2020-09-02
After Eve Candler is roughed up in a cemetery, she has only three days to prove that her grandmother wasn’t a thief and a murderer.
Before she was Dove Jarrod, one of the most famous traveling faith healers of the 1930s and '40s, Eve’s grandmother was a scrappy orphan surviving by her wits and luck. By the time she was 13, she had escaped not only an asylum, but also a creepy, predatory minister. After landing a job taking care of an elderly man named Steadfast Coe, Dove is drawn into the world of itinerant preachers. She pairs up with Steadfast’s granddaughter Bruna as the Hawthorn Sisters and discovers a startling talent for faith healing. Decades later, Eve has been working with a film crew to create a documentary commemorating Dove’s life. Eve is eager for its release, hoping it will help ensure the financial footing of Dove's charitable foundation, which will support her mentally fragile mother and recovering addict brother. But a text during the dedication of the Dove Jarrod wing of a hospital lures Eve outside, where a man shoves her face into a sack of bones he claims are the remains of Steadfast Coe. He alleges that Dove killed Steadfast, stole a rare coin worth millions of dollars, and left behind a signed confession. He’s got the bones and the note, and he gives Eve just 72 hours to play detective. Deftly shifting back and forth between Eve’s and Dove’s perspectives, Carpenter slowly connects the dots between the two women as each in her own time conquers conniving men and finds a little romance, too.
An exciting, gothic-tinged quest sure to delight fans of women-driven mysteries.
Carpenter’s refreshingly modern gothic tale offers great fun.” —Publishers Weekly
“An exciting, gothic-tinged quest sure to delight fans of women-driven mysteries.” —Kirkus Reviews
“The bestselling author of Burying the Honeysuckle Girls returns to uncover a faith healer’s elusive and haunted past. Read it in one sitting!” —Frolic
“Prepare to be up late with this one; Reviving the Hawthorn Sisters is simply riveting. This is the kind of book where the past has a pulse—and teeth. It’s a page-turner for sure, with well-drawn, complicated characters whose choices linger long after the last page is turned.” —Joshilyn Jackson, New York Times bestselling author of Never Have I Ever
“Emily Carpenter is the reigning queen of Southern Gothic, and Reviving the Hawthorn Sisters is a triumph. Moody, suspenseful, and gorgeously written, this novel takes readers into the seedy, sometimes savage world of Depression-era religious revivals, where believers make easy prey and grifters cloak themselves in the Word. Carpenter’s latest is a riveting tale of class, sex, spirituality, and the heavy burden of family history that lingers long after the final pages. I loved it.” —Julia Dahl, author of Invisible City
“Stretching from the 1930s to present day, Reviving the Hawthorn Sisters is a wild romp through the deep South and the hearts of two women connected by blood, lies, and mystery. Emily Carpenter’s newest novel will hold you in its chilling grip from the eerie beginning to the stop-you-in-your-tracks ending. Carpenter fans will love this one!” —Lauren K. Denton, USA Today bestselling author
“A historical murder mystery, lost memories, and priceless, hidden relics: Reviving the Hawthorn Sisters is an atmospheric, unputdownable Southern Gothic masterpiece. Carpenter’s masterful narrative bounces between young Ruth in 1930s Alabama, her exciting escape from the mental institution that was her childhood home and prison, and her granddaughter searching for hidden truths after her death. This was a well-plotted mystery full of family secrets and Southern atmosphere, and I absolutely could not put it down.” —Wendy Heard, author of The Kill Club
“Stories don’t stop because we turn our backs on them but only an author as gifted and elegant as Emily Carpenter is able to call them back from the shadows. In the wistfully insightful Reviving the Hawthorn Sisters, Carpenter returns to her rich Southern Gothic roots to deliver a tour de force that is both a return to and a reckoning for her beloved Burying the Honeysuckle Girls. Beautiful, mesmerizing, and saturated with suspense.” —Amber Cowie, author of Loss Lake
“This captivating story is a perfect blend of historical fiction and southern gothic. Carpenter deftly weaves past and present story lines, filling both with dramatic tension, atmospheric settings and characters that leap off of the page. I recommend it highly!” —Jane Healey, bestselling author of The Beantown Girls