The Saints of Swallow Hill

Author : Donna Everhart

Genre : Fiction

This book is fictional, yet based on what really took place in the dense pine forests of North Carolina during the 1930s. Turpentine farms—small and large, tacked into tree trunks to draw out the sticky sap and hauled the resin to stills to be refined. Among them is Rae Lynn Cobb and her husband, Warren, who run a small turpentine farm together.

When Warren falls victim to his own negligence, Rae Lynn disguises herself as a man named “Ray” and heads to the only place she can think of that might offer anonymity–a turpentine camp in Georgia named Swallow Hill. Del Reese has also come to Swallow Hill looking for work. This is a story of hardship and friendship. I like it when I see the title of a book explained with a phrase somewhere in the chapters, and this author never did that, except to ask about it in the discussion questions, “What does the title mean to you?”