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In the early 20th Century, a pair of North Carolina mountain children sow the seed of a love that becomes their only solace in the hard yet beautiful world they know. They grow it from steep ground of poverty, ignorance, and violence. A landscape so brutal it can kill hope long before claiming life.
Bloodshed years later finally sends Frank Locke on the run, deep into wilderness, abandoning his extraordinary love, Mary Lizbeth. When a whitewater river washes this desperate soul into the hands of Sophia, he discovers a luminous woman steeped in mystery, trapped in a tragically brilliant life. Far ahead of her time. Secreted from the world. As she awakens Frank’s mind, they rise to meet a love that binds three people for a lifetime.
This love triangle forms a beauty no one sees coming. From the wilds of Appalachia, crossing nearly a century, it runs deep into a lush American fortune, and lives in letters of adoration and hope of the least expected.
In a rhapsody of Southern voices, mingling hilarity and sorrow, She-Rain speaks of lives soaring beyond heartbreak, fundamentalism, and self-destruction. Through the most graceful longing, two women in love with one man ultimately prove the power of human hearts to answer high callings. They show us all how to heal — and thrive — to the very end.
I am really struggling to write this review, because everything I've tried putting down so far, seems so lame. There is no real way I can describe how beautifully written this book is. She-Rain was written with the most beautiful prose and has that rich Southern feel that makes this book amazing and one of the best, if not THE best story I've ever read.
Beautifully written, "She-Rain" captured my soul from the beginning. The story is about an abused boy, Frank Jr., who grew up in a mill town in the 1920's with an alcoholic and drug addicted father and a strong and hard working mother. The emotions are raw and real and cover all from anger, hatred, and rage, to love, hope and forgiveness. The characters are so very real, so real that I swear I've known some of them from my own childhood.
Although I finished this book a few days ago, I still am breathless by this most unforgettable novel. This is a book that I will be keeping in my permanent collection and will be read again and again. I honestly won't be surprised, if in years to come, it becomes a classic. It is truly a treasure that should not be missed. This is a must to add to this year's reading list.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.MemeAW
Posted April 22, 2010
Mountains, rivers, clouds, She-Rain...Appalachia in the 1920s...
The story in this book, like she-rain, captures your emotions and carries you through the daily lives of the inhabitants of Marshal in the Appalachia Mountains. While the author claims this to be a fictional book, I have heard stories about the people who live there throughout my adult life.
It is not an easy, mindless read, but one that will capture your feelings and emotions while it pulls you into the lives of the people.
In the beginning pages of his first book, Michael Cogdill sets the stage for a story that will hold you in its grasp as the adventures of the individuals live out their daily lives. Among those who take care of their own in matters of religion, law enforcement, disputes and social interactions, you will find a community who knows and cares deeply about its people in unique and unexpected ways.
You will find a story that is passionate, poignant and poetic. I'll read it again.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.ChristysBookBlog
Posted April 15, 2010
She-Rain by Michael Cogdill is a powerful story of the 1920s that will leave readers considering the nature of love. Frank Locke has lived his life with more despair and tragedy than ten other boys his age. His father is addicted to paregorics, and his mother too often faces his fists. The grandparents who guide his life giving it foundation and faith die while he's still a young man, leaving him to make his way. Mary Lizbeth has suffered even worse than Frank, and their shared pain pulls them together in a bond that seems irrevocable, until a violent act sends Frank running for his life and spilling onto the doorstep of sheltered Sophia. Sophia and Frank share a loss that binds them together as well and will change them both forever. Cogdill writes the book that every author intends when they sit down to write the Great American Novel. Filled with quotes that will touch the reader's very soul, every word seems carefully chosen, pulling the reader into the mountains of North Carolina where a child suffers for the sins of the parent. Beautifully written, impossible to put down, Cogdill will leave readers thinking about how true love makes each of us better, never leaves us the same and that "love is the only thing you earn by givin' it all away."
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted March 30, 2010
Michael Cogdill's SheRain is the epitome of a delicious southern story. Filled with all the flavor of the South, this book follows its protagonist, Frank, from poor beginnings in the Appalachians to a choice between the two women who capture his heart.
This is the book you'll want to curl up with at the beach or in front of warm fire, but be warned, you'll want to prepare for plenty of reading time because you'll find this one hard to put down.
Michael knows how to weave a tale like no other. His phrasing makes me wish over and over that I'd thought of it.
Melinda Long---author of HOW I BECAME A PIRATE and PIRATES DON'T CHANGE DIAPERS
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted July 4, 2012
She-Rain is a modern classic about the triumph of the human spirit over the hopelessness of poverty, violence, and prejudice, and it is bound to be a talked about in generations to come.
The author of She-Rain is renowned Journalist Michael Cogdill who describes his novel as semi autobiographical, and Michael Cogdill grew up in North Caroline. Michael Cogdill describes the feel of 1921 North Carolina in an aesthetically artistic way through his work. Throughout the novel it is clear Michael Cogdill knows the Appalachian Mountains much as an author I would compare him to, John Steinbeck knows Monterey, California.
In She-Rain we follow Frank Lock, a young man forced to bare witness to his opium addicted father brutalizing his mother. Frank's journey continues as he leaves his home in hope of protecting his mother, and finding love in a relationship considered taboo for that time and place.
I recommend She-Rain as it is one of the best books I have read. The novel comes from Michael Cogdill, who holds 29 Emmy Awards, the Edward R. Murrow Award, and has interviewed to name of a few of many, Senator Hillary Clinton, Dr. Henry Kissinger, and President Barack Obama. Michael is with NBC affiliate Wyff 4 News. His work has been featured on CNN, MSNBC, the Today Show, and others. I predict we will see much more of Mr. Cogdill, and more literature from him the caliber of She-Rain.
Bermudagirl
Posted July 15, 2010
Finished She-Rain last night and I was so full of emotions, laughing, crying, happy, sad, heavy hearted, wrapped up in the moment, it was the most incredibule book I have ever read!!!! I feel as if it was so real yet I was trying to realize it's a book with a terrific author. This book is a wonderful story of truth and the reality of what life was and is for a lot of Souls in the South. It is a must read !!!!!!!! I want to savor all these emotions and really looking forward to any book Michael writes. He's a Star!!!!!
by Dianne Peeler
This was such an awesome story. The characters, the details, the language were all written soooo beautifully. The story line kept moving, never got boring, there was always something happening. This book for me was a comfort read.
The title She-Rain is explained by Granny:
"In the rise of crickets and peep frogs, Granny spread out her mountain mystic view of things again, and the whole wagon treated it as scared for a moment. She'd often speak of how a little scrap of fog tears from a rain cloud. Floats on the waves of blue ridge as if a wisp off a bride. Granny and others called it she-rain. I suppose for the womanly drape, white as wedding gown. Common legend, though Granny took the vision further. Said she-rain was like us all..."
See what I mean about the details? I can see it in my mind, what a gorgeous scene!
Frank Lock has a hard life with a drug addicted daddy, beating up on his Ma. He won't ever call him daddy, he says this about him : "Don't call him that. I'll not have that dung-mound called my daddy or pa or nothin' like it. No more."
One day something terrible happens and to save his Ma he has to run away. After days of running, he decides to jump on a train to get away from the town. When he does, he miscalculates and must jump.
Almost drowning, someone saves him. She brings him to her home and they come to share their lives, their dreams. He finds out things no one ever knew and learns what love is all about. I can't say anymore about it, you'll just have to read it!
I can't say enough how much I loved this story and I hope one day they will make a movie because it is THAT GOOD!!
Natalie ~~
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Posted June 22, 2010
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Overview
In the early 20th Century, a pair of North Carolina mountain children sow the seed of a love that becomes their only solace in the hard yet beautiful world they know. They grow it from steep ground of poverty, ignorance, and violence. A landscape so brutal it can kill hope long before claiming life.
Bloodshed years later finally sends Frank Locke on the run, deep into wilderness, abandoning his extraordinary love, Mary Lizbeth. When a whitewater river washes ...