Gods of Howl Mountain
A Novel
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- $17.99
Publisher Description
“A fresh, authentic, and eloquent new voice in American fiction.” - Robert Morgan, New York Times bestselling author of Gap Creek
In Gods of Howl Mountain, award-winning author Taylor Brown explores a world of folk healers, whiskey-runners, and dark family secrets in the high country of 1950s North Carolina.
Bootlegger Rory Docherty has returned home to the fabled mountain of his childhood - a misty wilderness that holds its secrets close and keeps the outside world at gunpoint. Slowed by a wooden leg and haunted by memories of the Korean War, Rory runs bootleg whiskey for a powerful mountain clan in a retro-fitted '40 Ford coupe. Between deliveries to roadhouses, brothels, and private clients, he lives with his formidable grandmother, evades federal agents, and stokes the wrath of a rival runner.
In the mill town at the foot of the mountains - a hotbed of violence, moonshine, and the burgeoning sport of stock-car racing - Rory is bewitched by the mysterious daughter of a snake-handling preacher. His grandmother, Maybelline “Granny May” Docherty, opposes this match for her own reasons, believing that "some things are best left buried." A folk healer whose powers are rumored to rival those of a wood witch, she concocts potions and cures for the people of the mountains while harboring an explosive secret about Rory’s mother - the truth behind her long confinement in a mental hospital, during which time she has not spoken one word. When Rory's life is threatened, Granny must decide whether to reveal what she knows...or protect her only grandson from the past.
With gritty and atmospheric prose, Taylor Brown brings to life a perilous mountain and the family who rules it.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The powerful fourth novel from Brown (The River of Kings) is a Southern family drama set in 1952 among the lush mountains of North Carolina, where whiskey is as precious as mother's milk and blood ties run deep. Korean War veteran Rory Docherty, whose wooden leg and persistent dreams won't let him forget his past, runs moonshine whiskey for Eustace Uptree with Eustice's nephew Eli. Rory's fiery grandmother, folk healer Maybelline "Granny May" Docherty, will do anything to keep him safe. They care for Rory's institutionalized mother, Bonni, mute since an attack 22 years ago by three men who were never caught during which a boy was beaten to death and Bonni supposedly gouged out one of the men's eyes. Rory feels hope when he meets the lovely Christine Adderholt at a church revival. He's entranced, but her father, the one-eyed, snake-handling pastor Asa Adderholt awakens an uneasy suspicion inside him. Then Rory runs afoul of the psychotic Cooley Muldoon after a road race, and Muldoon's vendetta sets the stage for an explosive third act. Brown's lyrical prose invokes a verdant landscape whose rich past is woven into its roots and people; their dependence on the land and respect for its great mysteries are palpable. This tale of loyalty and retribution will linger with readers.
