Wild Thing: Aggie's Legacy

Wild #1

by Peggy Poe Stern

Wild Aggies Legacy, (Peggy’s 8th novel, a tall tale) 106,711 words, 367 pages (paperback) The Church of Sodom members took turns raising Aggie, an abandoned child. The deformed girl disappeared one day at the age of twelve. Excerpt from Chapter 2: The mountain was scary for a child alone. Animals were maundering on a warm summer night and Aggie was sure she would be eaten by something. She hoped whatever got her would kill her fast so she wouldn’t have to suffer. She tried to find tight crevices under rocks where she could squeeze her body into at night to keep less of her exposed. After going from rock to rock, she happened on the cave. At first, she was afraid to go further than the light penetrated for she had no way of knowing what waited in the darkness. Mountain lions, bears, timber rattlers crossed her mind and paralyzed her with fear. Many times, she thought of going back to the valley, to the people that tormented her, but she couldn’t. Death would be better than what awaited her down there. The children had chanted, “Your back, your back, you’re bent bowed back was hunched and scrunched and put in a sack. Your momma tried to throw you away, but the devil said she’s here to stay.” Sometimes during the summer when she tanned from being in the sun, they would sing. “Aggie’s rotten, rotten, rotten. Send her south to pick some cotton.” Sometimes they would pinch her if she got close, or throw rocks at her until she got far away. Why was it that children could be so cruel? Why did they want to hurt someone that never hurt them?” It was the cave that offered her salvation from the elements of the harsh Ruffian Mountain, if she only had a way to see where she was going inside the cave. She had never experienced total darkness before, and beyond the penetration of light was ‘a blackness’, so complete it was overwhelming. It was hunger that drove her off the mountain. She had to go back for food if she was to survive. She knew every house and every person in the valley, and she knew their habits. It would be easy to slip in and out without being seen. She had learned early on how to stay out of sight most of the time. She didn’t take much, a tomato from one person’s garden, a few potatoes from another, all the green beans she could carry in her dress tail, but only picking one or two from each vine. She slipped inside a can house and got a jar of canned blackberries and saved the empty jar to carry things in. It was her craving for something solid that would fill her belly better than fruit and vegetables that made her go inside Amy Donavan’s house and fill her jar with flour. While she was there, she took a handful of matches. She slipped out the door and hobbled to the woods as fast as she could manage, sure she would be caught any second. She sank down on a log and discovered she was crying, sobbing like a baby. She hated herself for her weaknesses, hated herself for her deformities, hated her mother for making her this way. Why couldn’t she have killed her? It would be better than this. Surely anything would be better than this.” Finally, she wiped her nose on her dress tail, and made herself stop crying. “I’m not dead,” she told herself. “And if I’m not going to be dead, I better use my head.” Her head told her to hide her supplies under the log and make her way to the end of the valley. She could take an ax from one house and a knife from a house in the middle of the valley.

369 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 22, 2007

About the author

Peggy grew up on small farm in the Appalachians near Jefferson, NC; married young; finished school; made handcrafted folk toys; established her own farm on Grandfather Mountain near Boone; raised six children in a single-wide while growing burley tobacco, Christmas trees, and small fruits; built a house; raised small animals – all – while helping her husband do land surveying. Still farming, she enjoys her grand and great-grandchildren while creating novels sprinkled with the flavor of her mountain heritage. Since 2003 she has been writing about three books a year.

Reviews

[MKD · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story

I enjoyed this book. It has a captivating story line, depth, and it is well written. However I find it extremely irritating when I'm reading a book and it clearly hasn't been well edited. Edits that spell check wouldn't catch such as pour instead of poor, weak instead of week. Several times I found these errors. I just feel that if your going to charge readers for your work then it should be properly and well edited.

[henry smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Strange story. Very good but nothing like I have read before. The lives of 3 Appalatchin women over a period of years with three generations living in the mountains and caves like wild animals hating the people who made their lives like they were. Wild and intriguing. Survival by their wits. Unreal. Totally worth reading. Amazing and astonishing from start to finish and unbelievable. Definitely keeps a reader interested and wondering how these pitiful women have survived. They had the instinct of animals and lived like wild enchanting animals

[Tammy Perkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read a lot of Peggy Poe Stern Novels. This one "Wild Thing" It was so sad for little Raven as she grew up in a cave on the mountain. She struggled so long to make a life for herself. I would cry most of the way through it because Raven broke my heart. But oh how to rebounded was awesome. The one is my all time favorite.

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story was very good...

I enjoyed the story of Aggie and Raven but holy smokes the typos. Save me from the many, many typos. It was hard to read past them. I don’t think I’ll go for the next book. Im not that interested.

[Linda Kirk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Different

This book kept me reading to all hours of the night! Will read the second book to finish the story! Worth the read ! A little history with a little mystery thrown in. I like Peggy Poe Stern’s story telling.

[Carrie L. Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exciting and Wild

What an exciting, sinuous trail through nature and human nature. Interesting twists and turns, cliffs and storms, danger and love.

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed the book thoroughly. I did see some typos. I am going to be starting the sequel. If you wanta great read this is one.