A Land More Kind Than HomeA stunning debut reminiscent of the beloved novels of John Hart and Tom Franklin, A Land More Kind Than Home is a mesmerizing literary thriller about the bond between two brothers and the evil they face in a small western North Carolina town For a curious boy like Jess Hall, growing up in Marshall means trouble when your mother catches you spying on grown-ups. Adventurous and precocious, Jess is enormously protective of his older brother, Christopher, a mute whom everyone calls Stump. Though their mother has warned them not to snoop, Stump can’t help sneaking a look at something he’s not supposed to—an act that will have catastrophic repercussions, shattering both his world and Jess’s. It’s a wrenching event that thrusts Jess into an adulthood for which he’s not prepared. While there is much about the world that still confuses him, he now knows that a new understanding can bring not only a growing danger and evil—but also the possibility of freedom and deliverance as well. Told by three resonant and evocative characters—Jess; Adelaide Lyle, the town midwife and moral conscience; and Clem Barefield, a sheriff with his own painful past—A Land More Kind Than Home is a haunting tale of courage in the face of cruelty and the power of love to overcome the darkness that lives in us all. These are masterful portrayals, written with assurance and truth, and they show us the extraordinary promise of this remarkable first novel. |
From inside the book
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... hear her. Everybody around her was too wrapped up in themselves to pay any attention, dancing and carrying on and hollering out words couldn't nobody understand but themselves. But Chambliss stood there and watched Molly. He held that ...
... hear was the sound of her panting like she couldn't catch her breath. Somebody brought her a glass of water, and those two deacons helped her raise herself up and take a drink. When they sat her up, you could see that her cheek.
... hear their foot-falls up on the roof above us; I can hear their wings just a-fluttering, Molly. God's sent his angels to be with you this very moming, and we don't know if they're here to watch over you and keep you with us, or if he's ...
... hear the sounds of cars or people's voices or other things you might hear on a Thursday aftemoon in a little town. It looked to be real still, like there wasn't even anybody on the streets at all. I looked back toward the church and saw ...
... of its crate and I thought I'd been bit for sure. "Are you afraid!" he hollered at me then. "No," I finally said so quiet I almost couldn't hear myself. "I ain't afraid." "You ain't got to be afraid if you believe," he.
Contents
Clem Barefield | |
Jess Hall | |
Clem Barefield | |
Adelaide Lyle | |
Jess Hall | |
Adelaide Lyle | |
Adelaide Lyle | |