All That Lives: A Novel of the Bell Witch [Paperback]

Melissa Sanders-Self (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2003

Robertson County, Tennessee, early 1800s.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this debut novel, Sanders-Self paints a sympathetic portrait of an innocent girl and a community of simple, pious people under assault from forces beyond their comprehension. Historical accounts of the Bell Witch a poltergeist that bedeviled a family of Tennessee farmers in the early 1800s have inspired writers for more than a century. This tale adds little to the debate about the entity's purpose, but manages a credible period pastiche through its depiction of settlers struggling in the spiritual and territorial wilderness of early America. At age 13, Betsy Bell becomes the focus of the witch's torments. For more than a year, the Bell family is subjected to nocturnal noises, rains of stones, blows from invisible hands and, eventually, belligerent back talk from the articulate spirit. Over time, the spirit becomes a part of the household's daily life, unpredictably helpful one moment and destructive the next. Betsy offers more reportage than reflection, her chronicle of the family's forbearance against the being's malicious pranks often seeming no more revealing than a schoolgirl's diary. The author raises the usual speculations for why the spirit manifests most significantly patriarch Jack Bell's sexual molestation of Betsy but never explores them at length. The reason given for Betsy's Job-like suffering, revealed in a Socratic dialogue at the height of book's flashy finale, won't satisfy everyone, but readers will stick with the story to the end, if only because Sanders-Self allows them to share in what her heroine endures. 3-city author tour.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Once again the story of the Bell Witch of Adams, Tennessee, is told in fictional form, here in the words of the person most tormented by it. Betsy Bell, the "darling daughter" of tobacco farmer John and his wife, Lucy, is turning 13 when the disturbances begin. Nighttime noises--of tapping and animal sounds--interrupt the family's sleep, then Betsy becomes the object of slaps, pinpricks, and hair pulling, often losing consciousness. Undeterred by visits from the clergy or the gathering of neighbors and strangers to witness these events, the spirit takes voice, mocking preachers, making predictions, and promising to kill John Bell. Seeming both malignant and benign, the spirit saves Betsy's younger brother's life, helps cure Lucy of pleurisy, reports about her absent older sons, and makes a final warning to Betsy. Sanders-Self hints early on at what causes the spirit's visits, the same explanation given more explicitly in Brent Monahan's 1997 novel The Bell Witch: An American Haunting, a tighter and more satisfactory explication of these documented events. Michele Leber
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (May 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446690732
• ISBN-13: 978-0446690737
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,932,847 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Old story has modern relevance, July 24, 2002

By 

Barbara (Oakland, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: All that Lives: A Novel of the Bell Witch (Hardcover)

I had never heard of the Bell Witch before reading Melissa Sanders-Self's incredible novel, but after staying up half the night to finish the book I felt I knew both the spirit and all the people it haunted intimately. The story is fascinating and the author does a wonderful job of creating memorable characters who feel like people you might actually know, even though they lived almost 200 years ago in rural Tennessee.

It begins with the Betsy Bell experiencing a subtle feeling of something evil in the woods and moves quickly into a classic poltergeist situation where rocks are thrown and bedclothes ripped off and Betsy is slapped by invisible hands. From there the community gets involved and over time the powerful force develops a voice and begins to speak, telling amazing stories as well as gossip about the people in the small town of Adams.

The character of the spirit is complicated, intriguing and in some ways very modern.In the final scenes Betsy struggles to understand why the spirit has tortured her and her family and the spirit explains it is the life of all that lives, it is so powerful it can not be comprehended by her simple human mind because it is so much more than human. Sanders-Self hints at several possible explanations, but ultimately the reader is allowed to decide for themselves why this mysterious haunting occured.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in what can't be explained. It will make you think and entertain you at the same time. I can't wait to read this author's next novel.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A good fictionalized revival of an old legend, May 16, 2003

By 

Diana (Emporia, KS USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: All that Lives: A Novel of the Bell Witch (Hardcover)

I first encountered the Bell Witch story when I was eight years old in the children's book Thirteen Tennessee Ghosts and Jeffrey by Kathryn Tucker Windham. The chilling account of the long-lasting incidents at the Bell family farm stuck with me all these years, and I was somewhat reluctant to risk ruining my personal imagery of the account by reading the novel by Sanders-Self. I was, however, pleasantly surprised: the book is well-researched and well-written. The author brought to life real people with real qualities - good and bad. What is most impressive is the author's ability to shed light on the supernatural entity without trivializing it or attempting to claim she understands it, either. Readers will feel the curiosity, bewilderment, anger, anguish, grief and joy that forces them - just as it forced the Bells - to constantly second-guess their understanding of the sometimes benevolent, sometimes malevalent creature. Kudos to the author for her musical and triumphant piece on such a famous and daunting subject. Surely she has added to the timelessness of the Bell family story.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't Put It Down!, August 3, 2002

By 

J. E. Stephens "Jeanne" (Florida) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: All that Lives: A Novel of the Bell Witch (Hardcover)

I had never heard of the Bell Witch before I read Melissa Sanders-Self's novel. I could not put the book down. I loved her descriptions the time. I think the dialogue was accurate to the period. She kept me on the edge of my seat. I started the book and finished it in one sitting. After reading the novel, I did a little research on the real story. I was that interested.
Thanks Melissa Sanders-Self for an intertaining read.