Hang The Moon

Set in East Appalachia during the 1920's Prohibition era, this is coming of age story is set around Sallie Kincaid, the second daughter of Hank Kincaid (aka The Duke), a powerful and complicated man who controls their small county. Readers witness Sallie's struggle to find her own power and place in her family as she weathers loss, new roles, and expectations.

The story starts out strong and the writing is simple as Walls details a story that is filled with grit, strong female characters, tragedy, and feuding. There's a lot going on in terms of plot and its many characters. At one point I couldn't help but feel it was a Hilly Billy version of Dallas (remember that prime time soap opera?) - the many marriages and divorces within a powerful family, the backstabbing, power struggles, business deals gone wrong and complicated family lineage. The focus of this story is on bootlegged alcohol instead of oil.

I liked Sallie's strength, but the story felt overly convoluted, and I didn't enjoy when the story focused more on bootlegging and small town politics than on Sallie's development. Walls sets her story in an interesting era and introduces several topics that would make great fodder for book club discussion but didn't dive too deeply into the issues raised. 

Walls creates an interesting backdrop for her story of a smart and scrappy young woman and her resiliency as she figures out her agency and legacy, despite the restrictions that aim to keep her and other women of the era down. But the book's melodramatic tone and change of focus resulted in me not feeling as engaged as I had hoped. 

Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to Scribner Books (Simon & Schuster Canada) for my advanced copy of this book which was provided in exchange for my honest review.

My Rating: 3 stars

Author: Jeannette Walls

Genre: Historical Fiction (US)

Type and Source: eBook from publisher via NetGalley

Publisher: Scribner Books

First Published: March 28, 2023

Book Description from GoodReads: From Jeannette Walls, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Glass Castle, comes a riveting new novel about an indomitable young woman in Virginia during Prohibition.

Most folk thought Sallie Kincaid was a nobody who’d amount to nothing. Sallie had other plans.

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.

You will fall in love with Sallie Kincaid, a feisty and fearless, terrified and damaged young woman who refuses to be corralled.