The Ghost on Black Mountain by Ann Hite

Goodreads: Part ghost story, part powerful sweeping epic, Ghost on Black Mountain is a powerful debut which launches a bright new voice in Southern fiction.

Meet the women of Black Mountain and the one man that ties them all together…

Nellie Pritchard:

I married Hobbs Pritchard without noticing he was a spell conjured into a man—a walking, talking, ghost story. He took me up Black Mountain and it was there I learned sometimes good and bad get mixed together so well a person can’t tell the difference until it’s too late.

Rose Gardner:

I fell deeply in love with Hobbs as if some hoodoo was put on me. Then Miss Nellie came into our lives and changed everything.

Josie Clay:

Hobbs Pritchard was like a spoiled potato at the bottom of the barrel. But my daughter Nellie didn’t believe me. Something stunk to high heavens, something rotten. Eventually I’d find out what it was…

Shelly Parker:

I got me this gift—restless souls line up to get my notice no matter what I’m doing. Daddy warned me not to have nothing to do with the Pritchards. Some things in life just can’t be avoided and getting mixed up with Nellie was one of them.

Mama told me the same bedtime story each night. She told it with such detail I was sure Hobbs and Nellie were real. But they were just characters in a tale spun to keep me in line. They were my moral compass. Or so I believed…

Haunted and healed by ghosts of the past in surprising and unexpected ways, the women of Black Mountain experience their amazing journeys at the hands of talented story weaver Ann Hite.

My take: This is a little bit of many genres. The story is told out of chronological order which is interesting in that it gives information on the characters in a more artistic way. I found that I understood Nellie better after reading Josie's story but I liked that Nellie came first. She was closest to Hobbs, being his wife. Then the characters took their turns, giving more of a complex picture of Hobbs and his ways. Interesting that they didn't all see Hobbs the same way.

The last part of the book is a culmination. 19 years has passed since what happened happened. The original characters paths eventually cross. Not only that but the surprise path crossing was, well, surprising.

It's a ghost story. There are ghosts all over the place. It's a work of historical fiction, covering a few time periods. It's a study in women's roles and the change. It's a study in family dynamics. Enjoyable read. And a little creepy. Maybe more than a little creepy.