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Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Ghost Riders by Sharyn Mccrumb Sharyn Mccrumb Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Ghost Riders by Sharyn McCrumb Sharyn McCrumb. The Civil War in the Appalachian Mountains where the wrong side was to take a side. There the war was fought house to house and farm to farm, and the enemy was not a uniformed stranger, but a neighbor, possibly a kinsman. Order Ghost Riders Now. Trade paperback signed by the author. $16.95 plus $4 domestic shipping. Virginia state sales tax added to orders shipped to Virginia addresses. Kindle Edition. Audio CD Edition. Rank Strangers/Ghost Riders CD. Music and reading from Rank Strangers , the original title of Sharyn's novel, Ghost Riders . This extended single CD includes the ballad The Battle on Shiloh's Hill performed by Jack Hinshelwood and a reading by Sharyn McCrumb. Running time 19:52. $7 plus $4 domestic shipping. Virginia state sales tax added to orders shipped to Virginia addresses. Rich in Historical Detail. Critically-acclaimed New York Times bestselling author Sharyn McCrumb chronicles the Civil War in the Southern mountains in Ghost Riders , an extraordinary tale of the war that was fought farm-to-farm, neighbor to neighbor in the part of the South that never wanted to leave the union. Ghost Riders won the 2004 Audie Award for Best Multi-voiced Narration. The award was announced June 4 at the Audio Publishers Association Conference, part of Book Expo 2004 in Chicago, Illinois. Sharyn also won the Wilma Dykeman Award for Regional Historical Literature by the East Tennessee Historical Society. This award is given annually to an author whose writing reflects the excellence, heritage, culture and diversity of Appalachia. The winner also must demonstrate a dedicated commitment to the best interests of the land and the people of the Southern mountains through their writing. Hear Sharyn read from Ghost Riders : Listen. As in her previous novels, The Ballad of Frankie Silver ; The Rosewood Casket ; She Walks These Hills ; The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter ; and The Songcatcher , the last of which The Atlanta Journal and Constitution hailed as "a ballad in itself to the Appalachians and the history of the people who have settled it," McCrumb celebrates her heritage and the land of the mountain South, crafting a story rich with tradition and the true character and spirit of that breathtaking region. The novel's primary narrators are the historical figures Malinda Blalock and Zebulon Vance. Malinda Blalock, a young mountain woman whose husband was forced to enlist in the Confederate army, disguised herself as a boy and went with him. Discharged soon afterwards, it isn't long before the Confederacy wants Keith to take up arms again, and he does, only this time it is as a bushwhacker for the Union. With not many people left to trust in a war that has pitted brother against brother, the couple head for high ground to avoid the county militia, and soon become hard-riding, deadly outlaws who avenge the deaths of their kin and neighbors at the hands of the Rebels. North Carolina Governor Zebulon Baird Vance, a young lawyer from Asheville, rose from humble beginnings on a frontier farm to serve in the U.S. Congress. Although he opposed secession, Vance remained loyal to his home state when the war broke out, leaving Washington to become colonel of the 26th North Carolina, and later the Confederate governor of North Carolina. In the present, the war resonates like a half-remembered nightmare. It lingers on in the Confederate battle flag flying in the yard of a trailer, in the church names “Union Baptist” and “Cumberland Presbyterian,” which are expressions of politics not faith, and in the minds of scholars and weekend warriors who continue to relive the war. In Wake County, Tennessee the local Civil War re-enactors' group is planning a mock battle. Most of the local men who participate in the re- enactments prefer to fight on the Confederate side, and most of them are unaware that in all likelihood their mountain ancestors favored the Union. Rattler, an old mountain root doctor who has the Sight speaks for the present, fearing that the zeal of the re-enactors will awaken the restless spirits of the real soldiers still wandering the mountains. Ghost Riders captures the horrors of a war that tore families apart, turned neighbors into enemies, and left the survivors bitter long after the fighting was officially over. It is a fascinating narrative, rich in historical detail that once again highlights Sharyn McCrumb's gift for story-telling and her love of the mountain South. Sharyn McCrumb. MostlyFiction.com links to Amazon.com, but we wholeheartedly encourage you to buy books from your local brick-n-mortar stores and to visit your library frequently. If you happen to click on one of links and make a purchase, we earn a commission and we always appreciate your support. Thank you. and don't forget to tell your friends about us. "Ghost Riders" (reviewed by Cindy Lynn Speer MAY 15, 2004) “I don’t hold with talking to dead people, but still and all I would give anything to exchange words with her . To see her draw rein and turn around so I could look into those eyes. I’d ask her where it is they’re riding to, or maybe I’d just wish her well or ask if she’s content with this endless ride or if she wants me to try to help her. I want to say, You lived through the war, hon. It’s over. Don’t you remember? She never stops, though. She rides on by, looking straight ahead, as if I was the ghost instead of her.” The framing story runs like this: Civil War reinactors have come to the Appalacian Mountain home of Nora Bonesteel and Rattler, well-beloved McCrumb characters from previous novels. Rattler can feel the unrest under the very ground as the innocent weekend warriors awaken ghosts and passions that should have been long buried. and that’s where we get the title. But as I said, this is merely a framing story, one that we revisit, from time to time, a tale that creeps in along the edges and gives us a bit of a tense ghost story that builds as the narrative continues. The main story is split into two, and tells the stories of two very different historical figures: Malinda Blalock and Zebulon Baird Vance. Their lives will intertwine in odd ways, beginning with the first chapter. When Malinda’s young husband Keith runs off to join the Confederate army, she puts aside her skirts and pride to follow him dressed as a boy and posing as Keith's younger brother. After awhile Keith tires of the army. not from lack of bravery, per se, but from sickness over the politics, and no longer sure if he believes in what he’s doing. He rolls in everything he can find until he gets a rash that will let him leave temporarily. When this happens, Malinda, known as Sam, wants to go with him, so she goes to her commander, Zebulon Vance. When she lifts her shirt she gives indisputable proof that she is a woman, and instead of punishing her and her husband, he lets them go. He will also leave soon enough to follow a career in politics, urged on by his thirst for power, for civilization and a life utterly different from the one he lived in North Carolina (a birthplace he shared with the Blalocks). The Blalocks will also continue to avoid their former simple life; when Keith becomes AWOL from the Confederate army, they have to run away. they will find ways to serve the Northern cause, and try to fight the horrible depredations the war has brought to their home. I’ve read a lot of Sharyn McCrumb -- who can resist titles like She Walks These Hills and If I’d Killed Him When I’d Met Him ? -- and because of the fact that Rattler and Bonesteel were in the book, and because of the title, I thought I was settling down to a ghost story. I’m not a reader who expects the same kind of story every time from a writer, I love it when a writer stretches out, tries new things, but I didn't expect a historical Civil War novel. Once I got into it, though, I really began to enjoy myself. Vance grew on me, and Malinda’s story, her heartbreak, her bravery, are very effectively created. I couldn't help but root for her. It also helped me really understand how awful the Civil War was and for the Appalachian people in particular. many terrible war crimes were committed, and what made it worse was that people committing them were people the victims knew. They weren’t faceless men in blue or gray, they were neighbors. We have all heard of the Hatfield's and McCoy's, a story that has since become a caricature of itself. Here we see how such a deep down bloody feud could have happened, we see the roots of it and feuds to come. You should read this novel for Vance and Malinda’s tale. The story is extremely well done, bursting with historical detail, an excellently done portrait of the times and place. McCrumb truly loves the setting of these books, and it’s wonderful to see the Applachia, which she has lovingly immortalized for me in previous stories, in a new time period, so that I can see what it was like back then. This is fortunate, because the ghost angle, filled with clever things that really build and build upon your expectations, doesn’t quite work in the end.
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