Ghost on Black Mountain

In arresting, haunting voices, Ann Hite weaves together the narratives of five Southern women whose lives are inextricably bound together when a brutal murder takes place in a rural South Carolina town in the 1930s.Once a person leaves the mountain, they never come back, not really. They're lost forever. Nellie Pritchard has married a man without realizing he was a walking ghost story. When she moves to Black Mountain in South Carolina with her husband, Hobbs, the townsfolk keep telling Nellie to get off the mountain while she still can—to go home before it's too late. They say the mountain is haunted, and it doesn't take long for Nellie to feel it, too... Told in the stunning voices of five women whose lives are inextricably bound when a murder takes place in rural Depression-era North Carolina, Ann Hite’s unforgettable debut spans generations and conjures the best of Southern folk-lore—mystery, spirits, hoodoo, and the incomparable beauty of the Appalachian landscape.

Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of Pictures of You

"Haunting, dark and unnerving, Hite's brilliant modern gothic casts an unbreakable spell."

Beth Hoffman, New York Times bestselling author of Saving CeeCee Honeycutt

"Pull up a rocker and gaze into the hills at sundown. Old-time front porch storytelling unfolds in this dark, twisted tale where hardscrabble lives, murderous secrets, and ghosts intersect on a mysterious mountain."

Rebecca Coleman, author of The Kingdom of Childhood

"The inhabitants of Black Mountain live side-by-side with the spirits of the dead, throw spells and dig for treasure, solve their problems with careful alliances and the occasional murder. This is a story where the spookiness of a mountain village comes to life through gritty characters whose feelings and motivations seem all too similar to our own. Ann Hite captures their voices so well, you'd swear they're whispering into your ear. Ghost on Black Mountain is captivating."

Publisher's Weekly

"Will intrigue readers eager for a Southern Gothic tale, and suggests a promising future for the Black Mountain novels to come."

Alabama Mobile Register

"[Ann Hite] twists folklore with the genres of Southern Gothic, paranormal and literary fiction like a fine, fat pretzel, a guilty pleasure after midnight . . . A richly layered tale of haints, hoodoo and heebie-jeebies, mayhem and murder, love and betrayal."

San Francisco Book Review

"A haunting Southern gothic tale . . . wonderfully crafted"

About the Author

Ann Hite’s debut novel, Ghost on Black Mountain, not only became a Townsend Prize Finalist but won Georgia Author of the Year in 2012. Her personal essays and short stories have been published in numerous national anthologies. The Storycatcher is her second Black Mountain novel. Ann is an admitted book junkie with a library of over a thousand books. She lives in Smyrna, Georgia, with her husband and daughter, where she allows her Appalachian characters to dictate their stories.

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