Hang the Moon is totally different than most of the books I read. It's a Western (except the setting is Virginia), it's women's fiction, it's historical fiction, it's full of drama, it involves bootlegging and women carrying around rifles. I admit I did not know what I was getting into. I chose to read it because of the author. But, it turned out to be a good choice.

Our protagonist is Sallie Kincaid. She is the daughter of The Duke, the “emperor” of a town called Caywood, Virginia. She is a strong young lady, astute and does not want to sit around embroidering doilies. Circumstances force her to grow up in a hurry.

The remaining cast of characters is very diverse. There's a teetotaler reverend who wants to clean up the booze. It's Prohibition, you know. And an aunt who has been known to be a bit of a floozy, but sadly, she has been a victim of abuse. There is a housekeeper who is vocal about expressing her opinion. And a widow who remarries and is re-widowed and again remarries, and might be re-rewidowed. But, she is pregnant! Who's the father? To complicate matters even more, one of the dead husbands isn't dead but really prefers men over women. The town's people are an interesting bunch too.

This all sounds like over-the-top melodrama. But, seriously, it works! Most of the time. The underground bootlegging plays a large part in the town's economy but it does get quite violent.

This book was not what I expected. It was interesting. It detailed a way of life which was real in the 1920s but I knew very little about it. I always think that if can learn something from a book, it was worth reading it. I think that one of the things that was a big surprise was that people were prone to take the law into their own hands with very few repercussions. Or, they live by their own laws.

It was mostly a fun and interesting read. But as it got closer to the end of the book, some of the incidents were just over the top. Still entertaining but it could have come down a notch.

I appreciate that the author did a lot of research into the bootlegging days of prohibition. In the Acknowledgments, she explains how many of the characters were inspired by real people of the day, as were many of the incidents.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the Advance Readers Copy.

Hang the Moon is a southern American family drama at its best! It's the story of young Sallie Kincaid, the daughter of Duke Kincaid, who runs a small town in Virginia. Sallie loves and adores her father, and, as a young girl, she tries very hard to win his love and admiration until one day, the unthinkable happens, and she is sent away to live with an Aunt. Through her many faulty family relationships, Sallie realizes she can only depend on herself. Sallie's strength and resilience through tough and challenging times kept me turning the pages to discover what would become of her. She is such a spunky and determined character that you cannot help but root for her. While this book does have some of the dysfunctional family characteristics of The Glass Castle, Jeanette Walls's best-selling book, it does have a very engaging story with some remarkable characters. If you loved The Glass Castle, you should get a copy of this book when it is released. Thanks to NetGalley and Simon, and Shuster Canada for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Sallie Kincaid is a daughter who loves her father and inherits his legacy but it isn't all good. In fact most of it is terrible. After her mother dies, the Duke remarries and his new wife isn't interested in step-daughters. Sallie is sent away to live with her Aunt, and together they manage to protect one another. Later after the death of her step-mother Sallie is summoned home to support her brother Eddie.

Surrounded by a fascinating cast of characters, Sallie creates her own family and manages to take care of them the best she can. Set during prohibition when women weren't usually leaders, let alone rum runners, you have to cheer for Sallie as she uncovers family secrets and creates a legacy of her own.