emleemay 's review for:

The Steep and Thorny Way by Cat Winters

4.0

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“Poisonous rivulets of hate and fear spread beneath the town’s sidewalks and buildings and strangled the beauty that had once bloomed through Elston.”

Another great book from Ms Winters. Though this isn't quite my favourite Cat Winters' novel, I'm delighted to see that she's finally getting some much-deserved praise from critics. Using a lot of research, with a particular focus on social injustices, Winters has now delivered four fantastic historical/paranormal novels.

As with her other novels, [b:The Steep and Thorny Way|22838927|The Steep and Thorny Way|Cat Winters|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1440446736s/22838927.jpg|42394980] is an historical ghost story, set during the first quarter of the twentieth century. However, this is a very different kind of story, as we find ourselves in a 1920s Oregon terrorized by the Ku Klux Klan. Turning her focus from women's rights and sexism onto that of racism and homophobia, we are taken into a world tainted by hatred and misunderstanding.

The author is remarkably consistent in her ability to portray strong and complex female relationships. This book is not a romance. Instead, it is about family, friendship and loyalty. It's also about the sad reality that many childhood friends could turn into enemies for African-Americans, under the KKK's influence.

The protagonist and narrator is Hanalee Denney, a daughter of a white woman and a deceased black man. Her father's killer has just been released from prison, but he's telling a very different story to the one Hanalee has been led to believe. So her only option is to contact her father's ghost and uncover the terrible truth.

The book never shies away from portraying ugly historical realities, from the miscegenation laws that established African-Americans as an "other", to the everyday suggestions Hanalee receives about hair-straightening and skin-bleaching. For a modern reader, it is nauseating, and yet I appreciate it more than a rose-tinted version of history.

We watch this story unfold through Hanalee's eyes, relating to this normal young woman who longs to be a lawyer and feeling her sense of frustration and entrapment as her dreams are laughed at. The author has a knack for creating realism out of the fantastical and I really felt it here. Both with the social injustice, but also with the fear - it was truly frightening to be taken inside this world, even more so because it is not entirely fictional.

All the way through, I got a bit of a Boardwalk Empire vibe from this book - the atmosphere, the complex characters, etc. - so it wasn't surprising when the author commented on the show's influence in the afterword. I could definitely see it.

I still think it's a bit of a stretch to call this a Hamlet retelling, though, but I suppose "retelling" is the marketing buzzword these days. And I'm good with that if more people will read it because Winters really is a great author. Highly recommended.

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