Reviving the Hawthorn Sisters

When you read a premise that involves an asylum escapee, an outlaw on the run, a rare coin, family secrets and a story with a Gothic vibe featuring 1930's southern itinerant preachers and faith healers, I dare you not to have your interest piqued. Reviving the Hawthorn Sisters encompasses all those topics and then some - that's a whole lotta stuff going on.

The story is told using two time frames and two POVs - Eve in modern day and Dove/Ruth, Eve's grandmother, in the 1930's. My favourite part of the book was its Gothic touches and its focus on southern tent revivals and faith healing in the Depression -- a topic I know little about. The story is a very slow burn about family secrets and a mysterious predator with a strong focus on a missing, valuable coin. 

This book had enough to keep me reading but I don't think the story quite hit its stride. It often felt disjointed with certain scenes and characters' motivations (particularly Eve's and the nefarious baddie's) seeming too implausible to be believable. There's also a lot of characters to keep track of, some of whom don't add much to the story, which I found a bit frustrating.

It wasn't until after I had finished the book and was reading the author's note at the end, that I learned this book included characters from Carpenter's earlier book, The Honeysuckle Girls (a book I haven't yet read). I think Reviving the Hawthorn Girls could be read as a standalone, but I wonder if I would have gotten more out of this book if I had known more backstory on Dove.

This is a Historical Fiction with a side of evangelical church revival, topped with a southern Gothic cherry. I enjoyed parts of this book, particularly the atmosphere and setting, but its many characters and a plot that had a little too much going on, detracted from my overall enjoyment. That said, I remain a fan of Emily Carpenter's work (especially The Weight of Lies) and look forward to her next book. 

Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to the publisher for providing me with a 

complimentary digital copy of this title in exchange for my honest review.

My Rating: 3 stars

Author: Emily Carpenter

Genre: Southern Gothic, Historical Fiction

Type and Source: eBook from NetGalley

Publisher: Lake Union Publishing

First Published: October 27, 2020

Opening Lines: Dove - This was how she knew the end was near.

Book Description from GoodReads: The bestselling author of Burying the Honeysuckle Girls returns to uncover a faith healer’s elusive and haunted past.

Dove Jarrod was a renowned evangelist and faith healer. Only her granddaughter, Eve Candler, knows that Dove was a con artist. In the eight years since Dove’s death, Eve has maintained Dove’s charitable foundation—and her lies. But just as a documentary team wraps up a shoot about the miracle worker, Eve is assaulted by a vengeful stranger intent on exposing what could be Dove’s darkest secret: murder…

Tuscaloosa, 1934: a wily young orphan escapes the psychiatric hospital where she was born. When she joins the itinerant inspirational duo the Hawthorn Sisters, the road ahead is one of stirring new possibilities. And with an obsessive predator on her trail, one of untold dangers. For a young girl to survive, desperate choices must be made.

Now, to protect her family, Eve will join forces with the investigative filmmaker and one of Dove’s friends, risking everything to unravel the truth behind the accusations against her grandmother. But will the truth set her free or set her world on fire?