Sallie Kincaid is the daughter of the biggest man in a small town, the charismatic Duke Kincaid. Born at the turn of the 20th century into a life of comfort and privilege, Sallie remembers little about her mother who died in a violent argument with the Duke. By the time she is just eight years old, the Duke has remarried and had a son, Eddie. While Sallie is her father's daughter, sharp-witted and resourceful, Eddie is his mother's son, timid and cerebral. When Sallie tries to teach young Eddie to be more like their father, her daredevil coaching leads to an accident, and Sallie is cast out. Nine years later, she returns, determined to reclaim her place in the family. That's a lot more complicated than Sallie expected, and she enters a world of conflict and lawlessness. Sallie confronts the secrets and scandals that hide in the shadows of the Big House, navigates the factions in the family and town, and finally comes into her own as a bold, sometimes reckless bootlegger.
Brilliant and effervescent ... Walls' drama-filled page-turner barrels through a few storylines, touching on a fraught battle over family business succession, racial tension in a poor rural county, family secrets, and land conflict, all with the prohibition war looming as its backdrop ... The most satisfying thing about this novel is Walls' excellent construction of the main female characters. Each of them represents women from varying walks of life, each fighting for their own place in a male-dominated world ... A stunning and compelling tale.
Walls started her career as a gossip columnist, and she still loves an outrageous crime scene and a good scandal ... The main pleasure of Hang the Moon is the hairpin twists and turns of its plot, so let’s say no more about that. Walls has spun another rich story that spotlights, as she said in a recent interview, 'people with dreams and vulnerabilities, tough folk in rough situations.' Also, it’s a lot of fun to read.
When a book has a big conceit I want it to be completely obvious, or at least completely seamless. Jeannette Walls’ latest novel, Hang the Moon, definitely succeeds in seamlessness, its narrative of Roaring ’20s country life roller-coastering along. But the novel becomes more intriguing once you know its rural Virginian petty dynasts correspond to the Tudors at the height of British rule ... Hang the Moon might strike some as a significant departure, but it still feels of a piece with her more personal excavations of rural lives, with the aperture opened up to different classes and histories ... In order to find out the author’s vision for how Sallie Kincaid will guide her community forward, you’ll have to read the author’s smart, energetic and cleverly revisionist novel for yourself.
