BookView Review

Carrier delivers an evocative trilogy about Appalachian families negotiating poverty, loss, and the dangerous industry that sustains them. Set in Kentucky’s fictional Burfield County, these interconnected stories trace lives shaped by coal mining during the Depression era. “Rain on Chinquapin Holler” centers on Wiley Hicks, a miner divided between his wife, Vergie, and a city-bred mistress. His drinking and infidelity have strained his family when a catastrophic flood demands a final reckoning. “A Sprig of Purple Asters” turns to May and Zeke Owens, whose cupboards empty as mining work disappears. When May’s troublesome brothers arrive expecting food and shelter, desperation drives her to an extraordinary act that puts the family she means to protect in danger. 

In “Red Snow in the Kentucky Woods,” James Herald Gibson recoils from the occupation that killed his father and brother. His refusal to enter the mines precipitates a confrontation, an escape from Kentucky, and a family mystery that endures for decades. Carrier is particularly attentive to domestic details—cornbread and honey, Sears & Roebuck dresses, oil lamps, muddy creeks, and wild asters—that make deprivation immediate and the period convincing. The strongly rendered Appalachian dialect occasionally asks readers to slow their pace, while the stories’ dramatic turns reflect the heightened quality of family tales passed between generations. Recurring characters and a closely observed setting give the collection an appealing cohesion. A compassionate, atmospheric portrait of families bound to one another and to the mountains they call home.  

Hauntingly vivid and richly evocative, this is a winner.

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