"A Son of the Hills" by Harriet T. Comstock is a compelling novel that portrays the challenges and triumphs of a young protagonist growing up in the rugged and picturesque hills. Comstock's vivid descriptions and engaging storytelling bring to life the beauty of nature and the struggles faced by the characters. Through the journey of the main character, readers witness the power of perseverance, the importance of family bonds, and the resilience of the human spirit. "A Son of the Hills" is a captivating tale that explores themes of identity, love, and the pursuit of dreams, offering readers an immersive reading experience.
The Shepherd of the Hills is the classic story of the stranger who takes the Old Trail deep into the Ozark Mountains, many miles from civilization. His appearance signals intellect and culture, yet his countenance is marked by grief and disappointment. What is his purpose in taking on the lowly work of tending local sheep? And how is it that he befriends these simple hill folk, despite his coming from the world beyond the ridges? Mystery and romance envelop this gentle yet compelling story as the identity and purpose of the stranger-turned-shepherd is gradually unveiled.
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Drowning Kind comes a genre-defying novel, inspired by Mary Shelley’s masterpiece Frankenstein, that brilliantly explores the eerie mysteries of childhood and the evils perpetrated by the monsters among us. 1978: At her renowned treatment center in picturesque Vermont, the brilliant psychiatrist, Dr. Helen Hildreth, is acclaimed for her compassionate work with the mentally ill. But when she’s home with her cherished grandchildren, Vi and Eric, she’s just Gran—teaching them how to take care of their pets, preparing them home-cooked meals, providing them with care and attention and love. Then one day Gran brings home a child to stay with the family. Iris—silent, hollow-eyed, skittish, and feral—does not behave like a normal girl. Still, Violet is thrilled to have a new playmate. She and Eric invite Iris to join their Monster Club, where they dream up ways to defeat all manner of monsters. Before long, Iris begins to come out of her shell. She and Vi and Eric do everything together: ride their bicycles, go to the drive-in, meet at their clubhouse in secret to hunt monsters. Because, as Vi explains, monsters are everywhere. 2019: Lizzy Shelley, the host of the popular podcast Monsters Among Us, is traveling to Vermont, where a young girl has been abducted, and a monster sighting has the town in an uproar. She’s determined to hunt it down, because Lizzy knows better than anyone that monsters are real—and one of them is her very own sister. “A must for psychological thriller fans” (Publishers Weekly, starred review), The Children on the Hill takes us on a breathless journey to face the primal fears that lurk within us all.
In the harsh Scottish highlands of 1565, superstition and treachery threaten a truce between rival clans. It's a weak truce at first, bound only by an arranged engagement between Anne MacGregor and Niall Campbell-the heirs of the feuding families. While Niall wrestles with his suspicions about a traitor in his clan, Anne's actions do not go unnoticed. And as accusations of witchcraft abound, the strong and sometimes callous Campbell heir must fight for Anne's safety among disconcerted clan members. Meanwhile his own safety in threatened with the ever-present threat of someone who wants him dead. Will Niall discover the traitor's identity in time? Can Anne find a way to fit into her new surroundings? Will the two learn to love each other despite the conflict? With a perfect mix of a burgeoning romance and thrilling suspense, this book is historical fiction at its best.
A richly rewarding novel about family bonds, the power of words, and the resilience of mothers and daughters in 1930s Appalachia. The folks in the Kentucky Appalachians are scraping by. Coal mining and hardscrabble know-how are a way of life for these isolated people. But when Amanda Rye, a young widowed mother and traveling packhorse librarian, comes through a mountain community hit hard by the nation's economic collapse, she brings with her hope, courage, and apple pie. Along the way, Amanda takes a shine to the MacInteer family, especially to the gentle Rai; her quick-study daughter, Sass; and Finn, the eldest son who's easy to warm to. They remind Amanda of her childhood and her parents with whom she longs to be reconciled. Her connection with the MacInteers deepens, and Amanda shares with them a dangerous secret from her past. When that secret catches up with Amanda in the present, she, Rai, Sass, and Finn find their lives intersecting--and threatened--in the most unexpected ways. Now they must come together as the truth lights a path toward survival, mountain justice, forgiveness, and hope.
To most outsiders, the hills of the Scottish Borders are a bleak and foreboding space - usually made to represent the stigmatized Other, Ad Finis, by the centers of power in Edinburgh, London, and Brussels. At a time when globalization seems to threaten our sense of place, people of the Scottish borderlands provide a vivid case study of how the being-in-place is central to the sense of self and identity. Since the end of the thirteenth century, people living in the Scottish Border hills have engaged in armed raiding on the frontier with England, developed capitalist sheep farming in the newly united kingdom of Great Britain, and are struggling to maintain their family farms in one of the marginal agricultural rural regions of the European Community. Throughout their history, sheep farmers living in these hills have established an abiding sense of place in which family and farm have become refractions of each other. Adopting a phenomenological perspective, this book concentrates on the contemporary farming practices - shepherding, selling lambs and rams at auctions - as well as family and class relations through which hill sheep fuse people, place, and way of life to create this sense of being-at-home in the hills.
In a mountainous region of Southwestern Virginia where poverty and hardship were an everyday part of life, there lived a family with the last name of Hill. The Hill children grew up without the benefit of a mother, but under the very watchful eyes of a humble but somewhat roguish father. In spite of many hardships and almost impossible living conditions, most of the children grew up to be proud and respectable citizens of Washington County. That is all except one, and his name was William. William started life under the close scrutiny and support of his loving sister Alice, but after her death in a tragic accident, his life was changed forever. He became tortured by dreams of death and ghostly images which ultimately led to his running away from home at the tender age of twelve. Thus began a long and even more tragic journey of paranoia and mystery that ended when he was twenty-five. William's journey took him from rural Virginia, through the Carolinas and further South, where he left murder and mayhem as his calling card. World War II was his only means of escape from capture for his hideous crimes, but he ultimately met his well deserved end at the hands of a nearly helpless old woman. He changed many lives and families forever but in the end he received his just rewards.
This is the story of how a simple act of kindness and compassion changed the lives of generations of people, and reinforces the notion that everyone's life matters.
