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3.46 AVERAGE
3.46 AVERAGE
I'm a fan of Sharon McCrumb's "ballad" series. She delves into the history and legends of North Carolina's mountain regions, and builds wonderful fictional tales based on the facts. In this book, she examines the tale of Tom Dula, hung for murdering a young woman in the years just after the Civil War. This case involved three unsavory women, all cousins, and the man who loved one but slept with all three, in a dark tale of adultery, jealousy and homicide. McCrumb parsed historical records and arrived at a plausible explanation for how events occurred, supporting what locals have long believed... that Tom Dula wasn't the killer. Worth a read, especially if you haven't sampled McCrumb's other books.
I was pleasantly surprised by this book. My preferred genre is more modern day time with modern day stuff going on. I tend to struggle with books that are from an older time and in a setting with a dialect, but this book was so easy to get into. There were some word choices I struggled over since I don't read historical fiction or books set in the south of the USA but this book overall was so well put together and easy to get through. It only took me a month to read because I wasn't putting in the effort to make it through, had I just sat down and done it I could have easily read through this book in a week. I found the characters to all be unique and well developed and I really love the main character, Pauline. The story was thorough and interesting, and even with knowing the folk song about Tom Dooley, I still enjoyed the twists and turns of the plot.
Love the Sharyn McCrumb Ballad stories. Here she takes up the story behind an old folk song, Tom Dooley.
This version gives the back story behind it. Set in a small NC town after the Civil War, it tells of Tom Dula, his married lover, the hired girl, and Laura Foster, the woman he supposedly killed. It is like the southern version of Wuthering Heights.
Pauline Foster has to leave her mountain town to be treated by a doctor for a venereal disease she picked up from a soldier. She travels to the nearest place with a doctor and hopes to stay with some cousins. She winds up staying with her beautiful cousin Ann who happens to be married, but is in love with Tom Dula. She is the unhappy fly in the ointment. She is spiteful, malicious, and scheming.
Ann, no prize herself, is pretty open about her feelings for Tom even in front of her husband. Tom winds up visiting cousin Laura, and Pauline eggs Ann on. Laura is not in love with Tom but uses him to keep from being bored and lonely.
Laura is killed, Tom is blamed. But how we get there is what makes this interesting.
This version gives the back story behind it. Set in a small NC town after the Civil War, it tells of Tom Dula, his married lover, the hired girl, and Laura Foster, the woman he supposedly killed. It is like the southern version of Wuthering Heights.
Pauline Foster has to leave her mountain town to be treated by a doctor for a venereal disease she picked up from a soldier. She travels to the nearest place with a doctor and hopes to stay with some cousins. She winds up staying with her beautiful cousin Ann who happens to be married, but is in love with Tom Dula. She is the unhappy fly in the ointment. She is spiteful, malicious, and scheming.
Ann, no prize herself, is pretty open about her feelings for Tom even in front of her husband. Tom winds up visiting cousin Laura, and Pauline eggs Ann on. Laura is not in love with Tom but uses him to keep from being bored and lonely.
Laura is killed, Tom is blamed. But how we get there is what makes this interesting.
Sharyn McCrumb's very good at getting inside the heads of historical figures. While there were some things not to like about the book--repetitive sections, for example-- it's a very engaging tale, start to finish. And McCrumb provides a plausible set of facts to support the storyline she created. She does a good job with internal dialogue--there's a lot of that, particularly from Pauline, the emotionally chilling servant girl who narrates--and a great job of painting a picture of what it was like to live in post-Civil War, mountainous western North Carolina. As the narrator says, hard lines.
Another thumbs up for McCrumb.
Another thumbs up for McCrumb.
Based on a true story. It's about a murder trial in post-Civil War North Carolina, the inspiration for the folk song "Tom Dooley". I thoroughly enjoyed it. It moves along quickly, and really invokes the poverty and hopelessness of the people left with nothing after the war.
Sharyn McCrumb can carry a book on atmosphere alone. This one suffered from J.K. Rowling syndrome, however: the author has become famous enough that she doesn't get or listen to a good editor. The only reason I can imagine for the ways this book beats its character descriptions and plot points into the ground was that McCrumb wanted to prove beyond the shadow of a doubt, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, that she had established not only who killed Laura but how and why.
It's also a pity that she is so enamored of the historical character Zebulon Baird Vance that she seems not to notice what a prig she is making him out to be.
It's also a pity that she is so enamored of the historical character Zebulon Baird Vance that she seems not to notice what a prig she is making him out to be.
A thoroughly engaging retelling of the Tom Dooley/Tom Dula story. I was familiar with the story only through the ballad made famous by the Kingston Trio. But, as is true with most stories, there was much more to it than that. And, of course, it happened just across the mountain in North Carolina. Highly recommended.
The story behind the folk song "The Ballad of Tom Dooley" sounded like an interesting premise for a book. And it was, although I could not find one character that I liked or for whom I felt much sympathy. It would have been nice if the lyrics to the song were included at the beginning or end of the book just for those, like me, who did not know all of the words.
It is very apparent that times were not easy in the hills of North Carolina following the Civil War. Nothing was in ample supply and each morsel of food or piece of clothing was the end product of dawn to dusk struggle. This was true for most people. Some skated by on their looks and their charm. The story behind The Ballad of Tom Dooley is not happy or pleasant. However, it is very interesting to see how the lives of many people were forever changed by the twisted desires and need for revenge of three people. This would probably be a good pick for a book club. I think there would be a lot to discuss.
It is very apparent that times were not easy in the hills of North Carolina following the Civil War. Nothing was in ample supply and each morsel of food or piece of clothing was the end product of dawn to dusk struggle. This was true for most people. Some skated by on their looks and their charm. The story behind The Ballad of Tom Dooley is not happy or pleasant. However, it is very interesting to see how the lives of many people were forever changed by the twisted desires and need for revenge of three people. This would probably be a good pick for a book club. I think there would be a lot to discuss.
My father was a huge Kingston Trio fan and I’ve known the words to Tom Dooley since I could speak. I was always fascinated by the story and then I stumbled on this book because of my love for historical fiction. I loved finding the truths, exaggerations and falsities in the song through reading this novel.
I was particularly taken with the author’s note at the back of the book. I am a bit of a genealogy buff and I’ve spent countless hours with my nose buried in census records and old newspaper articles. I’ve spun my own tales to fill in the blanks of my own family history. I appreciate the author laying out all the facts she found and then showing how this led her to tell the story the way she did.
I took all the facts separately and tried to forget the author’s story. The only other way it could play out is if Pauline had killed Laura herself because Anne hadn’t the nerve to do it on her own. I believe the story would play out with the same result. If Ann and Tom did not know who the real killer was, there would be no way they could point the finger at him (or her) in court!
I was particularly taken with the author’s note at the back of the book. I am a bit of a genealogy buff and I’ve spent countless hours with my nose buried in census records and old newspaper articles. I’ve spun my own tales to fill in the blanks of my own family history. I appreciate the author laying out all the facts she found and then showing how this led her to tell the story the way she did.
I took all the facts separately and tried to forget the author’s story. The only other way it could play out is if Pauline had killed Laura herself because Anne hadn’t the nerve to do it on her own. I believe the story would play out with the same result. If Ann and Tom did not know who the real killer was, there would be no way they could point the finger at him (or her) in court!
I had no idea that the Kingston Trio song was based on a true incident until I read this book, nor that the song didn't match the reality. Very captivating tale, mostly revealed by a totally unsympathetic character, which makes things interesting. McCrumb includes a lot of information about the actual event in the afterword. Highly recommended, and it made me want to read another of her 'ballad' novels.