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Burdy
Sequel to the award-winning MOTHER OF RAIN. When it is a healing they need, the people at Christian Bend, Tennessee, turn to one woman—Burdy Luttrell. Melungeon by birth, Burdy learned the therapeutic properties of roots from the women in her family. When Burdy discovers that Lincoln Memorial University is hosting a class on healing roots, she persuades her friend, Mayne, to drive her up. The two women make a fateful stop at Laidlow Pharmacy at Bean Station where an armed gunman executes three people and critically injures another. Burdy—the woman able to cure others—is now fighting for her life at University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville. One thing is keeping Burdy alive—she has to tell Rain, the boy she has cared for since birth, the secret she’s kept from him all these years. Rain was a deaf toddler when his father Zebulon Hurd was reported presumed dead following the Normandy Invasion. The news sent Maizee Hurd, Rain’s mother, headlong into a mental collapse from which she never recovered. When the now grown Rain gets word that Burdy has been shot, he leaves his job in Rhode Island and rushes back home to Tennessee, completely unaware of Burdy’s secrets and how the shooting at Bean Station will transport them all to another time and place—1950s, Bayeux, France. Karen Spears Zacharias has crafted a mesmerizing novel of tragedy and transformation, a beautiful rendering of fact and fiction, and a tenderhearted narrative of survivors and the battles they face
189 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2015
1 person is currently reading
266 people want to read
About the author
Karen Spears Zacharias
18 books98 followersKaren Spears Zacharias is an Appalachian writer, a former journalist, and author of numerous books, both fiction and non-fiction.
She holds a MA in Appalachian Studies from Shepherd University, Shepherdstown, West Virginia, and a MA in Creative Media Practice from the University of West Scotland, Ayr, Scotland.
Her debut novel Mother of Rain received the Weatherford Award for Best in Appalachian Fiction from The Loyal Jones Appalachian Center at Berea College, Kentucky.
Zacharias was named Appalachian Heritage Writer in 2018 by Shepherd University.
Her work has been featured on National Public Radio, CNN, the New York Times, Washington Post and in numerous anthologies.
She lives at the foot of the Cascade Mountains in Deschutes County, Oregon, where she’s an active member of the League of Women Voters and Central Oregon Writers Guild. She is a member of Phi Beta Delta and Phi Kappa Phi. A Gold Star daughter, she is a fierce advocate for democratic principles and women’s rights.
Zacharias taught First-Amendment Rights at Central Washington University, Ellensburg, Washington, and continues to teach at writing workshops around the country.
Her forthcoming novel No Perfect Mothers will be released by Mercer University Press, Spring 2024.
She holds a MA in Appalachian Studies from Shepherd University, Shepherdstown, West Virginia, and a MA in Creative Media Practice from the University of West Scotland, Ayr, Scotland.
Her debut novel Mother of Rain received the Weatherford Award for Best in Appalachian Fiction from The Loyal Jones Appalachian Center at Berea College, Kentucky.
Zacharias was named Appalachian Heritage Writer in 2018 by Shepherd University.
Her work has been featured on National Public Radio, CNN, the New York Times, Washington Post and in numerous anthologies.
She lives at the foot of the Cascade Mountains in Deschutes County, Oregon, where she’s an active member of the League of Women Voters and Central Oregon Writers Guild. She is a member of Phi Beta Delta and Phi Kappa Phi. A Gold Star daughter, she is a fierce advocate for democratic principles and women’s rights.
Zacharias taught First-Amendment Rights at Central Washington University, Ellensburg, Washington, and continues to teach at writing workshops around the country.
Her forthcoming novel No Perfect Mothers will be released by Mercer University Press, Spring 2024.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
October 29, 2015
"Were you scared?"
"Lord, no, Burdy. It's not the dead people you need to fear. It's the living. They's the ones that can really hurt you."
"Lord, no, Burdy. It's not the dead people you need to fear. It's the living. They's the ones that can really hurt you."
December 1, 2017
This is the second in the series about the residents and visitors to Christian Bend, Tennessee. Burdy Luttrell, the local healer, makes a fateful trip to learn more about healing roots in 1987. She is shot by a robber and ends up at the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville. Burdy knows she has to tell Rain, the boy she's cared for since birth, the secret she's been keeping for years. This book deals partially with PTSD and survivor's guilt. The characters are well developed and I found them to be characters I cared for. While I've never been to the South, I have lived in a small town. Ms. Zacharias nailed it. I read the first book in the series and am looking forward to reading the third book.
January 13, 2018
“Men and their damn wars.” There is so much pain, beauty and love packed into this short novel about PTSD, forgiveness, and faith. If you haven’t read Mother of Rain, please do so, then get yourself a copy of Burdy and continue the journey through the lives of some of the residents of Christian Bend, and through their continual struggles to heal in the aftermath of unspeakable violence. I can’t recommend these books enough.
September 2, 2019
I bought this book at a tiny bookshop while on vacation in West Virginia. I love to find indie books written by local authors - helps me really get to know a geographical area. I nearly finished the whole book on the flight home. Luminous descriptions, humour, sorrow, complex relationships. New word for me - "melungeon." We have Metis here in Canada - a long history of racial discrimination.
Not a predictable outcome. Not a predictable plot - the best kind!
Not a predictable outcome. Not a predictable plot - the best kind!
December 30, 2024
I loved getting to know her
A wonderful story of family, secrets, hurt, love, forgiveness and love. Burdy is one of those women you could find in the mountains, in the rural South,one who knows things without knowing how she knows them. She sees it as a gift and many of her time would as well. I want to know more about what happens next!
A wonderful story of family, secrets, hurt, love, forgiveness and love. Burdy is one of those women you could find in the mountains, in the rural South,one who knows things without knowing how she knows them. She sees it as a gift and many of her time would as well. I want to know more about what happens next!
January 16, 2022
does not go with the first book, mother of rain. does not answer any questions. it actually ends saying " the end".
are you kidding me? so disappointed.
are you kidding me? so disappointed.
January 8, 2017
"Burdy didn't set out that morning aiming to get shot by the end of the day."
An opening line like that is almost certain to draw the reader in, but ultimately the shooting has little to do with the rest of the book. It's essentially a device to bring Burdy's friends and family to her bedside as she, delirious, relives a decades-old journey to deal with a family tragedy. It's not until the last few pages that the secrets she uncovered on this trip come forward to touch someone intimately affeted by them.
This sequel to "Mother of Rain" can be read as a stand-alone, but it definitely draws from the events in the earlier book. In that novel, a troubled young woman appears to be moving toward a life of happiness and normalcy, but ultimately is shattered by events beyond her control and takes her own life. The child she left is the "Rain" of the title.
Rain is now a young adult, and Burdy -- who has been involved with the family since before his birth, has discovered something astonishing and possibly devastating about the events that orphaned him. Her journey of discovery forms the flashback central core of the book, and her decision to share those discoveries with Rain brings the tale back to the present and more or less closes it. (I say more or less because there is definitely a door left open for another story to unspool.)
Burdy is an interesting character, and Zacharias has an unerring ear for the language patterns and folk beliefs of the people of Appalachia, where the framework story is set. But the extremely short chapters - averaging only two or three pages in length -- break up the rhythm of the tale, and the two climaxes -- what Burdy discovers on her flashback journey and how she chooses to reveal that discovery to Rain in the present, lack any real emotional punch. There's also a romance subplot that just sort of wanders off without resolution, which is always disturbing.
This is a quick, enjoyable read that doesn't demand much of the reader and delivers rewards in kind.
An opening line like that is almost certain to draw the reader in, but ultimately the shooting has little to do with the rest of the book. It's essentially a device to bring Burdy's friends and family to her bedside as she, delirious, relives a decades-old journey to deal with a family tragedy. It's not until the last few pages that the secrets she uncovered on this trip come forward to touch someone intimately affeted by them.
This sequel to "Mother of Rain" can be read as a stand-alone, but it definitely draws from the events in the earlier book. In that novel, a troubled young woman appears to be moving toward a life of happiness and normalcy, but ultimately is shattered by events beyond her control and takes her own life. The child she left is the "Rain" of the title.
Rain is now a young adult, and Burdy -- who has been involved with the family since before his birth, has discovered something astonishing and possibly devastating about the events that orphaned him. Her journey of discovery forms the flashback central core of the book, and her decision to share those discoveries with Rain brings the tale back to the present and more or less closes it. (I say more or less because there is definitely a door left open for another story to unspool.)
Burdy is an interesting character, and Zacharias has an unerring ear for the language patterns and folk beliefs of the people of Appalachia, where the framework story is set. But the extremely short chapters - averaging only two or three pages in length -- break up the rhythm of the tale, and the two climaxes -- what Burdy discovers on her flashback journey and how she chooses to reveal that discovery to Rain in the present, lack any real emotional punch. There's also a romance subplot that just sort of wanders off without resolution, which is always disturbing.
This is a quick, enjoyable read that doesn't demand much of the reader and delivers rewards in kind.
February 14, 2017
I loved this follow up to "Mother of Rain." It gives me more peace to know the resolution to one of my suspicions from the first book. Burdy is a beautiful and compelling character. The only thing is, now I want to know what comes next?
September 3, 2015
Thoroughly enjoyed Burdy which is the sequel to Mother of Rain. Now I must wait for the third book in the trilogy by Karen Spears Zacharias. Historical novels are my favorite and this doesn't disappoint. From Appalachian countryside to the France one learns about unfamiliar areas and time. Set just after World War II and the aftermath of that war. Highly recommend.
February 19, 2016
Karen came through with the character I most wanted to see again! And the setting in France couldn't have been more to my liking. The most arresting part of the book, however, was with Burdy herself. From the surprising first chapter through to the end, she kept me intrigued by her resolve to seek the truth and her tenacity for life.
October 29, 2016
Loved the story of the people of Appalachia, the language, the beliefs and the struggles. Zacharias knows the venacular and shows strength in how she uses it to highlight the authenticity of the story of healers and lovers, then and now.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews