Vlaštovčí kopec

by Donna Everhart

Chce to pořádnou kuráž, aby člověk dokázal zachránit sám sebe…
Syrový i dojemný román nejen pro čtenáře bestselleru Kde zpívají raci.

V románu úspěšné spisovatelky Donny Everhartové z prostředí terpentýnářských pracovních táborů, ukrytých v hloubi borových lesů, se odehrává drsný i vášnivý příběh o lásce, přátelství a boji o přežití. Pohnuté osudy tří románových hrdinů svádí dohromady smůla, vlastní špatná rozhodnutí i zlomyslná náhoda.

Georgia, USA, 1932. Pracovní tábory na sběr a zpracování pryskyřice rostou jako houby po dešti. Dělníci tu dřou v drsných podmínkách, za prachbídnou mzdu, izolovaní v nedozírných lesích od zbytku světa, a tudíž zcela závislí na často hamižných a arogantních majitelích, kteří poskytují ubytování a stravu za nehorázné ceny. Pro mnohé z nich jsou však tato místa poslední a jedinou šancí.

Patří k nim i hlavní postavy tohoto příběhu, které se setkají v táboře, jehož jméno, Swallow Hill, se dá chápat buď jako „Vlaštovčí kopec“, nebo – a možná poněkud příhodněji – jako „kopec všeho příkoří, které je tu třeba spolknout“, aby člověk vůbec vydržel. Del, Rae i Cornelie zde postupně nacházejí i ztrácejí naději, dokud nepochopí, že chtějí-li zachránit holý život, musí se pokusit z tohoto domnělého azylu uniknout. Nejprve se ovšem musí vypořádat se svou minulostí…

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Book Club, Historical, Audiobook, Southern, Romance

432 pages, Hardcover

First published January 25, 2022

About the author

Donna Everhart is a USA Today bestselling author known for vividly evoking the challenges of the heart and the complex heritage of the American South in her acclaimed novels When the Jessamine Grows, The Saints of Swallow Hill, The Moonshiner’s Daughter, The Forgiving Kind, The Road to Bittersweet, and The Education of Dixie Dupree.

She is the recipient of the prestigious SELA Outstanding Southeastern Author Award from the Southeastern Library Association and her novels have received a SIBA Okra Pick, an Indie Next Pick, and two Publishers Marketplace Buzz Books selections.

Born and raised in Raleigh, she has stayed close to her hometown for much of her life and now lives just an hour away in Dunn, North Carolina. Please visit Donna Everhart online at DonnaEverhart.com.

Reviews

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my first book by Donna Everhart, but it won’t be my last. The Saints of Swallow Hill was an atmospheric, enlightening historical fiction about The southeast during the Depression. Silly me, I never knew the reason NC was called the Tarheel State.
This is a dark story and a reminder about how evil some men can be. It tackles the easy racism and misogyny of the day. The camps were just one step up from slavery. Corporal punishment was allowed. Because of the script program, most workers owed the camp more than they made and could be hunted down if they left.
Del Reese isn’t exactly a Boy Scout. But he finds himself in a turpentine camp, just trying to stay alive. He’s targeted because he’s a white willing to work with blacks. Rae Lynn also finds herself in the camp, disguised as a man in an attempt to stay out of jail.
It took me a while to get truly invested in the story, but once I did, it just grabbed me. I cared deeply about both of these characters, along with several of the secondary characters.
The story centers on finding one’s own strength, yet also learning to trust. This would make a great book club selection and the author was smart to include discussion questions in the back.
My thanks to Netgalley and Kensington Books for an advance copy of this book.

Update - re-read for my book club and recommend for book clubs interested in historical fiction.

[Angela M · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars.
If there was nothing else, I could say I learned something - why North Carolina is called the Tar Heel State and a good bit about the history of turpentining in the South around the depression. But I certainly got more than learning some facts. I found the same sense of place and time, characters that you can easily feel for, as I found in the three other novels that I’ve read by Donna Everhart.

The deeds of some vile characters bring Rae Lynn Cobb and Del Reese to the Swallow Hill work camp and their already difficult lives , are once again affected by other evil characters. This is dark in places, reflects horrific racism in other places but there is strength and determination and grit in the face of these things by Del, Rae Lynn and others. Both a learning and moving reading experience. Excellent historical fiction.

I received a copy of this book from Kensington Books through Edelweiss and NetGalley

[Jennifer ~ TarHeelReader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Donna Everhart is one of my favorite authors, especially North Carolina authors. She took a slightly different direction with this story, and I loved it.

In case you were wondering why on earth my name is “Tar Heel” reader, this book has the earliest explanation for why the term “Tar Heel” is tied to North Carolina and my beloved undergrad alma mater.

Deep in the pine forests of North Carolina, turpentiners are working hard to retrieve the sap. Rae Lynn and her husband, Warren, own a turpentine farm. Something happens that leads to her disguising herself to stay out of jail, and she lands in a turpentine camp in Georgia. There the work is even harder than when she was on her own farm, and her daily work is strictly counted and watched closely. The working conditions are harsh and abysmal, and Rae wants out, but not before she can make a change for this place while also confronting her past.

Darkness and evil abound, including racism and hate. Rae Lynn and Del are formidable and resilient characters you can’t help but admire and root for. I had no idea how brutal the turpentine camps were, with conscripted labor and corporal punishments. They served as a way to keep people down and take advantage of their hard work without a glimmer of advancement or hope for something better.

Donna Everhart’s latest is her best yet. Rae Lynn and Del and their story left a mark on me.

I received a gifted copy of the book.

Many of my reviews can also be found on my blog: www.jennifertarheelreader.com and instagram: www.instagram.com/tarheelreader

[Canadian Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A gritty southern noir one. 1932.
North Carolina. The depression has hit. Jobs are hard to come by.
Turpentining is the one industry that seems to stay afloat. Barely.
Rae Cobb has just lost her husband and looks to Swallow Hill Camp to do some turpentining. The only thing she knows how to do. But she has to become a he to be hired. What a harsh life. Laborious work. The abuse that happened in this camp. The discrimination. But there were still a few good men who recognized humanity in these humans. Del being one of them. A story of survival, friendship, hardship and the search for a new life.
An engaging read from start to finish. Beautiful descriptive country.
4.25⭐️

[Donna Everhart]

I read another author's review of their book in which they gave themselves a five star rating, and they said something to the effect of, "of course I give my own work five stars because if I didn't believe in it, who else would?"

Amen to that.

I hope you will allow me this tiny bit of self-indulgence because what I really want to do is "talk" to all of you, the readers/reviewers who have been so kind thus far in taking time to leave your thoughts on this story. I also wanted to take up some space here to tell you how excited I am for everyone to get a chance to learn about what I believe is a bit of lost Southern history.

I'm from the Tar Heel state, and have heard the nickname Tar Heel all my life. However, this was usually related to the sports teams. Little did I know the background of how the name came to be, or what was involved. Consider Zora Neale Hurston's return to the American South during 1935, back to her hometown of Eatonville, and into the harsh environment of a turpentine camp to collect oral histories and music which became the anthropological work called Mules and Men. A camp much like my fictitious "Swallow Hill."

Through my work of fiction, I endeavored to convey the reality of this uncommon work, and to tell the story of those who labored under the majestic longleaf pines, who chanted and sang, who were born and raised in such environments, only to die without ever knowing anything else. While the work was brutal, many sought it out for the beauty and peace that could be found in the disappearing pine forest savannas.

It's true that I never write easy stories, however, I like to think I write honestly about troubles, worries, about souls lost, and then found. I write about hardships, friendships, honor, and truth. I hope to create characters you love to hate, and those you want to root for, cheering them on to The End.

For the rest of the readers who may have wandered over here to see what I had to say, I hope you will consider reading The Saints of Swallow Hill and if you do, that you will love the story as much as I do.

As always, happy reading!

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yowzers!

Children used to sing and chant to a jump rope chorus during the Depression: "I shine my shoes with turpentine. Turpentine makes them shine. One, two, three......" Never knew what it took to harvest the makings of turpentine way back then and the toll it took on humanity.

Donna Everhart presents a jaw-dropping novel surrounding the best and the worst in individuals during the Great Depression. If you could plow a field for a dime, you did it. No matter what it took to feed yourself and your family, you did it. Thousands of endless pine trees lined the way through the Carolinas and Georgia. Tapping and boxing the sticky tar from the trees became a source of small income to many who lived in the shanty houses that also came with a steep price.

The back-breaking work divided those who were up to the challenge and those who would never make it. The houses were infested with fleas, termites, and an occasional opossom that would slip in at night for comfort. Workers would be indebted to the company stores that would dock you for every penny for every item. Debt sealed their fate in an already dark time in history.

Everhart introduces us to Delwood "Del" Reese who almost lost his life to a grain bin tragedy. He's returning to the life he was familiar with as a child.....the ol' Turpentine Road. Del is filled with the Americana that he grew up with only to have it nearly burned out of him when he reaches Swallow Hill in Georgia. He experiences the inhumanity of the woods riders who would track you down if you tried to avoid your debt or your quota. This is not the life Del signed up for.

Now Everhart lights a match in the person of Rae Lynn Cobb. Believe me, you will not be able to walk away from the likes of this memorable character. Rae Lynn and her older husband, Warren, worked endlessly to make a go of their own turpentine business in North Carolina. But when Warren dies under some shady circumstances, Rae Lynn takes to the road under her own questionable set of circumstances. She'll meet up with Del......can't tell you more. But lock yourself into this one......come to know Crow whose dark hollowed chest contains no evidence of a beating heart whatsoever. Lordy! The Saints of Swallow Hill is so so so extremely good.

I received a copy of this novel through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to Kensington Publishing Corporation and to Donna Everhart for the opportunity.

[Sujoya - theoverbookedbibliophile · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5⭐️

Set in the depression-era South, The Saints of Swallow Hill by Donna Everhart gives us a look into the turpentine industry and the people employed in the work camps around the pine forests. The story revolves around Rae Lynn Cobb and Delwood ‘Del’ Reese both of whom find themselves under the employ of the Swallow Hill work camp in Georgia. Del has a working knowledge of the trade, his parents having once worked in a similar camp when he was a child. However, before Swallow Hill, he was employed on a farm where his promiscuous misadventures with the wives of his boss and coworkers got him into trouble. Rae Lynn ,recently widowed under tragic circumstances, once ran a small-scale turpentine farm with her late husband . In an attempt to escape her previous life she on the run and ends up at the Swallow Hill camp. Disguised as a man “Ray Cobb” she seeks employment and is put to work with the rest of the men. She finds it difficult to keep up with the men in the labor intensive work required of the job, which places her in the crosshairs of Crow, one of the most vile overseers who also has an issue with Del on account of Del’s easy demeanor and fair treatment of all the workers in the camp, irrespective of the color of their skin. 'Ray' and Del meet and gradually become friends, with Del even saving 'Ray'’s life when Crow metes out particularly harsh punishment for Ray being unable to meet the requisite daily quota. The narrative alternates between Rae Lynn and Del’s PoVs and takes us through their backstories and describes the difficult working conditions in the camps and the cruelty that some of the overseers inflict on the workers. The story also explores racism and misogyny in both the workplace and society in general. The pace does falter in places but overall, the story is engaging.

I enjoyed Rae Lynn's story most of all. Her friendship with Cornelia “Nellie”, the wife of the abusive Otis who owns and operates the commissary in the camp, was one of the brighter tracks in what was mostly a dark and melancholic narrative. However, the romantic track between Del and Rae Lynn felt a bit forced and I felt Del’s story was left somewhat undeveloped. What is described as a significant moment in Del’s life, a moment that had a life-changing impact, is not explored in much depth and is mentioned only in passing in the latter part of the novel. But overall I did enjoy the story and was impressed with the writing. . This is a very well-researched novel with vivid imagery and a realistic portrayal of characters and their motivations. Heartbreaking yet insightful and informative, The Saints of Swallow Hill by Donna Everhart tells a story of friendship, hope and survival in an era of economic hardship and societal injustice wherein one struggled to simply stay alive and earn a living under the most adverse conditions.
This was my first Donna Everhart novel and I look forward to reading more of her work.

[Jasmine · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Saints of Swallow Hill by Donna Everhart is the kind of historical fiction I love. Set during the Great Depression in the South, this tale has rich characterization, a vivid setting, and research that blends seamlessly with the story.

Delwood Reese has a bad habit of going after married women. On one occasion, when his boss catches him with his wife, and after receiving a near-death punishment, Del decides it’s time to move on. He slowly makes his way south to a turpentine camp called Swallow Hill.

Meanwhile, in North Carolina, Rae Lynn Cobb lives with her clumsy husband, Warren. Together, they operate a small turpentine farm. The work is dangerous on its own, but it is even more perilous because of Warren’s reckless actions. His clumsiness eventually backfires on him, resulting in a grave injury. This disaster forces Rae Lynn to make some hard decisions, and she elects to leave her home disguised as a man. With her new name Ray Cobb, she makes her way south to the same camp where Delwood has recently arrived. Both will witness the racism and physical abuse that occurs at these sorts of camps.

The Saints of Swallow Hill captured my attention from the very first page. I wasn’t sure how I would feel about this one, but the characters are so well-developed that I couldn’t flip the pages fast enough. Some of these characters will likely stick with me for some time to come. Del, Rae, and a few others go on a journey of self-discovery, of learning to trust and to love.

This is the first time I’ve read Donna Everhart, and I look forward to reading more from the author.

Thank you to Kensington Books for an ARC provided via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

https://booksandwheels.com

[Rosh · Rating 4 out of 5]

In a Nutshell: A well-written historical fiction focussing on life in a turpentine camp in the years after the Great Depression. I would have enjoyed more layered characters but the historical elements are good enough to make this an interesting experience.

Story:

Delwood Reese (Del) is a cocky womaniser who gets caught by his own bad deeds and needs to escape from his current employer before it’s too late. He finds a job as a tree worker in a turpentine camp in Swallow Hill, Georgia, hoping to find a better future.
Rae Lynn and her kind but clumsy husband Warren run a turpentine camp together in North Carolina. When Warren’s blundering goes a step too far, Rae Lynn is forced to escape her home. The only place she can think of is Swallow Hill.
And thus the two narratives of Del and Rae Lynn come together, depicting in gritty detail the life in the turpentine camps. It is a journey of personal redemption and professional horror.
Most of the story alternates between the perspectives of Del and Rae Lynn. The story is written in a 3rd person omniscient narration.

Where the book clicked for me:
👌 While I knew a little bit of cotton and sugar plantations which mistreated Blacks, I had had no idea about turpentine camps. For those who enjoy factual details in their historical fiction, this book is a treat. Every aspect of the camps and the harsh living circumstances in them is fleshed out remarkably. The living conditions in those camps were gut-wrenching and the book shows the truth as is. The historical details seem well-researched.

👌 When there is a male lead and a female lead in a fictional story, there is a great chance that there is a romantic connection between them. This book is no exception. Where it goes on a different path is in how this romantic connection proceeds. I liked how the relationship “developed” naturally as the chapters progressed.

👌 Del, Rae Lynn, Warren, and to a certain extent, Cornelia (the wife of the camp’s commissary owner), are well-sketched characters with layers to their personality. These four characters hold the book on their shoulders and make the story what it is. While I didn’t appreciate a certain character trait assigned to Cornelia (it initially felt like a needless addition to create a complication in the story and felt very abrupt when it first appeared), the story does make good use of this trait later.

👌 While Rae Lynn’s character stays true to the time period of the story, she is still not a typical historical heroine. She is courageous, and her attitude in times of trouble is quite unlike the girls one normally reads about in historical fiction.

👌 Unlike usual such historical narratives which narrate the story from the perspective of the upper class Whites or the Black slaves, this book chooses to narrate it from the point of view of the lower class Whites, This view from the mid-point of the social structure serves as an interesting insight into how life was for people of this background, and also depicts their attitude towards the Blacks, who were even lower than them on the societal rung.

👌 The initial chapters seem a little slow and I wondered where the story was going. But once the momentum began, the story kept a pretty good pace and didn’t get boring for me at least in terms of the events occurring through it.


Where the book could have worked better for me:
⚠ Except for the four characters I mentioned above, the rest of the characters are very uni-dimensional and stereotypical. There are no layers to them, and their behaviour stays predictable throughout. I prefer more grey characters than hackneyed black or white ones.

⚠ The ending is too perfect and ties everything neatly with a ribbon and a pretty bow on top. The epilogue felt like a step taken too far. I would have preferred a somewhat more realistic ending, with some ends sealed and some on the way to closure.


The audiobook experience:
The audiobook clocks at 12 hours 13 minutes and is narrated brilliantly by Amy Melissa Bentley. Her accent is spot on, her character voices are impeccable, and her enunciation is perfect. I enjoyed her performance thoroughly. While the initial 3-4 chapters become a little confusing in the audio version, it doesn’t take time to figure out the plot. So I would definitely recommend the audiobook.


If you want a story about two plucky individuals who tried to face the problems of life head on and individually, and you want a historical fiction that stays away from over-used topics such as WWII and instead throws a spotlight on an unseen part of history, do give this a try. Regardless of the somewhat flat secondary characters, it is worth a read.

3.75 stars from me.

My thanks to Tantor Audio and NetGalley for the ALC of “The Saints of Swallow Hill”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the audiobook.



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[Carolyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Swallow Hill turpentine camp in North Carolina during the Great Depression wan't an easy place to work. The men harvesting the turpentine from pine trees were all dirt poor and forced to rent dirty, run down shacks for they and their families to live in. Instead of a real wage they were paid by a token or 'scrip' system and the high prices at the commissary meant they were constantly hungry as well as in debt and never able to leave. However, there were few other jobs available at the time and there was the benefit of working outdoors in a beautiful pine forests.

The novel centres around two new characters who show up at the camp seeking a job. Del Reese is a drifter whose skirt chasing ways got him nearly killed in his last job. Lucky to be alive he decided to try a turpentine camp like the ones his parents worked in when he was young. Told there are no jobs available for leaders of the work teams, the positions usually assigned to white men, he agrees to work collecting the resin from the trees. He is assigned to a team lead by a vile, racist man called Crow who whips and bullies his men and is so aggrieved to have a white man working on collecting resin that he makes Del's life a misery.

The second new worker to be hired, is a young woman called Rae Lyn, who is running away after the death of her beloved husband from an accident on their turpentine farm. Posing as a young man, she also soon attracts the attention of Crow who denigrates her apparent weakness and tries his best to harm her. Cornelia, the wife of Otis, the cruel man who runs the commissary, is a downtrodden and bullied woman who gradually befriends Rae Lyn.

How these three come together to fight against the cruelty of Crow and Otis and find their own paths to redemption makes for a great story. I loved the atmospheric historical setting and could feel the fear of the men working under Crow to make their quotas as well as smell the smoke of the campfires and hear the lively music played in the juke joint after work was over. I also enjoy learning about something I've never heard of and now know a lot about turpentine collection and distilling, as well as why North Carolina is known as the Tar Heel State. Recommended for all those who enjoy good historical fiction in an interesting setting with a moving story at its heart.

With thanks to Kensington Books and Netgalley for a copy to read

[Polly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed my previous read by this author, The Forgiving Kind, so was really looking forward to it.

I can agree with many reviewers who've said that they've learnt something new from this book — about the reasons behind North Carolina being the Tar Hell State. The amount of research that Everhart did into the naval store industry and camps behind turpentine production shows, and really adds to the book. Even knowing nothing about it, I could picture vividly what was happening.

It was very easy to get into the story, with characters that felt immediately familiar.

Much like in The Forgiving Kind, the historical setting is richly painted and easy to picture in the mind, with distinctive characters and a good sense of pacing throughout the story.

What let the book down for me, sadly, was the romance, which ended up playing a key part. When one of the romantic interests makes your skin crawl with their behaviour towards their counterpart — despite being likeable as a character in most other ways! — it ruins things slightly.

With a different outcome, it would have been a 4/5, but I've got to mark it down slightly for that. But I still recommend the book if it sounds interesting to you, because I enjoyed most of it, and was a story I could have easily stayed in for longer.

[Karren Sandercock · Rating 5 out of 5]

Left at an orphanage as a baby, Rae Lynn marries older widower Warren Cobb and for security. He owns a small run down turpentine farm in Harnett County, North Carolina, Warren’s not keen on changing his ways and he harvests his trees the old fashioned way. He’s rather frugal and a stubborn man and unfortunately this leads to his downfall.

Rae Lynn’s left to deal with the repercussions of her husband’s actions, she flees the farm, disguised as a man, she changes her name to Ray, driving her husbands truck and heads for Georgia. A turpentine camp called Swallow Hill is located there, Rae Lynn hopes to get work and find somewhere to live. Ray's shocked by the squalid conditions in the camp, the flimsy shack's filthy, her fellow workers are colored people, and everyone has to buy their provisions from the commissary shop, and are quickly in debt.

The workers days are long, chipping, dipping, scraping and tacking tin and Ray struggles to meet the daily tally. Some of her fellow co-workers complain, it also makes her a target of Crow Sweeney, he’s one of three foreman, he rides around on a horse all day and he’s a bully. He’s extremely racists, he treats the colored workers like their still slaves, and he has a whip and uses a punishment box. Otis Riddle owns the commissary shop, he’s a miserable man, he abuses his young wife Cornelia and he’s almost as mean as Crow.

Delwood Reese, is a drifter, he's been on his own since he was a teenager and is a bit of a ladies man. He started working at Swallow Hill just before Ray, he can’t abide anyone being abused, he's spent time in the punishment box himself, Crow hates him and Del wants to change the conditions in the camp. He sense that Ray is hiding something, a unlikely friendship forms between Ray, Del and Cornelia.

Del’s given the opportunity to be a one of the overseers, you can imagine what Crow thinks, Del gets to know his workers by name, treats them fairly and they reach their daily tally with time to spare. This causes tension, when it escalates Ray's hurt, they discover she’s a woman and Rae Lynn decides to leave, so does Cornelia and Del.

Set during the great depression, The Saints of Swallow Hill is a story about how it takes courage to save yourself, and Del and Rae Lynn do this by facing their pasts and returning home to North Carolina and Cornelia leaving her abusive husband. Written by Donna Everhart as a tribute to the original tar heels who lived and worked deep in the piney woods of the South, it’s a story full of interesting information about the turpentine industry, types of trees used, the workers and how they were treated.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and Kensington Books, Rae Lynn, Del and Cornelia were my favorite characters, they didn't tolerate racism, the friendship and dynamics between them, added an emotion and feeling to the narrative, and five stars from me.
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[Kathryn in FL · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 rounded up!

I was very excited to get ahold of a copy of this story since Donna Everhart is one of my favorite Southern Authors. If you like stories about living in the south, then consider picking this up to read.

Our story begins telling about life in the south during the depression of the 1930's. Del narrates his search for a better opportunity working the pine trees for its sap in Georgia. He is very capable and smart and many of his co-workers see him as a threat as a result. He unfortunately is assigned a brutal taskmaster, boss, aka overseer, who hates him and most people. This boss gets extremely angry at Del for requesting and then doing work that is typically assigned to black men and when he chats with his co-workers, he is tagged a "nigger lover". This doesn't bother Del but it puts fear in the other men, who realize that once the wrath of their boss is stirred, things go south very quickly from there and whoa howdy, do they though...Del is delivered a severe punishment that nearly kills him after a trumped up charge about his work is leveled by this boss.

Everhart does an exceptional job shining a light on what the conditions are like in these work camps, where mainly African American migrant workers survived (barely) and according to what I have read and seen particularly in Florida for those working the tomato harvest, things haven't changed for the better in 90 years! It is appalling. I don't eat tomatoes anymore, given how these people (primarily African American and migrants from Latin America) have to endure especially when temperatures are over 100 degrees and no direct access to water, it is barely subsistence. What a living hell! The primitive conditions and lack of basic human necessities makes me wonder how Americans can ignore the destitution and poverty still alive today in our own backyard!

But I digress, soon, narration changes to other people within this Georgia work camp, we hear from several people including Rae Lynn. She is hiding because of a crime she didn't commit. She poses as a man to get a job at the Camp at Swallow Hill and keep out of jail. Soon the same monster of a boss, who targeted Del, creates havoc in her life. When she is discovered for her secret (posing as a man), the whole camp is in an uproar and action must be taken because her survival is in jeopardy!

I loved meeting these people in the first half of the story. Then, part two begins where everything reshuffles at camp, as a result of Rae Lynn's secret being revealed, this portion didn't have as much fire for me. It is good and her friendship with Del is nice and how they join forces to fight this boss and deal with their individual conditions.

Then the a third and final portion of the book brings us to the conclusion of the story. Here the author tied up all the storylines (a few I didn't reveal so this wouldn't be spoilerish), neat and pretty. Things end on a positive note for the most part.

Frankly, I think it would have been better if the last two parts were condensed and the extraneous portions eliminated. It would have maintained the flow of the story better by cutting 50-75 pages.

The author's notes at the end tell of the process of harvesting the sap to make turpentine and other treatment to make various products. I wish this had been incorporated at the beginning because I thought it was much more complex, as she briefly alludes to the steps taken to harvest. It was somewhat vague at the beginning and it didn't truly need to be so. I liked the slice of life presented here of the challenges "average" people experienced just to have enough to eat, along with the hardships endured such as lack of healthy accommodations, hygiene and medical care. It sounded awful but it was very realistic to the era and the work conditions.

Unfortunately, the lag in parts two and three compared to part one was a tad of a let down. I wasn't as compelled to keep reading those pages even though I enjoyed the story overall. I have a feeling that the lack of memorable scenes (except for Del's and Rae Lynn's punishments) will result in my failing to remember much beyond 6 months or a year. I simply liked the other three stories by this author much more. So, please don't let my disappointment, which was perhaps influenced by my great enthusiasm for this author's work, prevent you from getting this and reading it.

My advice, if you haven't read anything by Donna Everhart, then read this first, then if you liked it, read her other books. She truly captures life in the south. Her history is always first rate in the stories she writes. Please also read other reviews for their recommendations.

[Brenda ~The Sisters~Book Witch · Rating 3 out of 5]

What is going on between the covers

Rae Lynn Cobb and her careless husband, Warren, run a small turpentine farm together. They are happy and have a good marriage, but tragedy hits when Warren’s carelessness catches up to them. Rae Lynn flees the farm, is on the run and applies for work at Swallow Hill turpentine camp disguised as a man. When she struggles with the job, she becomes a target for the racist, evil, controlling foreman. She meets Dell, who is the only one not afraid to help his fellow workers. An unlikely bond is formed between them.

Setting

Donna Everhart captures a good sense of time and place with the turpentine camps and pine forests of the American South during the Great Depression. Hacking into tree trunks to draw the sticky sap gives the Tar Heel State its name.

Themes: courage, survival, and friendship

My two cents

While Donna Everhart captures that sense of time with sexism and racism, the dialogue became a bit much for me, with men treating women like they owned them or were around mainly for their entertainment. I tried to remind myself that it was a reflection of the times and focus on how times have changed, but I wasn’t all that convincing. I was ready to throw in the towels soon after starting.

Both Rae Lynn and Dell are strong, developed characters. Rae Lynn is vulnerable, courageous, and resilient. They meet the abused wife of the owner and form a heartwarming friendship. While I was not too fond of Dell’s sexist cringy treatment of women, he stands up against violence, bullying, and bigotry.

I had a hard time buying into why Rae felt like she needed to run, other than her being a woman and not being believed. It just wasn’t strong enough of a hook for me to invest in or create the tension and suspense to drive the story forward.

Overall

There are many good themes for social change here, and I should have loved it. There was too much going on in the story, making it feel busy, sad, and unsettling, and I couldn’t silence that overthinker who won’t stop nagging me.

I received a copy from the publisher through NG

[Cheri · Rating 4 out of 5]

’This story is dedicated to all the chippers, dippers, and tackers of tin’

Set during the years of the Depression in the south, this shares the stories of those years, how difficult life was for so many, focusing on the turpentine camps where they harvested the sap of trees for turpentine, a practice that had been ongoing for over 200 years as this story begins. Collecting the resin from the trees was both difficult, and potentially dangerous. Originally harvested by slave labor, the workers in the 1930’s were treated only marginally better, and had little hope to leave their employment since their wages barely covered the cost of their housing, let alone food and other necessities, leaving them always in debt to their employer, despite how hard they worked.

This story revolves around Rae Lynn, a woman who was raised in an orphanage, as well as recently widowed through extraordinary circumstances. She finds herself working in one of these camps, needing to disguise herself as a man in order to find work. Having some experience with harvesting turpentine since she and her husband had a turpentine farm, if only a small one. Disguised as a young man, she tries desperately to keep up with the men, but fails to keep up with the amount required by the camp.

Del Reese is another person who seems to be earmarked for harassment as he chooses to work with the black workers, although he is white. Del watches over Rae/Ray to some extent, when he realizes how desperately Ray needs protection. And then there is Otis Riddle, who owns the commissary, and his badgered and oppressed wife, Cornelia, who eventually befriends Rae.

There is more to this story, of course, the fourth of Donna Everhart’s books that I’ve read. A story of the evil that some men inflict on others, a story of survival, but a story of friendship, compassion and love, as well.

Published: 25 Jan 2022


Many thanks for the ARC provided by Kensington Books

[Heidi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am surprised to only give this a 2 star rating. When the description deemed it a combination of Where the Crawdads Sing, and The Four Winds, I had high hopes - those are two of the best books I’ve read over the last few years! Unfortunately, to me, this book didn’t even compare. I expected something epic. There were so many things I found unrealistic about this story, from small details to larger “plot twists.” And while unrealistic, I also found so much of it to be entirely too predictable. In my opinion the characters and the story as a whole really lacked depth. I also thought there were unnecessary relational elements and too many weird sexual depictions, especially considering the time period, which only detracted from the plot. I thought I would rate it a 3, but the final third of the book I just wanted it to wrap up since it was obvious how it would end and I was quite disappointed. I am in the minority to be rating it only 2 stars, but I can’t even give it a 3.

[Leslie Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story is set in the Depression-era 1930's, in a turpentine camp where resin is extracted from Pine trees to make turpentine. Having lived in southern Georgia when I was younger, the premise of this book triggered a very faint memory of some of my older relatives talking about these turpentine camps. It was dangerous and miserable work and very well explained in this well-researched book. I did not know that was the premise of how North Carolina came to be called the tar-heel state.
Rae-Lynn and Delwood Reese both end up in one of these camps run by a very brutal overseer. Their backstories to get to this point seemed a little far-fetched but were required to move the plot to for their lives to converge. Although depressing and kind of hard to take in some places, redemption and vindication does come. The lengths that Rae-Lynn goes to for survival will put most readers on edge, knowing the brutality that lingers around every corner.
A recommendation is to do an image search on the internet of the turpentine camps and the "cat-faces" on the trees in order to get a really good mental picture.
I won this in a Goodreads giveaway and all opinions are my own. Thank you Kensington Books and Goodreads.

[Taury · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book about perseverance and survival pre-WWII. I highly recommend.

[Selena · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a free e-copy of The Saints of Swallow Hill by Donna Everhart from NetGalley for my honest review.

A vivid and emotional story about the South during the depression. Del Reese is a man who is down on his luck and he heads to Swallow Hill, NC to take a job tapping trees in order to make turpentine. The people who work at the camp are treated horribly and absolutely terrible conditions. One of them, a woman (Rae Lynn), even pretends to be a man just to work at the camp.

A story of hard work, low pay, racial inequality and corporal punishment but also a story of kindness, friendship and even love during very difficult times.

[Gloria Thompson]

Decided to end this book early on. The opening chapters describe a man working on a tobacco farm having lewd sexual encounters with his coworkers’ wives and wishing he could “get a taste” of the black man’s wife. I immediately knew I was not going to like this one at all so it’s not worth continuing. Made be feel “icky.”

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's always a happy day in my reading life to get a Donna Everhart book in my hands. She refers to herself as an author of Southern novels with authenticity and grit. I refer to her as one of my favorite authors of Southern historical fiction. I have read every book she's written and loved them all.

This novel takes place during the Depression in North Carolina. One of the major crops in the state was turpentine - laborers hacked into pine tree trunks to draw out the sticky sap and hauled the resin to refineries to be distilled into turpentine. This is the reason that North Carolina is often referred to as the Tar Heel State. The work was brutal but it was the Depression and people worked at anything available to feed their families.

Rae Lynn is the main character. She grew up in an orphanage and when Warren, a man much older than she, asked her to marry him, she was thrilled to finally have a home and family of her own. Warren was a small time maker of turpentine and Rae Lynn stayed right by his side and worked as hard as he did. After Rae Lynn performs a desperate act of mercy to her ailing husband, she knows that she needs to leave town. She dresses as a man and volunteers to work at the turpentine labor camp called Swallow Hill. There she meets Del, a man who has wandered his entire life. He takes a liking to the young 'man' and tries to protect him from the evil boss Crow whose main goal is to punish workers to make them work harder. Can Rae Lynn and Del make the work camp better for the workers and get rid of the sadistic crew boss? Can Rae Lynn and Dell confront their pasts so that they can create a new future for themselves?

I live in North Carolina and never knew where the term Tar Heel came from or anything about making turpentine. Donna Everhart really did her research in this book and gave her readers a very interesting look at the work involved in making turpentine. The setting was beautiful in the large pine forests of North Carolina. For me, the best part of the book were the characters - especially Rae Lynn. She tried so hard to find a family and just when it seemed like she was going to be successful, she got knocked down over and over. Because she was such a strong woman, she kept getting up again and looking for her happy ending. She was a character that won't be forgotten.

My advice for you is to read this book - you don't want to miss it. Clear your calendar before you read the first page because you won't want to do anything else but read it until the end. Once again Donna Everhart has given her readers a southern novel full of authenticity and grit!

Thanks to net galley for a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own.

[Robyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE SAINTS OF SWALLOW HILL
Donna Everhart


I read this on a whim that went against my New Year's resolution to not add to my TBR list until I got it to a more manageable size. But LIZ wrote a great review and I jumped on this book ahead of the rush and I have to say that I don't regret it. It is right up my alley with its heavy atmosphere in the sticky depression heat and characters fleshed out and driving the story. I loved the parallel stories that came together in a satisfactory way.

The story is about surviving the depression. For Delwood Reses, it meant changing his ways about how he treats women, and through them other men, he holds no limitations with married women. That is until he takes the boss's wife and comes so close to getting caught that he has to flee before the man kills him by giving him the most dangerous jobs on the farm. But Del comes from turpentine and so he heads to some of the big camps where men work indebted to the farm like slaves, Swallow Hill.

For Rae Lynn Cobb, she is trying to survive the depression and the clumsiness of her husband, Warren. They have their own tiny turpentine farm that is broken and dilapidated made worst by Warren's dangerous ways. Fixing the roof is not best done during the rain, one should wait, but Warren doesn't. He falls and is injured, but no doctor for him, his death is one that Rae Lynn will never forget or outrun.

Both of these people end up at Swallow Hill, hiding their flaws and trying to get by. This is sort of an epic, the story is steady with few drags or snags. The characters are relatable, reliable, and interesting and all are necessary to the final conclusion. So there is no wasted space and no rabbit trails to divert your attention from the focus of the book. It was a great read.

5 stars

Happy Reading!

[Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have just finished reading The Saints of Swallow Hill by Author Donna Everhart.

This is the first book that I have read by the Author.

The storyline takes place during the depression in the American South.

It is a simple story with likeable characters, and is about hardship, friendship, love, and the challenges of the times.

Its main characters are turpentiners, something I knew nothing about.

I found it quite fascinating and interesting, and I enjoyed the characters.

I got into the book quite eagerly at the beginning, but for me it started getting a bit on the boring side about two thirds into it.

However, I did overall enjoy it, and will read more of this Author’s work.

Thank you to NetGalley, Author Donna Everhart, and Kensington Books for my advanced copy to read and review

3.5 Stars

#SaintsofSwallowHill #NetGalley

[Deb · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's 1932 and women can't wait to bend over and have a quickie with twenty-eight year old Del. Bet you didn't read that in the history books, but back then even married women are unable to control themselves around a recently bathed man. They don't need no foreplay nor romance, just a quick check that their husband isn't 'round, flip those skirts over their head and have at it.

So, it's not just men feeling the need to inject their sad little ahistorical fantasies about women into fiction, but it's also "serious" female authors who peddle this shit. How am I suppose to trust the research of an author who can't get the most basic thing right about women from that era, or really pretty much any era? Instead, we have a shop girl - who in 1932 would be pretty much top of the financial heap, what with being employed and all - propositioning Del, who after several days wandering the countryside isn't even recently bathed. She is ready to go at it right there in the shop, as if a "Wham bam thank you Mam" with a a stinky stranger is going to totally make her day.

Now there might be a reason why a specific women would pursue sex with a stranger, and it could be interesting to learn what is behind her actions, but that isn't this story. Instead, it is just typically male conquest garbage intended to demonstrate Del's magnetism. But this is suppose to be a realistic depiction of life in 1932 and that is not how women behaved around a man they found attractive. Flirt with him? Sure. Try to get a date? Yep. No strings attached sex with a stranger? Nope.

DNF at 12% because I just can't suspend my disbelief.

[Ruthann · Rating 2 out of 5]

To be honest I just couldn’t finish it. I listened to the audio book and made it to the 2/3 mark. The historical context was interesting but finally there was just one too many references to Del’s penis. There’s more that turned me off of the book but I’ll leave it at this since it is a dnf.

[Susan Peterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have followed Donna Everhart’s journey as an author since her debut novel, The Education of Dixie Dupree, and it’s been wonderful to watch her writing evolve. With The Saints of Swallow Hill, Donna has taken a chance by going in a different direction than her previous books, and not only do I applaud her courage in taking this chance, but I also congratulate her on what might be her best book yet. There is something very special that sets her books apart. All of her characters face really tough challenges, and resiliency is such a huge part of the appeal to me, but it’s even more than that. I read a lot, and one thing I crave lately in the books I read is originality—a story, a setting, and characters that are different from everything else that I’ve read before. The sense of time and place in this book is so spot on—I believed that I was right there with the characters—feeling what they felt, fearing their deep-rooted fears , believing that somehow, some way, it would all work out. The author has captured the essence of a Georgia turpentine camp during the Great Depression with intricate detail, organically and naturally. Another thing that I loved so much about this book is the way the characters spoke—the dialect, the accent, and their language reveals so much about them. All of the characters, from the main characters Del and Rae Lynn on down to minor characters in the story, are authentic and complex—people I came to love, and others I came to detest. We are taken directly into the turpentine camp, with painstaking work and danger that went beyond the work itself. With the backdrop of The Depression, bigotry, and the desperation that permeated every aspect of life, The Saints of Swallow Hill is a poignant and intimate story that fed my soul, broke my heart and then made it whole again.

[Karen R · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating, disturbing and eye-opening history of turpentine camps during the Great Depression and portrait of workers who lived there in inhumane conditions. Imagine making 75 cents a day facing a long physically grueling day and never-ending workload, constantly breathing in the pungent odor of turpentine. The workers in these camps were poor and it angered me how much they were taken advantage of. I loved the characters of Dell and Rae Lynn, their perseverance and steadfast will to survive during desperate times. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

[Inés Molina · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a emotional ride about survival, friendship, hardship, love. I learned a lot about the depression era, the good and the bad. The book has great descriptions, i felt like i transported to the 1930's.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Gut-Wrenching Depression-Era Historical Fiction Drama


SUMMARY
Rae Lynn Cobb and her older husband, Warren, run a small turpentine farm in North Carolina. The work is challenging, and when Warren is hurt, Rae Lynn performs a desperate act of mercy. To escape a no-win situation, she disguises herself as a man and heads to the isolated Swallow Hill turpentine camp outside Valdosta, Georgia. The work is even more arduous than expected. There she makes friends with Del Reese, who is also escaping an untenable situation and who tries his best to help Rae Lynn. Despite working tirelessly, Rae Lynn cannot meet quotas, and her vile boss targets her. After a particularly harsh punishment, Cornelia, wife of the heartless commissary owner, offers assistance and friendship.

Rae Lynn, Cornelia, and Del each have different reasons for wanting to leave Swallow Hill. But before they can move forward, they must all come to terms with their past.

REVIEW
The Saints of Swallow Hill is a gut-wrenching depression-era historical fiction novel set in the pine forests of Georgia and North Carolina. Times are hard, and the writing is descriptive and atmospheric. It awakens your senses to the hardships and difficulties the characters face, as well as the beauty of the pine forest as the breeze, blows the needles of the longleaf pine trees.

Author Donna Everhart has woven an intriguing Southern tale complete with hard times, evil, and racism. Several characters in the book are despicable. But all three of the notable characters, Rae Lynn, Del, and Cornelia, show the strength, courage, and determination that carries the novel.

Everhart describes her books as Southern novels with authenticity and grit. This book certainly fits that description. She has written four additional novels, most recently including The Moonshiner's Daughter and The Forgiving Kind.

Thanks to Netgalley for an advance reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Publisher Kensington Books
Published January 25, 2022
Review www.bluestockingreviews.com

[Laurie Tell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I struggled with this book and this review.

Was it a well written book? I am not sure. The author certainly knows how to write and I could certainly picture it all. But did it keep my attention? No. I thought it was a very slow read and it kept bogging down.

It was super interesting to read about the turpentine camps - I love learning new, interesting things like this.

ON the other hand, I thought it was bleak and depressing. Yes, I know it was tough conditions and it was during the Depression, but I could just feel myself getting into a funk while reading it. So did the author do a good job? I guess, but then again, who wants to feel like that?

For some people I think this will be an outstanding read - if you love literature and love the english language. . But for those like me who read to be entertained, and who need to feel connected to the characters - it just might not be the book for you.

This was closer to Of Mice and Men (but not as good) than the Four Winds.

I do want to thank the author, the pulbisher and #netgalley for the ARC which did not impact my review. I just wish I had better things to say - I really tried to like this book.