The Ash Family

by Molly Dektar

When a young woman leaves her family to join a secret off-the-grid community headed by an enigmatic leader, she discovers that belonging comes with a deadly cost, in this “stunning debut,” (The New Yorker) “perfect for fans of Philip Roth’s American Pastoral and the film Martha Marcy May Marlene” (Booklist, starred review).At nineteen, Berie encounters a seductive and mysterious man at a bus station near her home in North Carolina. Shut off from the people around her, she finds herself compelled by his promise of a new life. He ferries her into a place of order and the Ash Family farm. There, she joins a community living off the fertile land of the mountains, bound together by high ideals and through relationships she can’t untangle. Berie—now renamed Harmony—renounces her old life and settles into her new one on the farm. She begins to make friends. And then they start to disappear. “An excellent debut, Molly Dektar probes life in a cult with a masterful hand, excavating the troubled mind of a young woman,” (Publishers Weekly). The Ash Family explores what we will sacrifice in the search for happiness, and the beautiful and grotesque power of the human spirit as it seeks its ultimate place of belonging. “A captivating and haunting tale” (New York Journal of Books).

Genres: Fiction, Cults, Contemporary, Literary Fiction, Mystery, Cult Classics, Novels

353 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 19, 2019

About the author

Molly Dektar is from North Carolina and lives in Brooklyn. The Ash Family (Simon and Schuster, 2019) is her first novel. Her second novel, The Absolutes, is forthcoming from Mariner in 2023.

Reviews

[Tucker Almengor · Rating 2 out of 5]

Many thanks to Simon & Schuser for sending me a copy in exchange for honest review


This book was one of my least favorites of 2019. See the rest on my video, The WORST Books of 2019! ☕☕

----------------

*2.5 "disappointed" Stars

It really hurts me to write this review. It truly does. I honestly hate trashing books. Well, that's not totally true. I love trashing Six of Crows but only because I despise that book and there are plenty of positive reviews. But because this is a debut, I feel really bad giving it a negative review. Also, Simon and Schuster were very generous to give me an ARC and they ask for an honest review. So here it is:

I don't have much experience with cults and covens (I mean not a lot of people do.) so I was really looking forward to reading this. I know that it's fiction but I was hoping for at least a little info on cults in general. Unfortunately, I did not get that. One of my main problems with this book is that the reader is kind of thrown into the center and has to figure out what the heck is going on. As a writer, I know it's easy to write and not realize that your reader may not understand what is going on even though you do. Sometimes, authors forget that the reader is reading the book for the first time. That's what happened in this case. From page one, I had no idea what was going on. I was hoping it would get better but it didn't.

Confusion aside, this book was straight up... Well.. Boring. Even once I was kind of able to figure out what was going on, I was just bored. There wasn't any action. I felt like the same thing just kept happening over and over again. The book covers two years of time but it felt like a month or two to me. Somehow, this book moved really fast but was still boring.

In my opinion, one of the most important things that an author has to do is write a good character or characters. I really could not connect or care about Beryl (or Harmony. Whatever the fork her name was.) I honestly thought she was whiny and stupid. She was also really wishy- washy. One chapter she'd be like: I'm leaving And then next chapter she'd be like: I'll never leave

Also, even though it's the main plot, the Ash Family was completely brushed over. We never know where they came from. What they want. Nothing. We don't even get introduced to the whole group. Occasionally, they'd throw out a name and I'd be like: Who's that? because there were so many background characters.

Also, what was that ending. It wasn't even a good chapter ending, let alone an ending to a whole novel.

All in all, I was really disappointed. This book left a lot to be desired

| Goodreads | Blog | Twitch | Pinterest |

Bottom Line:
2.5 Stars
Age Recommendation: 14+ (Abortion, Scary Themes, Cults, Verbal Abuse)
TW: Physical sickness
For fans of: Educated
Cover: 4/5
Characters 2/5
Plot: 2/5

Many thanks to Simon & Schuster for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review. Minus the sticker next time. Please

| Goodreads | Blog | Pinterest | LinkedIn | YouTube | Instagram

[Brandice · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Ash Family is the story of a cult in North Carolina. Instead of heading to college, Beryl follows a man she meets at a bus station, Bay, deep into the woods, in search of a family and a sense of belonging. She becomes Harmony and is taught many lessons by The Ash Family on their farm, including to leave “the fake world” behind. Dice is the “father” of the family. When newcomers arrive, they are told they can leave in 3 days or stay forever. Those who have attempted to leave after 3 days often suffer serious consequences. Harmony works to find her place in this new community though over time, she can’t help but wonder What if? she returned to the fake (real) world.

The premise of The Ash Family intrigued me but the execution was just ok. I felt like some characters were flat and I had a hard time buying into the story - While we all want to experience a sense of belonging, Beryl’s former life in “the fake world” was hardly traumatic. I also could not get on board with her fascination of Bay - He held zero appeal. My interest in the story waned over time instead of picking up as the story progressed. After a slow build, the ending felt abrupt too.

Because of the cult, this story reminded me of The Girls. While there were disturbing elements included, The Ash Family was less disturbing than The Girls. I love the cover of this book and I would probably read another story by Molly Dektar, however, this one just wasn’t for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for providing an advanced copy of The Ash Family in exchange for an honest review.

[Jenny (Reading Envy) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Berie is supposed to be heading to college but gets sidetracked by a cultish commune in the Blue Ridge Mountains outside Asheville. I read this for the setting since I live an hour south of Asheville and have driven around tiny mountain towns with lots of nooks and crannies, even stumbled on what looked like a commune outside Gerton at one point. There are a lot of culty tropes here - the powerful man who breaks the rules others have to follow, people who seem to know secrets that are never revealed, people who disappear, hard labor and hunger used as control. It's a bit of a twist because the core members take environmental "action" that end up being quite more than peaceful protests, creating a somewhat ominous backdrop to Berie/Harmony's understanding of what it is all about.

What I love about this book, and what to me sets it apart from other cult/commune novels, is how the author captures the internal emotional turmoil of someone who is being brainwashed. It's astounding and unnerving and kept me reading to the end.

This came out April 9 and I had a copy from the publisher through netgalley.

[Larry H · Rating 3 out of 5]

Berie is unsure of what path to follow with her life. She seeks something more meaningful, something more essential, but she hasn't any idea of what that is until she meets enigmatic Bay at a bus station near her home in North Carolina. Bay promises Berie the life she's been imagining, on a farm cut-off from the rest of the world, where they live communally, fully off the grid.

"This was the real world, he explained, and if I stayed I'd get a real-world name to replace my fake-world one. He said I would come to understand that there was no definite self: in the Ash family there was no selfishness, so there were no possessions, no children, no couples."

Bay tells Berie that she can stay for three days or the rest of her life. The Ash Family Farm seems to be the solution she needs, so she changes her name to Harmony and settles in. And as different as life on the farm is from anything else she's experienced, anything else she's been used to, she finally feels a part of something, and begins making friends.

But like anything that seems perfect, life on the farm isn't quite that. More and more, Harmony starts to question things that are happening to her friends. She knows she needs to leave yet this is the first place she's truly felt she belonged, so can she ignore the warning signs she sees? When does belief change into brainwashing, when does devotion turn to fear?

The Ash Family is an interesting exploration of life in a cult, and how, once you begin to see things as they really are, you sometimes can't seem to decide between whether to stay or whether to go. Do we pay attention to the truth in front of our own eyes, or do we disbelieve the things we see? Is the feeling of belonging enough to overcome the misgivings we have?

There was an underlying sense of tension in this book that Molly Dektar really teased out quite well. While I found certain things about the book frustrating, such as a lack of character development in some cases, and not as much weight to the plot as I wanted, I was taken in particular by Dektar's evocative use of imagery. Her description of things was so vivid, poetic almost, that I felt like I could see things she mentioned very clearly.

This book reminded me in some ways of the independent film Martha Marcy May Marlene , starring Elizabeth Olsen and John Hawkes. That movie, too, talked about a cult with an enigmatic leader, and also left me with more questions than answers. But even with its shortcomings, this is an interesting story, one that will definitely keep me thinking long after I've moved on to other books.

NetGalley and Simon & Schuster provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!

This book will be published April 9, 2019.

See all of my reviews at itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com.

Check out my list of the best books I read in 2018 at https://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-best-books-i-read-in-2018.html.

You can follow me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/yrralh/.

[Elyse Walters · Rating 3 out of 5]

Faith Healing for *Harmony*!!! ( real name was Beryl or Berie for short)
Laughing yet? I wanted to....
but unfortunately- I only laughed when sharing ‘about’ this novel with my husband during reading ‘breaks’.
I’d read Paul a few paragraphs. His questions made me laugh.
Paul asked me “what are the rules about soap?”
“I don’t know, Paul. The ‘rules’ about soap wasn’t explained clearly....only that it was a ‘rule’ to follow along with a list of other rules at the ASH FAMILY FARM”.

I’m 66 years old. I grew up in Berkeley during the Vietnam War - hippies - flower children - drugs - rock-n-roll - and communes. I was a no-fun-straight-lace type myself - but everyone my age lived through the chaos years of ‘free-love’ - ‘who am I?’ - and ‘all-we-are-saying-is-give-peace-a-chance’.

So.... I thought reading ‘The Ash Family’... (taking a journey with ‘Harmony’ would be nostalgic fun.
The problem was - it lacked dazzling pizzazz.
Or ..... ‘maybe’... I was too familiar with this topic.
Nothing felt ‘eye-opening’ to me personally -
But it’s possible other - readers - even young readers - might find this story riveting. In fact - I’d love to know how 18 and 19 year olds would relate to this book today.

Holistic living in the North Carolina with ‘The Ash Family’...is creepy haunting...
We question ‘the rules’ & the cult type environment:
....the group leader’s beliefs and authority...
....recruitment tactics...
....destructive acts...
....the purpose for isolation and socially unorthodox mechanisms...
.... the psychological repercussions....
..... Financial demands that threaten the individual’s well being.
....restrictive access to information...
.... etc. we question love - Family - belonging -personal intimacy needs.

...Dice is the Ash Family leader. He used to work as an engineer- but “felt he couldn’t keep propping up the fake world forever”.
...Harmony was told she could stay three days or the rest of her life. She stayed longer than 3 days— about two years—
but she often thought about her past - ( thoughts about her mother & boyfriend- Isaac)...she was trying to figure out her own beliefs.

...Two dozen young people lived on the farm...( having left the “fake world”)...you’ll get to know Bay, Dice, Sara- Gemini- and others in the community.
...Harmony hadn’t seen her father since she was six years old. Her relationship with her mother was unsettling. We see Harmony often comparing both worlds.
...Little utopia was an isolated mountain. Besides the 20-30 people ... there were sixty sheep, thirty cows, four pigs, twelve geese, sixty chickens, a raw milk dairy, an orchard, a vegetable patch, and an old farmhouse.
....The members shared everything- clothes - money- their minds - and bodies.

Lost souls got along with lost souls!
Harmony let herself fall into Dice’s leadership and enchantment.
Dice said: “universes may blossom like soap bubbles, their space-time so curved they are smaller than atoms”. ( touchy-feely speaking) ... I did laugh at that sentence! 🤣

This story gets a little Cuckoo-Crazy towards the end - but also asks us to look at sacrifices- our willingness to face pain to save mother-earth!

I liked the concepts of this novel ( great debut).
I would have enjoyed a little more spicy seasoning. ( more playful satire dialogue)...
But I liked it! 🙂 3.5 rating

Thank you Simon & Schuster, Netgalley, and Molly Dektar

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

My girl, my girl, don't lie to me
Tell me where did you sleep last night
In the pines, in the pines
Where the sun don't ever shine
I would shiver the whole night through

My girl, my girl, where will you go
I'm going where the cold wind blows
In the pines, in the pines
Where the sun don't ever shine
I would shiver the whole night through - American Folk Song (Leadbelly version)

This book was intriguing, a curiosity. It tells of a young woman's introspection and confusion as she leaves her life behind and joins a different kind of "family" - a commune, a cult. As her mind absorbs her new environment and she tries so hard to fit in, her inner self continues to question and to desire things she's no longer supposed to want. Her brainwashing is almost total, with "almost" being the key word. She has both feet planted in her new world (the "real world" as her new family calls it), but is still dangling her toes in the waters of her former life.

With lyrical details and a darkness blanketing the story (no spoilers, but I couldn't help but wonder throughout the book how this could possibly end well), the writing kept me engrossed until the end. I wanted more at the end, but I think it wouldn't have served the story well if I had gotten what I wanted. And now I sound like one of the "family." Eek.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for an ARC in exchange for my honest review. 4 stars

[Bandit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh I just love cult stories. They don’t even have to be overtly sinister cults, the ones camouflaged as back to nature communes, like the Ash Family, will do also. And so I was really interested in this book and quite enjoyed it, albeit conditionally, enjoinment mixed in with frustration at the naïve idiocy of the protagonist. Then again, naïve idiocy is usually something of a prerequisite for these things, mixed in with misguided well intentions and misplaced optimism. Qualities as inmate to cult members as they are to 19 year olds. Youth being wasted on the young and all that is very much the case here, when Berie, the main character, decided to go and live what is in her words an essential life. There is nothing particularly wrong with her life as is, she has a devoted mother who has slaved away and made great sacrifices so that Berie can attend college, but alas the wilderness calls and Berie follows to a remote mountain off the grid commune with a questionably charismatic leader and insane privation disciplines and a vague militant ambition. So the thing with these sorts of stories is that one must sort of compartmentalize aspects of it, you can’t just get into it if you think it’s a personal journey of a stupid young girl and, frankly, their lifestyle is too brutal and unpleasant to have even the initial/recruitment appeal, so it’s all very difficult to intellectually understand or engage with. Berie’s attitude is one of sheer stubbornness turned desperation galvanized fortitude, she’s convinced herself this is the place for her so she stays, which eventually warps her mind into a sort of grave acceptance. Her character doesn’t really have an arc, it seems, even after all that occurs and all she does, Berie still doesn’t seem to get any sort of mental lucidity and it’s probably logical too…why would a mentally disconcerted person get any saner after two years of psychological and physical abuse. She’s someone you might pity, but not like or love. Her journey, though, is certainly a more compelling aspect of the story. At least for those fascinated with cults and psychology of it all. Ash Family is a very 70s throwback, they aren’t mere peace loving agrarians, they are political, they do actions. And, of course, no one ever views themselves as low level criminals or lunatics that they are. It’s such a strange thing, the shared immersive delusion that never lasts and never pans out and attracts a very specific mentality. So yes, all that is there. And the writing is very good, particularly for a debut, terrific nature descriptions, oftentimes outshining the character drama. I’d say this was a good read, with demonstrated potential for greatness, albeit a somewhat frustrating one, mainly due to its denouement, which, although appropriately fiery and working oh so well with the title, was as satisfying action wise as it was underwhelming as far as where we leave off with the main protagonist. Makes you think about whether Berie will ever get her sh*t together or is she traumatized beyond having a normal life. Normally I enjoy characters that don’t belong in the real world as it were, but her solution for it was just too…well, cultish. But, if this rambling review is trying to say something, it isn’t just that agrarian utopia cults aren’t sustainable or that 19 year old are idiots, it’s that this was an interesting book worth reading with something of a poetic language and stunning imagery. Thanks Netgalley.

[Marjorie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Berie is 19 years old and is very unsure about going to college. It’s her mother’s dream, not hers. When she meets a stranger named Bay at a local bus station, she decides to give his off-the-grid community a chance. They tell her that she can stay three days or forever so she has a little time to decide. She’s always felt a connection with nature and wants to help save the world and thinks that this community, known as “The Ash Family”, is the answer so she decides to stay. She’s given a new name – Harmony – and is encouraged to forget the “fake world”. She learns how to take care of the farm animals but soon learns that there’s a violence to that part of the world that she has trouble accepting. She struggles with thoughts and longings for the “fake world” and with her desire to be a trusted part of this family. She begins to have doubts but she’s been pulled so far into this secretive world that she believes she may be trapped forever.

This is the author’s debut and while it isn’t perfect, it held me completely in its thrall. There’s a deep understanding of how a cult leader can manipulate the mind, creating a strong desire to belong and be trusted, no matter what. While there were certainly times I wanted to shake Berie and tell her to wake up, I could see how she was masterfully pulled into this world. She was kept exhausted physically by the hard farm work and her mind was constantly being influenced by the leader’s “stories”. Berie soon feared the family’s lack of trust more than she feared their punishments. There are moments of literary beauty that assures this author of a promising career with her vivid, realistic characterization and atmospheric setting. This is an author to keep an eye on.

A strong debut that is highly recommended.

This book was given to me by the publisher in return for an honest review.

[Jessica Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

There’s just something inherently fascinating about cult stories: What makes someone give up their life to join one? How do they become seduced by it despite the red flags? When and how to utopian ideals transform into something dangerous and controlling?

Seeking something more out of life than college and settling down, 19-year-old Berie joins the Ash Family, a community of eco-terrorists living off the grid in the woods of North Carolina.

Drawn to their “essential” lifestyle, she is determined to do anything to earn the trust of the Family’s charismatic leader, Dice. As suspicious events start happening, Berie is torn between her ties to those she cares about both inside and outside the Family and her devotion to their mission of giving up the self for the purpose of the community and the environment.

Debut novelist Molly Dektar creates such a vivid setting, atmosphere and mood. There’s a subtle feeling of ominous tension that she teases out, while simultaneously lending insight into Berie’s desperate need for belonging. Her ambivalence is what keeps her so interesting as a character: constantly teetering between doing what she wants to do and doing what she feels like she ought to do—and often confusing the two.

Fans of cult novels like Emma Cline’s The Girls and lush mysteries like Abby Geni’s The Lightkeeper’s will certainly like this one.

*Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review*

[Leesa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolute beauty beauty beauty on a sentence level if you love words and writing abt land/nature/animals/emotions/trees/desire/regret/connection/the untouchable/etc. A work of art. I've loved Molly Dektar's writing for years.

(And this book doesn't answer every question it asks and that's okay imo. Life, right?)

[Bam cooks the books · Rating 3 out of 5]

*3-3.5 stars

Beryl is being pushed by her mother to go to college but instead she wants a deeper connection with the 'real' world, with nature. Her mother takes her to the airport to fly to school but Beryl decides to sneak off on her own instead.

While waiting at the bus station, Beryl is approached by a guy named Bay who lures her into returning with him to an isolated commune in the hills of NC. The life there sounds just like what she's been dreaming of--a deeper connection with the natural world. Bay tells her that she can stay there for three days or forever...but 'why would you want to leave, when you'll have more freedom here than anywhere else?' he tells her.

These people live off the land and actively fight against evil corporations, like coal companies, that they feel are out to ruin the Earth. Their leader Dice is a smallish older man, not a hippy, more like a boxer, 'who seemed to have his fists up against the world.'

He tells Beryl that the family has a number of rules for the utopia they are creating: share money and clothes; have no fires in the barn; no leaving the farm for visits home; no 'fake world' medicine; no reading and writing; no phones, mirrors, or soap. Be expected to volunteer for hard tasks and do your share of the daily chores. But the biggest rule of all is there are to be no couples so no babies will be added to this already overcrowded world. Beryl doesn't mention that she has a huge crush on Bay, one of the reasons she wants to stay. Dice gives her her 'real' name now--it's Harmony.

Harmony finds it's easy 'to love the Ash Family as an act of defiance, an act of scorn against all who had hurt' her in the 'fake' world, like her mother and her ex-boyfriend Isaac. She doesn't want to think of the family as a last resort. But there are problems here too. People complain that she is not carrying her full load and Bay ignores her. She wonders if she 'would ever feel at rest, in the real world or in the fake world.'

The story is told from Harmony's first person point of view so the reader is limited to her perspective, her judgments of right and wrong, lies or truth, her observations of what is happening.

Oh you know that their supposedly blissful utopia is fragile, has to be, because they are prone violence, especially in their activism. And family members are expected to do what they are called upon to do, even if they hardly have the stomach for it.

As always when we read about cults and communes, in real life or fiction, we hear about the brainwashing techniques used to make a person give up self and join the group think. They are systematically separated from their own family and friends so they will be more open to doings things they wouldn't normally do so they can belong to this new family. It's all very reminiscent of the Manson family, isn't it?

I thought the writing and descriptions could be quite beautiful but as for plot, I think I wanted, was really expecting, more drama. And I really wanted Beryl to THINK, to notice that she was frequently lied to and manipulated, that the rules didn't always apply to everyone equally.

I received an arc of this book from the publisher via NetGalley for my honest review. Many thanks.

[Alison Hardtmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Ash Family is a farming commune in the mountains of North Carolina. Berie is a young woman who doesn't know what she wants and has let her mother and her boyfriend tell her what to do until the moment she leaves for university and decides not to go, turning around and taking a bus to Asheville. At the bus stop, she encounters the charismatic Bay, who brings her to the Ash family farm and where she learns to work with farm animals, and is drawn into the close and tightly controlled group led by Dice, who also leads the inner circle of his group in a little light eco-terrorism. Berie is desperate to be trusted enough to join them and throws herself into the endless tasks involved in pulling a living out of the land. She's also desperate to get time with Bay, who is often gone recruiting new members and desperate to be accepted and find a home within the Ash Family.

As Molly Dektar's debut novel goes on, it becomes increasingly clear that the Ash Family is not a benign group and equally clear that the members are being kept under tight control and surveillance. Berie's need for belonging can't entirely hide the less savory aspects of the commune from her, especially as her one friend is protecting a secret and Berie will not be able to remain free of the consequences. And, back in Durham, there are people worried about her and while they might be able to tell her that they want her to come home, whether or not Berie leaves is entirely up to her.

While the novel does sometimes feel predictable and research into cults makes itself known, Dektar's writing is strong and clear. Berie is a wonderful character, very much an eighteen year old, but also a young woman who has a moral compass and who develops into someone who knows herself over the course of this novel.

[Ginger · Rating 2 out of 5]

So I guess Dektar was giving is a 'cult 101' class with this story.
I was left feeling a bit *meh* after reading it, I was obviously expecting something else. I thought it was going to be a slightly dark and twisted novel. I found more of a soul search inspirational novel that wasn't quite fully executed.

Putting those pre conceived expectations for fiction occult novels aside, Dektar wrote some interesting characters.
Our little friend, Berie aka Harmony, is 'chosen' to come and live with the Ash Family. I would have to say that is just about the most exciting thing that happens to her. There are a few disturbing events, however, most of the details of these events are questionable. Not only do we have an unreliable narrator but the family that she lives with is seeped in manipulated 'truths'. Dektar certainly had me hating Dice, the fearless leader, and wanting so much more from Bay.
I guess you could read this and question your own priorities or maybe see how people are manipulated every day into seeing reality in the way society (in this case with the mask of a cult leader) dictates. I kept waiting for the moment of 'aha' to hit whenever Berie was going through one of her muddled brain/grasping at the secrets of life moments. I just never really got on board. I am not claiming to be enlightened, this one just didn't flip my switch.
I would be willing to read another novel by Molly Dektar just to see what kind of range she has as a writer. I just wouldn't necessarily recommend this one.


---Pre read---
This looks interesting...
A special invitation from NetGalley (I know some of you get these all the time) yay!
In exchange for an honest review that is.

[CloudOfThoughts_Books Keirstin · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Ash Family by author Molly Dektar is a book about doing what makes you happy. What you THINK would make you happy. Full of ambition, the main character quickly finds out that things are not always as they seem. A great book with a great plot!
Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an arc copy of The Ash Family in exchange for an honest review.

[Basic B's Guide · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you so much @simonbooks for the free book and bringing this book to my attention.

Wow, talk about sneak attack! This book slowly builds with vivid descriptions and tension and then AHA! I was full on pacing my house while reading the last hundred or so pages and shouting curse words (I was alone thank goodness). Now that the adrenaline in my body is back to normal, I can rest easy and breathe.

Ever since reading THE GIRLS I’ve been looking for a cult story that hit all the marks and I really think this is the one. FINALLY, we have a winner!

Berie is but 19 when she decides to abandon college and run for the hills (quite literally). Vulnerable and seeking an easier life and one of belonging she is picked up by a man named Bay. Bay brings her to a place they call The Ash Family where people stay for 3 days or for a lifetime.

Some of us have dreams of living off the grid (not me but my hubby). Some seek an easier life, away from the hustle and bustle. I can see the appeal and Dektar does an excellent job of telling a compelling tale. From the beginning though you know things aren’t quite right with The Ash Family. The manipulation is evident to us as a reader but what about if we were young and searching to belong?

A captivating debut that I cannot wait to discuss with more of you. This book is available April 9th.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read several books about cults and enjoyed them all, but this one was quite different in the haunting way the story unfolds. Berie (aka Harmony in the Ash Family compound) is a nineteen-year-old woman who is supposed to board an airplane for college, when she meets the magnetic Bay at a bus stop and he convinces her to travel with him to their mountain community. Their credo is, "You can stay 3 days or the rest of your life." Sounds appealing, right? But of course we know how these enigmatic leaders suss out the weak, the lost, the vulnerable, and then seduce and manipulate them into believing they are loved and part of a greater "whole." And so Harmony is sucked into this "family" as they work constantly with livestock and nature, growing their own crops and sustaining themselves under the leadership of Dice, the Father Figure of the group. And of course there is more than just "harmony" in the group; there are protests and "actions" that involve the members putting their lives at risk, all in the name of community and fighting back at the "fake" world,
But the difference with this book is Dektar's writing; it is both hypnotic and haunting as we see from Harmony's perspective how she is slowly taken in by the smooth-talking Dice and taught to "get relativity" and "there's no such thing as a definite self." Huh?? But she wants to believe so strongly that she gives into these nebulous theories and believes all the wild allegations that Siberia is melting and Armageddon is close on its heels. With many other novels like these, I find myself thinking, "How can you not see what is happening here?" But with this book, even though Harmony is naive and needy, somehow I sympathized with her as she desperately clings to the idea that she loves Bay and she will come to be trusted. Granted, it's uncomfortable reading at times, but isn't part of reading a good book getting out of one's comfort zone to uncover truths that permeate society?
So hats off to Dektar for a marvelous debut novel! I certainly look forward to more from her!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredible, haunting, disorienting read. A bolt of lightning in book form. I am more of a non-fiction/ biography type of reader and I rarely find a work of fiction which can keep me engaged, and I read The Ash Family in about 11 hours with sporadic breaks here and there for food and water and sleep. Go get yourself a copy and leave your boring, unessential life behind for the duration of the read.

[Lindsay (nerdybooknurse) · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Ash Family by Molly Dektar follows Beryl (Berie), on her way to college but questioning her entire existence in this life. It's at the bus station on her way to school that she meets Bay. Bay offers her another way of life and Berie, desperately searching for deeper meaning goes with him. She ends up on a farm with the Ash Family. The family farm is completely self-sustainable, a commune where everyone is equal and there are no possessions.

Once at the farm, Berie (now known as Harmony) meets Dice, the father of the group. Harmony finds herself enraptured with him, taking all of his rantings as gospel. There is no self, everyone works together to cultivate food, harvest the land and all none of the amenities from the fake-world are allowed here. Between singing in the mountains and swimming in the creek Harmony feels like she's finally living a complete life and making a difference in this world.

Slowly though, her brothers and sisters begin disappearing. Family members get sick and never return. Others "escape". Despite some of Harmony's unease deep down, she is devoted to Dice and Bay and eager to take on responsibilities to please them. But just how far is Harmony willing to go to prove herself to Dice and remain part of her new family?

I really really liked this one. I've been obsessed with cults as long as I can remember. Not in a creepy "I want to join one" kind of way. But I've always been fascinated with the psychology of how that manipulation occurs. I've read and watched so many different things on Jonestown, Scientology, the Branch Davidians, you name it! (Going Clear on HBO is a fav doc PS). Every time I watch a special, it seems like the draw always comes from a similar place. People that are desperately searching for something whether it be the meaning of life, a community or just somewhere to belong. And thats how we find Harmony. This isn't a twisty cult thriller nor is it deeply dark and sinister so if you're hoping for that, you won't find it here. The Ash Family is slow and poetic with an underlying building tension that is subtle but powerful. You get glimpses into how both Bay and Dice offer love and then punishment, acceptance and then disappointment to mold Harmony into the sheep they need her to be. This novel is truly a character study that provides deep understanding of just how powerful manipulation and brain-washing can be and I absolutely enjoyed it! (Note: Audiobook fans - this one is fantastic to listen to!) // ☕️☕️☕️☕️

[Jake · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a knock-out. Lyrical but thrilling, and brimming with thoughtful insights into activism and collective living. This one will stick with me a long time.

[C. Purtill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Instead of getting on a plane for college, Berie goes to a commune in the forest with Bay, a charismatic man recruiting for Dice and his "family." Berie was never satisfied with her life, with her mother who wanted her to go to college, with her boyfriend Isaac, an artist with whom she had attempted small anti-establishment efforts.

But Dice and his group truly are anti-establishment. They live on the land, forage for food, scavenge Dumpsters from the "fake world" to bring back to their real world. They make their own soap - and bullets. They create their own medicines - and bombs. They are not just counterculture but anti-culture.

Berie (rechristened Harmony) follows Bay because she has fallen for him but she soon learns that there are no couples in the Ash Family, there are no possessions. You either stay for 3 days and leave or you stay forever. There are heavy consequences for broken rules and for attempts to leave.

Who doesn't love a book about cults? I was drawn to this title because of that description. It's a fascinating portrait of a girl who is manipulated by a cult. So well-written, the descriptions of the sky and the animals so vivid -I love how Harmony frames things that are truly ugly into things of beauty. We see how this naive young woman sees the world in such a different way than most of us do because she is desperate to not be like her mother and the rest of the mundane world. The ending was a little unsatisfactory because it felt incomplete but otherwise I thought this was a compelling story.

Thanks to Netgalley for the arc to review.

[Faith · Rating 2 out of 5]

I spent as much time as I could stand in the mind of the incredibly boring and stupid protagonist. The rest of the characters were no better. I abandoned the book at the 32% point. Something may happen in the rest of the book, but it sure hadn’t in the part that I read. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

[Karen R · Rating 3 out of 5]

Teenager Berie makes a snap decision to get in a car with a stranger named Bay. Her life will never be the same as she is pulled into the web of a charismatic cult leader who runs an off-the-grid farm. A jarring and thought-provoking story of exploiting vulnerability and highlighting how easily someone can get sucked into mind games and manipulative tactics of a madman. Thanks to Simon & Schuster for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

[Joy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book sounds so good - there's a cult, it's Appalachia, the blurb says something about missing people. Ideally, you should have the trappings of a thriller, but the blurb is misleading. This is not what I would call a thriller, and honestly I was rather bored through half of it. The pace finally picks up a bit at the halfway mark, but it still slows, reving up in fits and starts like an old clunky car. Perhaps I'm being unfair, because there are good parts. The book tells the story of Beryl, an 18-year-old who was supposed to be on her way to college but ends up on a homestead in western North Carolina, and by "homestead" I mean "full-on cult". It's an interesting exploration of identity and the ease with which young adults (all adults really) can be swayed and taken in by a bit of charisma. There's also some good digs at America's denial of climate change. I would venture to say that overall, it's a good book, it just didn't meet my expectations.

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Chelsea · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF @ 20%

A mild debut with promise sprinkled about, but not enough to keep me reading. The story details a girl who joins a cult, but it is not nearly as interesting as it could have been. The writing is a bit choppy and, while the author makes some beautiful observations here and there, it mostly reads as meandering and unfocused.

However, this is definitely a book where I could see the author writing something brilliant after she’s had more practice!

[James B · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful first novel where the young narrator takes you inside a commune that quickly shows itself to be a cult with strict rules and delusional world philosophies. She reveals her moment to moment thoughts, loves and fears so openly that it makes sense that she would stay with these people than to go out and face the real world. A really smart first book.

[Laura • lauralovestoread · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nineteen year old Beryl, or “Berie ” for short, meets a mysterious man near her home in North Carolina and while promised a new life with him, she actually ends up living in a cultish community instead.

Anytime a book takes place in my home state of North Carolina, I’m drawn to it right away. However, some things fell a little flat for me in this story. Berie was a likeable enough character, but there wasn’t a big draw to character building otherwise that I was really hoping for.

I love reading books with cults or I should say I’m curious about them. I loved The Girls and I guess I was looking for a book more along those lines.

*Thank you to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for this digital advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Lolly K Dandeneau · Rating 3 out of 5]

via my blog: https://bookstalkerblog.wordpress.com/
"Why would you want to leave, when you’ll have more freedom here than anywhere else?” He said. The family’s father, Bay said, was Dice, and Dice would understand me the way a lightning bolt would understand a rod.

At Nineteen years old Berie doesn’t intend to go to college despite the plane ticket to Richmond, Virginia. That is her mother’s plan, not hers. She leads her mother to believe in it, going so far as to say goodbye at the airport, her mother secure in the illusion that she’s left. Ex-boyfriend Isaac doesn’t believe in her hunger for a more essential life, but someone does. All she wants is to leave the bustle and noise of modern day life behind, the path to her desire comes in the form of a stranger she meets at a bus station on her way back to Isaac and Durham, hoping he will let her squat. The scarred stranger’s magnetic presence draws her in, before long she finds herself enthralled by his tales of the Ash Family, named for having started in Asheville, North Carolina. The members all sustain themselves and each other in an old farmhouse in the holler, their own utopia with animals, a vegetable patch and an orchard. “Thirty people and growing”, she could be one of them if the family accepts her, but three days and either you leave or stay forever. Three days, no exceptions.

Everything starts out with such promise, living off the grid among brothers and sisters, what feels cold at first turns into beauty, “I was awestruck under a wild star-smeared sky.” Of course, things fall apart as they always do, rules seem to bend and stretch for some people and cruelty rears it’s ugly head. Why would you ever leave, right, when you are with the people who really love you? Who needs medical care in the fake world when they have Pear and her natural healing ways? Listen, I am all for natural medicine, but I sure wouldn’t take an herb to cure a brain tumor or ignore it if my appendix burst, how about you? I’m more inclusive, nature embracing science, why must it be one or the other? The problem with utopia is power and control because there always seems to be a leader that wants to give you rules. Being at peace is easy when you don’t have to interact with others and their ideas. Is it freedom if punishment and acceptance is meted out under the critical eye of a ‘father’? Father’s need obedient children.

Berie is a lost soul and for a time, she chooses to acquiesce. “The gale came into me, and blew all my doors and windows open.” But being blown about by the wind and putting your faith, will into another’s hands never bodes well and surely can’t last. They don’t need anything that nature doesn’t provide, though over time hypocrisy shows itself. The rules don’t always make sense, what begins as a back to earth experience seems more tests of loyalty to the cause. The rot sets in, Berie finds serious flaws and weaknesses within herself and the family. Dice demands sacrifices. This peace loving community is at war with those that would destroy the environment and be the Ash Family’s ruin, even if they must turn on their own people, ignoring illness, letting nature take it’s course… so be it.

Oh boy, will she ever leave? Will she remain a sort of pawn for the ‘father’ of the Ash Family’s plans? How did Bay get those scars, by the by, she wonders. What worked about the novel is that it exposes the ugly side of commune living, while also telling the story of how easy it is, when lost, to latch on to something dangerous. Sometimes searching for a more authentic life can be ruinous, particularly if it means letting go of your will. Berie’s desire for more than what is on offer, her need to journey down an unexplored path is a struggle for many people. The need to be inspired by something bigger than what other’s expect of you burns within us and is at its strongest when you’re young and just beginning to question your place in the world. Berie has other issues that complicate her relationships, Bay seems like a gift from the universe. But her eyes are clouded over with weariness for the world, one she needs to reject, she is so tired of trying so why not hand the wheel over to someone else. It’s easy to remain a child and allow others to push you along, that’s how cults work you know. Believe in something or someone else when you don’t believe in yourself. What can you do when you feel like you don’t fit the times? Don’t go into this novel thinking it’s going to be a happy back to nature story, it turns ugly.

Publication Date: April 9, 2019

Simon & Schuster

[Tami · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I began this book, I was fairly certain it would end up as a DNF for me. However, I was interested enough to keep reading and give it a chance. While I did have some issues with the story, I also was intrigued and engaged with what was happening.

A young woman named Beryl is headed to college, but suddenly decides to go off the grid and join this “family” and take a new name, cutting all ties with her former life. I never did understand why Beryl’s life was in such a state that she felt compelled to join this group and just disappear.

The writing reminded me somewhat of stories like The Handmaid’s Tale, where there are sparse details, so the reader must try and imagine what is going on behind the scenes. I wasn’t that pleased with the ending. I’m guessing it was purposefully written to be confusing.

I’m glad I stayed the course and finished the book. I liked it in spite of a few issues I had with the story. This is a debut novel, so I look forward to seeing future work from this author.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for allowing me to read an advance copy and give my honest review.

[Isabelle | Nine Tale Vixen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received an advance review copy through Netgalley. This does not affect my rating or opinions.

2.5 stars.

This was interesting enough that I made it all the way through — though there were multiple moments when I told myself I would just finish one more chapter then DNF and move on — but maybe I've just read too many stories about cults and communes? Because this one had no impact whatsoever; I wasn't invested in any of the characters, or the setup. Beryl/Harmony is naive and lost, with a desire for a family that should be relatable, but for some reason I just couldn't muster much sympathy for her despite being almost exactly the same age and similarly feeling a bit adrift.

A lot is packed into these pages, and I felt like consequently none of it was given due weight. The philosophy isn't really explained ("Get relativity" still doesn't make sense to me), and even accounting for brainwashing and dissociation this felt more like a thought experiment than a novel.

content warnings: cult, brainwashing, on-page death of livestock, minor gore, coerced sex (mentioned), dubious consent (drunk), discussions of and attempts to induce abortion, miscarriage, on-page murder, mentions of/plans for violence

[Alexandria Faulkenbury · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the North Carolina setting for this one. The author is also really good at creating tension and eerie situations.