Winter's Reckoning
A Novel
by Adele Holmes, M.D.
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Pub Date Aug 09 2022 | Archive Date Sep 07 2022
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Description
Forty-six-year-old Madeline Fairbanks has no use for ideas like “separation of the races” or “men as the superior sex.” There are many in her dying Southern Appalachian town who are upset by her socially progressive views, but for years—partly due to her late husband’s still-powerful influence, and partly due to her skill as a healer in a remote town with no doctor of its own—folks have been willing to turn a blind eye to her “transgressions.” Even Maddie’s decision to take on a Black apprentice, Ren Morgan, goes largely unchallenged by her white neighbors, though it’s certainly grumbled about.
But when a charismatic and power-hungry new reverend blows into town in 1917 and begins to preach about the importance of racial segregation, the long-idle local KKK chapter fires back into action—and places Maddie and her friends in Jamesville’s Black community squarely in their sights. Maddie had better stop intermingling with Black folks, discontinue her herbalistic “witchcraft,” and leave town immediately, they threaten, or they’ll lynch Ren’s father, Daniel.
Faced with this decision, Maddie is terrified . . . and torn. Will she bow to their demands and walk away—or will she fight to keep the home she’s built in Jamesville and protect the future of the people she loves, both Black and white?
A Note From the Publisher
Advance Praise
Winner of an Honorable Mention, 2021 William Faulkner Literary Competition
"Holmes’ satisfying conclusion offers a twist to the tale….[and] the novel’s explorations of the horrors of misogyny and racism have powerful contemporary resonance. Along the way, Holmes constructs a vivid and believable historical setting and populates her novel with well-developed characters who are flawed and relatable as they seek to triumph over evil. A notable tale that offers the hope that even small actions can lead toward greater good."
—Kirkus Reviews
"A timeless story of kinships, friendships, and secret legacies born of good and evil. With a keen eye for detail and an intricate plot leading to a satisfying conclusion, this tale is sure to enchant readers.”
—Donna Everhart, author of The Road to Bittersweet and The Saints of Swallow Hill
“A white herbalist and her Black best friend challenge a slick con man and the KKK. The strong characters and vivid sense of place lingered in my mind long after the last page.”
—Marcia Preston, winner of the Mary Higgins Clark Award and author of The Spiderling
“A spellbinding narrative that brilliantly captures both the price of standing against segregation and how bold action paves the way to unexpected healing. Holmes’s beautifully developed characters allude to our inevitable connection to the past in a story that resonates to the bone. Simply unputdownable.”
—Cara Brookins, author of Rise: How a House Built a Family
"A beautifully written story that reminds America of our unresolved sins against humanity and our struggles to place value where it’s due. It represents our hopes of resolving fears of the other and erasing old hates.”
—Janis F. Kearney, author, publisher, and personal diarist for President Clinton in the White House
“Set in the brooding rural South, and for a good portion of the novel in the challenging and crystalline world of a deep snowstorm, Winter’s Reckoning is rich in storyline and character with plenty of mystery woven throughout. Simply put, here’s a story that takes on issues whose harm remains with us today. With a climactic pulpit scene that’s not to be missed - and one novel we can highly recommend!
—Chanticleer Reviews
“Brimming with all the feels—friendship, passion, hatred, prejudice. A remarkable debut.”
—Julia Daily, author of No Names to Be Given
“Tear out a page of Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier, add in a mix of Deliverance and The Apostle, along with a dash of Nell... and you have yourself a die-hard Appalachian story set so far back in the woods and so backwards in their thinking, that Madeline Fairbanks, the local healer, must find an inner strength to fight the racial and misogynistic prejudice permeating the town.”
—Historical Fiction Company Review
Marketing Plan
This title will be released simultaneously as a hardcover, paperback, and e-book.
This title will be released simultaneously as a hardcover, paperback, and e-book.
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9781647426002 |
| PRICE | $24.95 (USD) |
| PAGES | 336 |
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
Angela M, Reviewer
It’s sadly relevant, even though the time in this captivating debut novel set in a small town in Appalachia is 1917. “… ignorance breeds fear, and fear hate.” Don’t we know this now! The novel is a good piece of historical fiction reflecting the cruel times of Jim Crow laws and the KKK. It’s a story of the strength of women, of friendship, of carrying on family tradition and knowledge of healing .
Maddie Fairbanks, an herbalist/healer and her black assistant Ren Morgan defy the accepted separation of races, and the belief by some men that the place of women is at home, as they work together to care for people in the community. They manage in spite of the re- emergence of the KKK in town until the arrival of the evil and deceitful “Reverend” Carl Howard who sets in motion a series of events that tries the strength of these women and had me quickly turning the pages to know what their fate would be at the hands of this vile man and the KKK. Ultimately, a satisfying ending with a beautiful epilogue in the voice of Hannah, Maddie’s granddaughter who takes up the torch of caring for people. I look forward to what Holmes writes next.
I received an advanced copy of this book from She Writes Press through NetGalley.
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