I’m thrilled to host one of the stops on the blog tour for If The Creek Don’t Rise by Leah Weiss. It’s a book I absolutely adored when I read it several months ago so I’m delighted to be able – finally – to share my review of this wonderful book.
About the Book
In a North Carolina mountain town filled with moonshine and rotten husbands, Sadie Blue is only the latest girl to face a dead-end future at the mercy of a dangerous drunk. She’s been married to Roy Tupkin for fifteen days, and she knows now that she should have listened to the folks who said he was trouble. But when a stranger sweeps in and knocks the world off-kilter for everyone in town, Sadie begins to think there might be more to life than being Roy’s wife. As stark and magnificent as Appalachia itself, If the Creek Don’t Rise is a bold and beautifully layered debut about a dusty, desperate town finding the inner strength it needs to outrun its demons. The folks of Baines Creek will take you deep into the mountains with heart, honesty, and homegrown grit.
Book Facts
| Format: |
ebook |
Publisher: |
Sourcebook |
Pages: |
322 |
| Publication: |
22nd Aug 2017 |
Genre: |
Literary Fiction |
|
|
Purchase links*
Amazon.co.uk ǀ Amazon.com ǀ
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme
Find If The Creek Don’t Rise on Goodreads
My Review
This review is going to be a bit gushing because I was completely blown away by this book – I absolutely loved it. I’m split between finding it hard to believe that this is Leah Weiss’s first novel and shouting, Leah, why did you wait so long? Did I mention that I adored this book?
There are a number of different narrative voices but they are each distinctive and convincing in terms of characterisation and tone. The central character in the story is Sadie Blue. The reader is immediately drawn to her – not much more than a child herself, pregnant and saddled with a no-good husband who beats her up for the slightest reason:
‘Fifteen days has gone by since that piece of paper got signed. Roy beats on me pretty regular cause nobody stops him. I thought we got married for a mighty reason. I thought I was special to him. I musta made it all up, cause none of it’s true.’
Despite all she suffers, Sadie’s resilience is incredible as she looks for a way out – any way out – of the situation she finds herself in. Channelling the voice of her dead father and her singing idol, Loretta Lynn, she finds the strength to do this.
Sadie is just one of the incredible female characters the author has created. There’s Gladys, who also endured marriage to an abusive husband until his death in an accident, and finds herself alone and every day a struggle but still carries on because she knows no other way.
‘Life’s too shitty. For a old woman, it’s more shit that I can shovel. I can’t remember if I ever had a choice but to put one front of the other and walk the line on a rocky road to nowhere.’
Gladys has secrets that she thinks nobody knows but her friend, Marris, knows different. Marris, a widow, is a lovely warm character who looks out for the less fortunate in Baines Creek.
In case you’re thinking all the male characters are bad and the female characters good, the author redresses the balance with Eli Perkins, the preacher, and Prudence, his sister. Eli feels an immediate affinity with the new schoolteacher, Kate Shaw, an older woman who left her previous position under a cloud but whose passion for teaching shines through.
‘Kate is a magician, a pied piper who has absconded with our children’s hearts. Mine too.’
Eli recognises in her a kindred spirit, someone who is prepared to fight against the low expectations of the townspeople for their children, who can be ‘an ally to instil hope and possibility in my good people’. However, as an outsider and single, independent woman, Kate attracts the malicious attention of Prudence, made resentful by her harsh upbringing in a family of several generations of preachers.
‘Everything I did was coated with the Lord’s slippery words. I almost drowned in verse. I learned to breathe underwater was what I did, being the daughter of an Eli.’
The close of the novel sees Sadie Blue’s story return to centre stage as she draws on all her strength of will to bring about a change in her situation.
This book will stay with me for a long time – even more so because of the devastating final line. I’m not sure my review can do justice to this book but I’ll just say that if you love southern fiction, superlative writing, a compelling storyline and wonderful characterisation, please search out If the Creek Don’t Rise. I just hope Leah Wiess doesn’t wait as long to publish her next book.
I received an advance reader copy courtesy of NetGalley and publishers, Sourcebook Landmark, in return for an honest review.
In three words: Moving, authentic, compelling
Try something similar…The Fortunate Brother by Donna Morrissey
About the Author
Leah Weiss retired in 2015 from a twenty-four year career as Executive Assistant to the Headmaster at a private school in Lynchburg, Virginia, where she resides. She has written many short stories that have appeared in literary magazines. Leah enjoys speaking to book clubs. If the Creek Don’t Rise is her debut novel.
Connect with Leah
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