I was reading a history book or a sad attempt to weave some fiction with non-fiction. This book just did not capture my interest. My ears ... Read More
Rating:  - History, Mystery and Mysticism
McCrumb's books are noted for the blend - but in this one, history figures more prominently. As is true of most of her 'mountain books', there is a prevailing feeling of calm. Bloody killing, maiming, Civil War reinactors, history, mystery and a ghost story - all are there, but still there is that feeling of calm inevitability. (Perhaps I'm misusing the word `mystery' since this is not a traditional mystery at all).
The front of the hard cover edition has two compelling photographs ... Read More
Rating: - Ghost Riders
I love Sharyn McCrumb in general and her books are always fun, but this one was especially grand. I love the way she weaves history into the present and throws in plenty of supernatural phenomena as well. Her books always inspire me to check out the historical facts and learn a bit more about the events she writes about. The characters are realistic, the events are perfectly interwoven and the ending is never predictable. Well worth reading.
Rating: - Beautiful Story with Real Civil War History
Beautiful Story with Real Civil War History
McCrumb's Ghost Riders tells the story of how the Civil War in Appalachia was fought not between strangers from far away lands, but among families. For the mountainous regions of NC and TN, it was not unusual to have family and neighbors fighting on opposing sides. As Melinda, the tough mountain woman thinks, "it's (war) always personal and hard to forgive,..maybe it's because we never left home to do our fighting, ...we weren't making war on strangers....it ... Read More
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