Prayers the Devil Answers

March 14, 2016
A prophetic mountain game rooted in age-old superstitions about how to find a husband sets the stage for McCrumb’s (The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter) ponderous morality tale, the latest in the Ballad series. Ellie and Albert are unassuming mountain folk trying to survive in a sleepy Tennessee town after the end of the first World War. After coming down from the mountain settlement, away from their families, at the promise of steady work, Albert quickly finds himself elected sheriff of their small hamlet—a position of respect and a path to acceptance. Ellie is proud of him, but she’s not used to the town folk and maintains her mountain ways. Unfortunately, she has to make do and get used to town quickly after Albert dies of pneumonia and she is appointed to finish his term as sheriff. Though captivating in its scope and detail, a distinct wordiness and repetition may pull readers out of McCrumb’s richly textured world. An abundance of background material burdens what is an otherwise excellent exploration of one woman’s journey to save her family and find herself. Agent: Miriam Kriss, Irene Goodman Literary Agency

March 1, 2016
In Depression-era Appalachia, a woman succeeds her late husband as sheriff in a small mountain town. McCrumb's latest starts on an eerie note: in a deserted mountain cabin, young women stage the ancient Halloween ritual known as the Dumb Supper. The purpose is to divine whom they will marry, but one of them, Celia, accidentally breaks the spell and, according to tradition, is cursed. Years later, Albert Robbins, recently elected sheriff of Sycamore Shoals, Tennessee, lays dying of pneumonia. His wife, Ellie, tends him and tries old remedies such as a mustard plaster, to no avail--soon she is a penniless widow with two young sons to feed. Accepting a grudging invitation to move back to Albert's family farm, now owned by her miserly brother-in-law, would condemn Ellie and her sons to the fate of poor relations. Instead, she boldly requests that the city fathers appoint her as sheriff to serve out her husband's term--the job is largely administrative, and she already knows how to shoot. She also has experience in facing down at least one criminal: the man next door, whom she dissuaded, at gunpoint, from further abuse of his wife. Meanwhile Celia, now a local schoolteacher, helps Lonnie Varden, an artist employed under a New Deal federal program, with historical research: he is painting a mural of the town's frontier antecedents for the post office. As their mutual attraction grows, Celia worries that the Dumb Supper curse may be more than superstitious nonsense. How these minor characters intersect with the main plot finally becomes clear two-thirds of the way through this slow-paced narrative. Once married, Celia must quit teaching, while Lonnie gives up painting to work in the sawmill, with disastrous results. Suffice it to say that in addition to being a highly unprecedented female sheriff in the region, Ellie is unexpectedly faced with another unheard-of role: hangwoman. This ambling novel is strong on period detail and atmosphere but repetitious and overforeshadowed.

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