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Published by She Writes Press
Distributed by Simon & Schuster
Table of Contents
About The Book
William Faulkner Literary Competition, Honorable Mention
Forty-six-year-old Madeline Fairbanks has no use for ideas like “separation of the races” or “men as the superior sex.” There are many in her dying Southern Appalachian town who are upset by her socially progressive views, but for years—partly due to her late husband’s still-powerful influence, and partly due to her skill as a healer in a remote town with no doctor of its own—folks have been willing to turn a blind eye to her “transgressions.” Even Maddie’s decision to take on a Black apprentice, Ren Morgan, goes largely unchallenged by her white neighbors, though it’s certainly grumbled about.
But when a charismatic and power-hungry new reverend blows into town in 1917 and begins to preach about the importance of racial segregation, the long-idle local KKK chapter fires back into action—and places Maddie and her friends in Jamesville’s Black community squarely in their sights. Maddie had better stop intermingling with Black folks, discontinue her herbalistic “witchcraft,” and leave town immediately, they threaten, or they’ll lynch Ren’s father, Daniel. Faced with this decision, Maddie is terrified . . . and torn. Will she bow to their demands and walk away—or will she fight to keep the home she’s built in Jamesville and protect the future of the people she loves, both Black and white?
Forty-six-year-old Madeline Fairbanks has no use for ideas like “separation of the races” or “men as the superior sex.” There are many in her dying Southern Appalachian town who are upset by her socially progressive views, but for years—partly due to her late husband’s still-powerful influence, and partly due to her skill as a healer in a remote town with no doctor of its own—folks have been willing to turn a blind eye to her “transgressions.” Even Maddie’s decision to take on a Black apprentice, Ren Morgan, goes largely unchallenged by her white neighbors, though it’s certainly grumbled about.
But when a charismatic and power-hungry new reverend blows into town in 1917 and begins to preach about the importance of racial segregation, the long-idle local KKK chapter fires back into action—and places Maddie and her friends in Jamesville’s Black community squarely in their sights. Maddie had better stop intermingling with Black folks, discontinue her herbalistic “witchcraft,” and leave town immediately, they threaten, or they’ll lynch Ren’s father, Daniel. Faced with this decision, Maddie is terrified . . . and torn. Will she bow to their demands and walk away—or will she fight to keep the home she’s built in Jamesville and protect the future of the people she loves, both Black and white?
Product Details
- Publisher: She Writes Press (August 9, 2022)
- Length: 336 pages
- ISBN13: 9781647420888
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Raves and Reviews
2023 Best Book Awards Finalist in Fiction: Literary
2023 NYC Big Book Awards Distinguished Favorite in Literary Fiction
2021 CIBA Goethe Book Awards First Place Winner
“Holmes’ satisfying conclusion offers a twist to the tale….[and] the novel’s explorations of the horrors of misogyny and racism have powerful contemporary resonance. Along the way, Holmes constructs a vivid and believable historical setting and populates her novel with well-developed characters who are flawed and relatable as they seek to triumph over evil. A notable tale that offers the hope that even small actions can lead toward greater good.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“A timeless story of kinships, friendships, and secret legacies born of good and evil. With a keen eye for detail and an intricate plot leading to a satisfying conclusion, this tale is sure to enchant readers.”
—Donna Everhart, author of The Road to Bittersweet and The Saints of Swallow Hill
“In Adele Holmes’s debut novel, a white herbalist and her Black best friend challenge a slick conman and the KKK in 1917 rural America. The strong characters and vivid sense of place lingered in my mind long after the last page. That’s my measure of a darned good book.”
—Marcia Preston, Mary Higgins Clark Award Winner and author of The Spiderling and The Butterfly House
“Adele Holmes’s Winter’s Reckoning is a beautifully written story that reminds America of our unresolved sins against humanity and our struggles to place value where it’s due. Protagonist Madeline Fairbanks and her protégée Ren Morgan represent our hopes of resolving our fears of the other and erasing old hates.”
—Janis F. Kearney, author, publisher, and personal diarist for President Bill Clinton in the White House
“A spellbinding narrative that brilliantly captures both the price of standing against segregation and how bold action paves the way to unexpected healing. Holmes’s beautifully developed characters allude to our inevitable connection to the past in a story that resonates to the bone. Simply unputdownable.”
—Cara Brookins, author of Rise: How a House Built a Family
“Set in the brooding rural South, and for a good portion of the novel in the challenging and crystalline world of a deep snowstorm, Winter’s Reckoning is rich in storyline and character with plenty of mystery woven throughout. Simply put, here’s a story that takes on issues whose harm remains with us today. With a climactic pulpit scene that’s not to be missed - and one novel we can highly recommend!”
—Chanticleer Reviews
“Brimming with all the feels—friendship, passion, hatred, prejudice. A remarkable debut.”
—Julia Daily, author of No Names to Be Given
“Tear out a page of Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier, add in a mix of Deliverance and The Apostle, along with a dash of Nell... and you have yourself a die-hard Appalachian story set so far back in the woods and so backwards in their thinking, that Madeline Fairbanks, the local healer, must find an inner strength to fight the racial and misogynistic prejudice permeating the town.”
—Historical Fiction Company Review
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