A review by eggcatsreads
The Song of the Blue Bottle Tree by India Hayford

5.0

Trigger warnings 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. Also thank you to the publisher and Goodreads for a physical copy for review, as well. 

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