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Wild Mountain Ivy
Not yet published
Expected 3 Mar 26Months after catching a common virus, twelve-year-old Ivy still hasn’t recovered.
Ivy doesn’t even have the energy to play music. Hoping a change of scenery will help, she’s spending the summer in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains, where her uncle has converted an old house into a bed and breakfast. The Everly House has a long history―including a stint as a sanatorium, a treatment center for tuberculosis patients, in the 1920s.
Ivy starts having dreams about a girl named Jessie Pearl, a TB patient who stayed at the house a hundred years ago. Like Ivy, Jessie was an adventurous musician who struggled to adapt to her sickness. But at the Everly House, she was able to rest, listen to her body, and find new ways to fill her time.
As Ivy delves into the history of the house, hoping to find out what happened to Jessie, she makes other discoveries that turn her summer in the mountains into a new beginning.
Ivy doesn’t even have the energy to play music. Hoping a change of scenery will help, she’s spending the summer in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains, where her uncle has converted an old house into a bed and breakfast. The Everly House has a long history―including a stint as a sanatorium, a treatment center for tuberculosis patients, in the 1920s.
Ivy starts having dreams about a girl named Jessie Pearl, a TB patient who stayed at the house a hundred years ago. Like Ivy, Jessie was an adventurous musician who struggled to adapt to her sickness. But at the Everly House, she was able to rest, listen to her body, and find new ways to fill her time.
As Ivy delves into the history of the house, hoping to find out what happened to Jessie, she makes other discoveries that turn her summer in the mountains into a new beginning.
- GenresMiddle Grade
272 pages, Hardcover
Expected publication March 3, 2026
22 people want to read
About the author
Shannon Hitchcock
10 books63 followersSHANNON HITCHCOCK grew up in rural North Carolina on a 100-acre farm. Her extended family and love of the south are integral to her stories. Shannon is the author of ONE TRUE WAY, (Scholastic 2018), RUBY LEE & ME, (Scholastic 2016), and the Crystal Kite Award-winning, THE BALLAD OF JESSIE PEARL. Shannon's picture book biography, OVERGROWN JACK was nominated for the Sue Alexander Most Promising New Work Award. Her writing has been published in Highlights for Children, Cricket, Children’s Writer, and other magazines.
Shannon currently divides her time between Hendersonville, NC and Tampa, Florida.
Shannon currently divides her time between Hendersonville, NC and Tampa, Florida.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
did-not-finish
January 2, 2026DNF @ 9%
I DNFed this because of LGBTQ content. The main girl’s uncle has a husband and she goes to stay at their place so it’s a rather big part of the book. I don’t support or read LGBTQ and I was really disappointed that this was in here because I was excited to read this.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-arc of this book.
I DNFed this because of LGBTQ content. The main girl’s uncle has a husband and she goes to stay at their place so it’s a rather big part of the book. I don’t support or read LGBTQ and I was really disappointed that this was in here because I was excited to read this.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-arc of this book.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
E ARC provided by the publisher
Ivy is an avid violinist whose mother Charlotte is a math teacher and whose father travels with his Bluegrass band, Will Presnell and the Misty Mountain Boys. When Ivy gets sick, she and her best friend Priya don't think it's serious, but it turns out to be COVID. Two months later, Ivy is still weak and tired, suffering from long Covid. Since her Uncle Cam and his husband Steve run a bed and breakfast in the mountains near Asheville, North Carolina, they invite Ivy and her mother to stay there for the summer, even offering to pay Charlotte to help out, since she won't be able to teach summer school. Everly House is in a building that had been a tuberculosis sanitarium, and there's even a portrait of Jessie Pearl, one of the patients, with a dulcimer, and Ivy stays in the Jessie Room. When she naps, which she does frequently, she dreams about Jessie, who communicates about things like using a feather pick for the dulcimer, and also provides flashbacks to what her life was like in the sanitarium. When her strength allows, Ivy learns to play dulcimer, makes biscuits with the cook, Celeste, takes trips into town with her mother, and does some research into Jessie's life, even reading Murphy's Invincible Microbe: Tuberculosis and the Never-Ending Search for a Cure She finds that the portrait was painted by another patient named Louise Hall, who got better and married the groundskeeper. Louise turns out to be Celeste's great grandmother! Ivy finds a necklace of Jessie's buried in a box, but loses it when she goes back home for a visit. Charlotte has decided to look for a job so that the family can move to Asheville, so they need to pack up their belongings. Ivy texts Priya to look for it, but she dreams that Jessie tells her that the necklace is where it belongs, and finds it back with the contents of the box. In her research, Ivy finds out that after two years, Jessie was well enough to leave, and had a number of children. She manages to find one of them, Mrs. Williams, who visits Everyly House. When Ivy sings the ballad about Jessie that she has been composing for Mrs. Williams, it turns out to be a tune that her mother sang frequently! Ivy's parents buy a new house, start marriage counseling, and Jessie performs her ballad with her dad's band since she is finally feeling better.
Strengths: Occasionally, there are historical novels that are so good that I have to buy them, even though I don't have as many readers for historical fiction as I would like. This is definitely one of them. I loved the representation of Ivy's illness, the bed and breakfast setting, the parent's marital problems, and the way that the two stories were woven together. I also enjoyed the quiet ways that Ivy found to amuse herself, and how she was able to combine her father's love of the violin with her mother's love of classical music. Ivy's research is realistically portrayed, and it was such fun that she was able to hunt down Jessie's daughter... especially when she calls and ends up talking to a neighbor who is related. I would have absolutely adored this when I was in middle school.
Weaknesses: The house that Ivy's family buys is described as having painted brick that is fresh and inviting. No! Painting brick should be a federal crime. You can't unpaint it. The same goes for wooden furniture. Just... don't. The book has a quiet feel to it, which some readers won't like, but but historical fiction fans will appreciate all of the details about the past.
What I really think: This is a great addition to a middle school collection, since there are so few good representations of COVID, and today's readers barely remember it. Wendell's Light and Air is another good title, and readers who liked Fusco's The Secret of Honeycake, Johnson's The Blossoming Summer, or Jensen's Lilac and the Switchback will be glad to pick this one up as well.
Ivy is an avid violinist whose mother Charlotte is a math teacher and whose father travels with his Bluegrass band, Will Presnell and the Misty Mountain Boys. When Ivy gets sick, she and her best friend Priya don't think it's serious, but it turns out to be COVID. Two months later, Ivy is still weak and tired, suffering from long Covid. Since her Uncle Cam and his husband Steve run a bed and breakfast in the mountains near Asheville, North Carolina, they invite Ivy and her mother to stay there for the summer, even offering to pay Charlotte to help out, since she won't be able to teach summer school. Everly House is in a building that had been a tuberculosis sanitarium, and there's even a portrait of Jessie Pearl, one of the patients, with a dulcimer, and Ivy stays in the Jessie Room. When she naps, which she does frequently, she dreams about Jessie, who communicates about things like using a feather pick for the dulcimer, and also provides flashbacks to what her life was like in the sanitarium. When her strength allows, Ivy learns to play dulcimer, makes biscuits with the cook, Celeste, takes trips into town with her mother, and does some research into Jessie's life, even reading Murphy's Invincible Microbe: Tuberculosis and the Never-Ending Search for a Cure She finds that the portrait was painted by another patient named Louise Hall, who got better and married the groundskeeper. Louise turns out to be Celeste's great grandmother! Ivy finds a necklace of Jessie's buried in a box, but loses it when she goes back home for a visit. Charlotte has decided to look for a job so that the family can move to Asheville, so they need to pack up their belongings. Ivy texts Priya to look for it, but she dreams that Jessie tells her that the necklace is where it belongs, and finds it back with the contents of the box. In her research, Ivy finds out that after two years, Jessie was well enough to leave, and had a number of children. She manages to find one of them, Mrs. Williams, who visits Everyly House. When Ivy sings the ballad about Jessie that she has been composing for Mrs. Williams, it turns out to be a tune that her mother sang frequently! Ivy's parents buy a new house, start marriage counseling, and Jessie performs her ballad with her dad's band since she is finally feeling better.
Strengths: Occasionally, there are historical novels that are so good that I have to buy them, even though I don't have as many readers for historical fiction as I would like. This is definitely one of them. I loved the representation of Ivy's illness, the bed and breakfast setting, the parent's marital problems, and the way that the two stories were woven together. I also enjoyed the quiet ways that Ivy found to amuse herself, and how she was able to combine her father's love of the violin with her mother's love of classical music. Ivy's research is realistically portrayed, and it was such fun that she was able to hunt down Jessie's daughter... especially when she calls and ends up talking to a neighbor who is related. I would have absolutely adored this when I was in middle school.
Weaknesses: The house that Ivy's family buys is described as having painted brick that is fresh and inviting. No! Painting brick should be a federal crime. You can't unpaint it. The same goes for wooden furniture. Just... don't. The book has a quiet feel to it, which some readers won't like, but but historical fiction fans will appreciate all of the details about the past.
What I really think: This is a great addition to a middle school collection, since there are so few good representations of COVID, and today's readers barely remember it. Wendell's Light and Air is another good title, and readers who liked Fusco's The Secret of Honeycake, Johnson's The Blossoming Summer, or Jensen's Lilac and the Switchback will be glad to pick this one up as well.
November 10, 2025
I appreciate this book as it touched my heart deeply plus this was one cool middle grade novel that I really enjoyed! Poor Ivy! I kept hoping she'd be ok.
I learned much about TB and how it affected different people.
I enjoyed Jesse's part of the story too. Such an odd name for her nephew but I loved it. It certainly was very different.
Uncle Cam and Steve I loved them as individuals but not in a relationship I don't approve sorry.
Im still giving this story 5 stars though because I really loved it. I love coming of age stories.
I didn't want it to end because a wonderful and positive story doesn't come along like this every day. I savored it as much as I could.
I guess there's something else going on but I wont tell. Don't want to give it away! Its a surprise and a good one too!!
Jessie's story is about learning to find one's self again and about the support of family and friends. Love definitely flows through this beautiful story too.
Thanks for the opportunity to read and review this book I was NOT required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are mine 5 stars!
Oh I was sad when it ended. I hope she writes more!
I learned much about TB and how it affected different people.
I enjoyed Jesse's part of the story too. Such an odd name for her nephew but I loved it. It certainly was very different.
Uncle Cam and Steve I loved them as individuals but not in a relationship I don't approve sorry.
Im still giving this story 5 stars though because I really loved it. I love coming of age stories.
I didn't want it to end because a wonderful and positive story doesn't come along like this every day. I savored it as much as I could.
I guess there's something else going on but I wont tell. Don't want to give it away! Its a surprise and a good one too!!
Jessie's story is about learning to find one's self again and about the support of family and friends. Love definitely flows through this beautiful story too.
Thanks for the opportunity to read and review this book I was NOT required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are mine 5 stars!
Oh I was sad when it ended. I hope she writes more!
October 25, 2025
Through their parallel recoveries, the book explores how determination and compassion can transcend generations. Ivy learns from Jessie’s strength, while Jessie’s story finds new meaning through Ivy’s modern journey. Both women discover that even in the darkest times, healing is not only physical — it’s about reclaiming purpose and learning to move forward.
Kyle Mendenhall
Kyle Mendenhall
November 26, 2025
Really enjoyed and loved the concept, but Ivy is a very passive character--everything seems to happen to her. Would've loved to see her be a little more active in solving the mystery. But I really would love to see more long-COVID rep books like this. Fantastic life aha moments Ivy learns that are vital for readers young and old.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews