Willie McFee grows
up in Twisted Tree, Kentucky. His family is relatively well off,
although the town is suffering the effects of having the bourbon
distillery, owned by the McFee family, shut down by Prohibition.
Although Prohibition
is over, Barley, Willie’s father shows no interest in reopening
the distillery. Willie encourages him dreaming of becoming the
distiller as his grandfather planned. Then a drifter comes to town.
He dies and is buried in the Potter’s Field on the McFee property,
but that’s not the end of the story.
Gossip circulates
giving the man credit for performing miracles. Soon people arrive to
pray at the site. Rumors that he is the Second Coming of Christ
spread changing the town and the McFees.
This historical
novel is true to the time presenting the problems and dislocation
caused by Prohibition and the Depression. It’s also historically
accurate that during the period itinerant preachers and drifters
wandered from place to place giving voice to the word
of God and
sometimes miracles happened.
The characters in
the book are well developed. Willie struggles with his ambition and
his father’s retreat from the world. The townspeople are
representative of people caught in a difficult situation they cannot
control.
The story is full of
twists. The several plots coming together from World War I and the
Depression to the problems of Prohibition. If you enjoy a well
written historical novel, you’ll enjoy this book.
I received this book
from Harper Collins for this review.
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