A review by becklabeck
The Rosewood Casket by Sharyn McCrumb

4.0

I don't think I ever would have known about this book had I not been gifted it by my lovely aunt. Despite my ignorance of the author or her Ballad series, I was immediately pulled in by the spellbinding prose and the intriguing cast of characters. The story follows an intertwining group of past and present residents of a small mountain town in Tennessee. Four sons come back together at their father's deathbed, poor farmers struggle to hold onto what is theirs, and old secrets are slowly brought to light. The drama was a slow burn, but enough to keep me glued to the pages wondering what would happen next. The characters were interesting, each with their own quirks and personalities, though I do think they could have been fleshed out a little more, and it was entertaining to see them all interacting. The copy I have, which I'm assuming is a recent print since it came straight from Amazon, had a few glaring mistakes that irritatingly brought me out of the story. I always wonder why I catch these things but the dozens of rounds of editing pre-print do not. Anyway, typos aside, I found this to be a truly spellbinding homage to history and land. Would recommend to lovers of mountain mysteries.