4.5 stars! I was nervous for this one because it’s not a book I typically gravitate towards with the ghosts and snakes. I actually ending up loving how the ghosts were intertwined in the story, and Bigger was one of my favourite characters! Who knew a ghost could make me on the verge of tears? Reading about the power dynamic between men and women made me think about how far our society has come with gender roles, but also how there’s still room to grow. Genevieve shattered the female expectations in this book and I loved her for it. A phenomenal debut.

The Song of the Blue Bottle Tree was an engaging story with great scenery. The beginning of the book was a little confusing but it really pulled together part way through and became a page turner. Genevieve reminded me of characters from Kirstin Miller’s The Change. I really enjoyed Bigger’s character and appreciated his arc. One warning to readers is that sexual abuse occurs on page in this book to the point I skimmed some scenes because it was fairly detailed.

I would recommend this book to readers who enjoy Kirstin Miller and Barbara Kingsolver.

Trigger warning for: incest, rape, sexual asssault/drugged sexual assault, sexual and physical abuse, domestic abuse/domestic violence, child abuse, child marriages, religious indoctrination

This novel isn’t wholly explicit about the sexual abuses mentioned, but the physical abuse is described in detail, as well as the main core of this novel is about the physical and sexual abuse and this book cannot be read without encountering it. I think I might be missing some trigger warnings, but if it seems like it’d fit in with a sexually and physically abusive preacher convinced of his own holiness and the need to control every woman in his life, I’d apply it here as well.

‘She decided that the very best thing she could do for this beaten-down woman and her children was to kill the son of a bitch she was married to.’

This book, at its core, is one about family connections (not necessarily by birth) and the need to protect each other from dangerous men in powerful positions. Told through many different points of view, our main story follows Genevieve as she returns to her first home in Arkansas, before she was forced to run away and survive on her own. Through her journey she finds family and community, and must take on danger to save others from suffering her same fate.

The biggest plot thread of this novel was the correlation of men who are abusers, and men who are in power. Both of the biggest abusers in this novel are preachers of their church, and I do not find this to be a coincidence. Our main antagonist, the one we spend the great bulk of this novel wishing he was dead - is a well-respected preacher of his parish, and one who has a great deal of sway in the community. Careful to only hurt the women in his life in areas that are easily concealed, from the start we know how dangerous he is - and how difficult it will be to stop his abuse.

While I found the very start of this novel a bit confusing at first, once our title character has grown up and we meet the other main character - a traumatized Vietnam veteran named Mercer - the story really comes into its own and I was hooked on every line. Filled with Southern imagery, we can almost feel the humidity and the religious indoctrination in every line as we go through this journey. As Genevieve connects with this family and grows closer to them, she is able to help fill the cracks in their frayed relationship due to the abuse inflicted by the father of the family. Her presence, support, and strength is the reason the women she encounters in her life are able to find their own ways to break the chains of abuse holding them down.

This book isn’t a romance and I really enjoyed that aspect of it. The connections in this book are forged through family, through friendship, and through bonds that are stronger than both. While both Genevieve and Mercer are haunted by (literal) ghosts, the supernatural aspect of this story is almost in the background to the actual plot of this story. In many ways, even though both of our title characters can see these ghosts, the ability to physically see them is almost a metaphor for their being haunted by the things they’ve experienced.

While heavy and tragic at times, this book was a beautiful read and I was captivated until the end. Anyone who is a fan of historical fiction, literary fiction, and stories that focus on human experiences and connections would be amiss to not pick up this novel. This was a phenomenal read and one that I will be thinking about for a long while after I’ve finished it.

A huge thank you to the author, NetGalley, and Kensington Publishing for providing this e-ARC.

Alabama in 1970 was an era of troubled tales. The rending of the old ways would cause so much violence in everyday lives that the young people ran as far as they could as fast as they could. Those who stayed either grew strong or cynical or both. Genevieve Charbonneau fled, then came back to make peace with herself. India Hayford introduces us to Gennie and her many challenges in a manner that lets the reader see just how much this young woman has to push back the lessons she learned in her grandmother's home. She will learn to not only help herself but others who would be ground down by their lives. The story touches your emotions in so many ways that you'll be happy, angry, sad and horrified in the span of a few chapters. This book could truthfully be called an experience.

Thank you Netgalley & A John Scognamiglio Book for an eARC ♥️

Genevieve Charbonneau's return to her childhood home in rural Arkansas is like a punch to the gut. This mysterious young woman, with a name she found on a gravestone, has been running from her past for years.
But the ghosts of her childhood aren't so easy to shake. As Genevieve navigates the crumbling farmhouse and the memories that haunt it, she's forced to confront the trauma that's defined her life.
A chance encounter with a Vietnam veteran sets off a chain reaction of painful revelations, and Genevieve's world begins to unravel. Her story is a heart-wrenching exploration of the devastating consequences of secrets, shame, and silence.
This novel will rip your heart out, folks. It's a brutally honest portrayal of the darkest corners of human experience. But it's also a testament to the resilience of the human spirit, and the power of forgiveness and healing.
Genevieve's journey is a tough one to watch, but it's also impossible to look away. Her story will haunt you long after you finish reading, and it'll leave you wondering about the secrets that we keep, and the lies that we tell ourselves.

Thank you Kensington for access to this arc.

I hesitated when I read the blurb for this book. I debated with myself. I reread the blurb and other reviews. I debated and hesitated some more and then decided to go for it. I’m very glad I did. I’ll go ahead and tell readers that this is not a romance, not one bit of one. It’s Southern Gothic and will take readers into very dark places. Why did I decide to try it? For the women.

Much of the story is told with gentle imagery telling of the horrors that happen. But some are laid flat out. At times it’s not easy to read. Later on, scenes that are initially sketched out or totally skipped are revisited, filling in what I guessed had happened. The language is often very Southern in flavor and, yippee, gets it right.

Many of the characters are not nice or kind people. It’s fairly obvious who needs to be booed at. Those who are nice mostly come with issues. Some are naïve and at times had me shaking my head but the main part of the book takes place in the 1960s and times were indeed different. Some characters are trapped due to poor judgement or because an evil person came into their lives. Mercer fled only to return with PTSD. Gen survived as best she could. But all of them, or most of them, are believable.

The things that Gen and Mercer’s mother and younger sisters are faced with are terrible. Gen has been forged through adversity and is young enough to fight back. Wreath has been beaten down since before her marriage, watched one daughter side with their oppressor, and worries about the two youngest. Yet when the need arises, Wreath has got more gumption that a lot of people give her credit for. Gen loathes Mercer’s father but she’s got enough street smarts to know how to fight back and becomes a role model for Jezzie and Leah.

Woven through the story are the spirits and ghosts who haunt both Gen and Mercer. Mercer’s are some of what he brought back with him from the jungles of Vietnam but many of Gen’s have been with her all her life. At times they will help her at other times chide her about little things, and twice they will save her life. Meanwhile Bigger, who doesn’t want to haunt his friend Mercer, became one of my favorite characters. The scene where Mercer finally lays his friend to rest had me in tears.

The grand finale when Good overcomes Evil is quite a scene. Little things that have been mentioned and then let rest come into play. The Archangel Michael is even there with his flaming sword. Or maybe not. The end isn’t pretty for Evil but he definitely had it coming.

The characters are complex and well rounded. The issues are all too real. The writing is fluid and engaging and I love how the reader is allowed to pick up on clues about what is to come without being hit over the head with them multiple times. The ending is happy but it’s an earned happy rather than a sudden and unearned smoothing over of the pain that came before. I’m delighted that I decided to try it. A-

Well, I absolutely loved this book. The characters are so beautifully developed. There are characters you will despise and characters you will want to embrace and who will stay with you long after you finish reading..

The book is set in Arkansas in the late 1960’s and follows the main character of Genevieve as she finds herself and her family. The narrative alternates between points of view but does so seamlessly once the story gets moving. The first couple of chapters took me a little to get into and then I was hooked.

This book is a Southern family drama with LOTS of trauma so be prepared if you pick it up. There is physical and sexual abuse interwoven throughout the story but there is also love and redemption. I couldn’t put it down!

TW:sexual abuse, abuse, violence & murder
this book is not something i would normally go for but, once i started this book i couldn't put it down. this book takes place in alabama in the 1970's following genevieve or "gennie". after losing her mother very young she is kind of left on her own and with no one and nowhere to go she joins a circus. after surviving for so long she decides to head back home to alabama and be with her extended family. her time back home she is a badass woman who doesn't stand for the abuse of men.

Pros
- The female main character was a force to be reckoned with and her story arc was very enjoyable to read.
- The Southern setting was well written and didn't feel forced or contrived and as a native Northeast Alabama gal, I certainly know about the kinds of churches who handle snakes (although I have never been to one)
- It's a good reflection on the fact that the #ChurchToo movement sadly has deep roots (I know this is in the pro section, but bear with me, it does highlight that church hurt goes back much further than we have originally imagined and maybe explains some of the ways we've wound up where we are now)
- The writing was so descriptive and it certainly felt like you were in the places she described (for better or worse)
- It does have a happy ending, if you're into that kind of thing, which I am.

Cons
-Lordy mercy it needed some trigger warnings. It is just slap full of abuse of all kinds that weren't really evident from the description of the book.

Loved, loved, loved this book! Genevieve will stay with you, as will many other characters, all of which are complex and well-developed. This content is heavy. There are trigger warnings that should be called out: child sexual abuse, sexual abuse, domestic abuse, horrors of war, radical religion/ abuse by religious leadership, and snakes immediately come to mind, but there may be others I missed ( would love my mom to read this but she has a deep fear of snakes, and their role in this novel would likely send her over the edge!) The plot focuses on people broken in many ways (see list of possible triggers!) but who continue to persevere and look for and find the good in life and in people. I found it compelling with a satisfying ending. Highly recommended.

"Disguised by a name she found on a tombstone and accompanying a Vietnam vet she met in a graveyard, an unconventional young snake-handler who talks to the dead returns to the ghosts of her childhood home in 1967 Arkansas...

Readers of Delia Owens, Barbara Kingsolver, Kelly Mustian, and Quinn Connor will be captivated by this haunting Southern debut about found family, folk magic, the long shadow of trauma, the salvation of human connection, and the transcendent beauty of nature.

Genevieve Charbonneau talks to ghosts and has a special relationship with rattlesnakes. In her travels, she's wandered throughout the South, escaping a mental hospital in Alabama, working for a Louisiana circus, and dancing at a hoochy-kootch in Texas. Now for the first time in a decade, she's allowed her winding path to bring her to the site of her grandmother's Arkansas farmhouse, a place hallowed in her memory.

She intends only to visit briefly - to pay respects to her buried loved ones and leave. But a chance meeting with a haunted young Vietnam vet reconnects her with the remnants of a family she thought long gone, and their union becomes a catalyst for change and salvation. An abused woman and her daughters develop the courage to fight back, a ghost finds the path away from life, and a sanctimonious predator becomes the prey. In the process, Genevieve must choose between her longing for meaningful connection after years as an outsider and her equally excruciating impulse to run.

Written by a naturalist and set on the land where her family roots stretch back two centuries, The Song of the Blue Bottle Tree is a haunting story about letting go and the things we leave behind, the power of names, and the ties that bind. It is both harrowing and triumphant, a visceral Southern debut as otherworldly and beautiful as it is unflinching and wry."

When roots run deep.

This is set in 1967 Arkansas. It is about Genevieve and her trauma and running away from her life. She meets a guy named Mercer and realizes he and his siblings and mom are all being abused by his father. He has just returned from Vietnam so he is no condition to help his mom and siblings. I laughed, I cried, I was angry. This book has so much going on but I could not put it down because I had to see that Mercer's dad got his in the end. This book is a wild ride.

Genevieve has returned to Arkansas after a long absence. Mercer has just returned from fighting in Vietnam. When the two meet, Genevieve is drawn to some of the members of Mercer’s family, a family Mercer wants to escape. Mercer’s father, John Luther, is an abusive fundamentalist preacher. Wreath, his wife, and her two youngest daughters are victims of his wrath.

Told with warmth, mysticism, and a much-needed occasional touch of humor, this is a compelling story. My desire to find out what happens to this family kept me engaged to the last page.

Just a warning: this book contains a lot of physical and sexual abuse. It also talks a lot about snakes. If you make it past all of that, it is definitely worth the read.

This was a DNF for me at 20%. I enjoy a clearly written story. The figurative language the author used did not appeal to me. Thank you NetGalley and the author for the ARC.

A recommendation from Shelby - thank you, my friend (follow her on IG to get links to Shelby's own writing) - I loved Genevieve and her whole story. Women of strength and magic vs. cruel men hits right now. Thanks to Netgalley for the free advanced copy in exchange for an honest review, book publishes March 25

The Song of the Blue Bottle Tree by India Hayford

Set in the 1960s, a young girl, unwanted by her family after her mother and grandmother passed, tries to make her own way in the twisted world she lives in. When she landed in a distant relative’s home, she is abused. Eventually, she escaped and lived in exile, and took up a name she found on a gravestone and tries to start a new life. But hers is not a world of normalcy – the recurring perversion being extreme Christianity who indulge in domestic violence and snake handling. Genevieve often slept in cemeteries, and she began talking to ghosts.

The first 2 chapters into the book, I got SCARED and shut it. It’s not horror, but it struck me in a way that I think, any young girl should not have to go through such story.

Genevieve’s story is heart-breaking and depicts religion twisted and abused into a weapon and tool for control, manipulation, violence and perversion. I got confused at some points, but pushed through. This was a difficult read and I don’t think it worked out for me, but ultimately I appreciated Genevieve’s character not giving up in fighting for her own footing and discovering her strength.

I’d give this 2.5/5

My thanks to @kensingtonpublishing and @netgally for the advanced copy.

#bbbreviews #TheSongoftheBlueBottleTree #NetGalley #IndiaHayford #ARCreview #KensingtonPublishing #bookreviews

I didn’t know if I was going to love this book at first, but once it pulled me in, I couldn’t put it down. The Song of the Blue Bottle Tree is one of those books that sticks with you—heavy, emotional, and impossible to forget.

The story follows Genevieve, who loses her family young... She then ends up (unfortunately) in the care of a violent, nasty preacher.
When she finally escapes, she’s completely on her own, renaming herself after a tombstone and figuring out how to survive. She crosses paths with Mercer, a Vietnam vet carrying his own scars, and his family, who are trapped in their own cycle of abuse.

This book isn’t an easy read. There’s a lot of abuse—physical, emotional, sexual—so definitely check the trigger warnings. The religious themes are grossly disturbing, showing how faith can be twisted into control and cruelty. And honestly, the men in this book? Way scarier than the snakes they handle.

But despite all that darkness, there’s so much light & love. Genevieve is strong, smart, and refuses to let the awful things that happened to her define her. The writing completely pulled me in, and even when parts of the story felt a little scattered, I didn’t care—I just had to keep going. I laughed, I cried, I got so angry I had to put the book down for a second. And the ghosts? Such a unique, eerie touch.

If you liked Where the Crawdads Sing this is one you should pick up. It’s raw, powerful, and completely unforgettable. I’d love to see it as a movie, and I’ll definitely be reading more from this author!

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Publishing.

Wow . Just wow. This book was amazing and I'm so glad I read it. A must read for historical fiction lovers ! I couldn't put it down!

This was a really well done novel, it had that beautifully done concept and had characters that I was looking for. I was invested in what was happening and enjoyed the overall storyline going on. India Hayford has a strong writing style and was glad it worked overall. The characters felt like they belonged in this universe and was glad everything worked well overall.

Rating this 4 stars with some quibbles.

There is a really beautifully written, lush, and evocative novel here, hidden under a lot of meandering prose. Which is still beautiful, but just easy to get lost in. I found myself skimming through a lot of Genevieve's recollections because I wanted to get back to the actual plot, and because she often repeated herself or jumped back and forth between her past and the present in a confusing way.

The characters themselves are strong and memorable, and probably my favorite part of the whole book. Despite her rambling, I did really love Genevieve as a protagonist, and few antagonists have elicited such feelings of hatred in me as John Luther did.

Overall I enjoyed my time with this book quite a bit, despite losing my focus here and there.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.