Reviving the Hawthorn Sisters

Don't Let ‘Gothic' Scare You Here. I picked this book up on the strength of the publisher, Lake Union. But honestly, the marketing scared me a bit with the emphasis on calling this a ‘gothic' book. When I think ‘gothic', I think Edgar Allan Poe or perhaps fellow LU book The Companion by Kim Taylor Blakemore - period pieces set in the late 19th/ early 2oth century in old buildings.

This book... wasn't that. Yes, it uses an old-school sanitarium as the place of its beginnings - an orphan managed to escape there long ago, and in the present timeline, that orphan's granddaughter is now trying to redeem the building.

But really, the story here is told in dual timelines and features one woman just trying to survive in Great Depression/ WWII era Alabama, while the other woman tries to solve a mystery over the legacy of the first woman in modern day Alabama. In other words, standard-ish dual-timeline women's fiction - and really solidly written story that sucks you right in.

Growing up in the region in modern ish times, I could absolutely see much of this book playing out largely the way it did, the cultural touchpoints were truly spot on in both the period and modern touches.

Ultimately a strong work, and very much recommended.