The Saints of Swallow Hill: A Fascinating Depression Era Historical Novel

Well written and engaging story.

I'm not verbose, I can only say I was entertained by this story and enjoyed my read. Interesting characters and insightful.

Gifted author & storyteller. Enjoyed from beginning to end.

I never knew anything about how turpentine was created, or how hard the work was. This book is a wonderful historical novel about the industry and what the tribulations were during the Depression for survival.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. The character development and imagery were fantastic and I could see the story as I read it. That being said, it felt like it was missing about another 100 pages as there was an abrupt shift and the last four or so chapters felt as though they were disconnected from the rest of the book. The ending lacked the same care of story development as the rest of the book and felt flat in comparison. This was a fantastic read to start the new year, and it was so close to being great, but ultimately is just really good.

IMHO. It was a read of something by a different author to supplement my reading of favorite authors. I’ll do this and sometimes find a book I really like and read another by the same author. This book was ok. Good history of the South I knew nothing about. But the ending was a “too good to be true” end. I’m guessing a lot of people go for this but it just felt phony for me. It was an ok read but not something I’d pursue again. Thanks anyway.

This was such an interesting read. I learned something about what people did to survive during the depression. Turpentining? I never knew that it came from pine trees. And really hard work and dangerous too. Story also of love and patience.

This is a story with a combination of learning the history of "Tar Heels" and where this name comes from, the industry it came from, and a story of the people who practiced this trade. Rae Lynn was married to an older man. He "rescued" her from an orphage when she became too old to stay there. They had a good life until he fell off the roof, refused medical attention, and asked her to kill him. She runs away, dresses as a man, and gets work in a turpentine e farm in Georgia dressed as a man, but life is tough. Lots of things happen. Hard to put down.

What a vivid picture of the rough life during The Depression. I had no idea of the history of the Longleaf Pines and Turpentine production.The story unfolds chapter by chapter with two people Del Reese and Rae Lynn Cobb recounting their experiences working at Swallow Hill. A dilapidated turpentine farm. Two of the men working there are terribly abusive and have no respect for human life or human rights.Del watches out for Rae as best he can until things come to a head one evening.It’ll take all they can do to survive.

Really enjoyed my sort of book well writen, my wife has also read it and feels the same would recommend to other readers

I liked finding out what life was like for "tar heels". The storyline and charactes were strong, too... an entertaining book.

Good novel,,, if only 1/3 of this is true,it is a horrific industry,,Rae Lynne was married to a man who took too many chances,And refused to seek medical care, she meets Del while working in aturpentinecamp

I’m sad to have finished this book ..I’ve enjoyed it so much and really feel I know the characters and am reluctant to let them go.