The Ballad of Frankie Silver [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Sharyn McCrumb (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1998

From New York Times bestselling author Sharyn McCrumb comes the fifth novel set in the Appalachian wilderness blending legends and folklore with high suspense.

A career lawman will bear witness to the final judgement, as a man he put away twenty years ago is about to be excecuted for the brutal slaying of two hikers. However, his conscience is no longer clear to the point of absolute certainty about the man's guilt. Also of intense interest to the lawman is the parallel between the current events and a legendary murder and execution over 100 years old--the story of a great injustice, and a woman condemned to die for a crime she didn't commit. Suddenly, the sheriff finds himself in a race against and across time to see that history doesn't repeat itself!

Praise for The Ballad Of Frankie Silver:

"...a dense and lovely but very dark design that illustrates the social hypocrisy of the legal system as much as the harshness of mountain justice--then and now."-- The New York Times Book Review

"Reading a novel by Sharyn McCrumb is like listening to the movements of a symphony."--BookPage

"This novel will pass the test of time and be considered a classic in the years to come."--Harriet Klausner

"Sharyn McCrumb has dug more riches out of the Appalachians than some miners."-- Sunday World-Herald

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Sharyn McCrumb is one of the major wonders of the mystery world. Her books about forensic anthropologist Elizabeth MacPherson (including Highland Laddie Gone) are strong, meaty contemporary stories; her comic novels (Bimbos of the Death Sun, Zombies of the Gene Pool) are delightful satires. And then there's the jewel in her crown, the series known as the Ballad novels (including The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter and The Rosewood Casket) where the third-generation Appalachian resident McCrumb sews together what she calls "colored scraps of legends, ballads and fragments of rural life and local tragedy" into books that are like Appalachian quilts. The Ballad of Frankie Silver is the fifth in the Ballad series, and it might well be the best. The blend between the old story and the new is perfect, as Sheriff Spencer Arrowood digs into the 1832 case of the first woman ever hanged for murder in North Carolina--18-year-old Frankie Silver, charged with dismembering her husband--while some disturbing new evidence is surfacing about another, much more recent capital crime. If you have friends who don't read mysteries but liked Cold Mountain, pointing them toward McCrumb might be the start of something big. --Dick Adler --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

A summons to a long-delayed execution--Fate Harkryder, the condemned man he arrested 20 years ago, has reached the end of his appeals--sends Tennessee sheriff Spencer Arrowood back in time over 150 years to the case of Frankie Silver, the teenaged bride and mother who was hanged in North Carolina in 1832 for killing her husband with an ax, dismembering his body, and burning it in front of their baby daughter in their one-room cabin (an outrage that turned the locals against her more powerfully than the murder itself). Spencer has been haunted for years by Frankie's true-life case--a painful example, from arrest and trial to appeal and execution, of upper-class justice inflicted on a lower-class defendant--but even he wonders what possible connection this cause clbre can have to the even more sordid case of Harkryder, convicted of robbing, raping, and killing a pair of young lovers hiking the Appalachian Trail. As he delves more deeply into Frankie Silver's story--presented here through the eyes of court clerk Burgess GaitherSpencer comes ever closer to the last secret the doomed murderer took to her grave, while realizing that that knowledge may leave him as powerless to help Fate Harkryder as to mitigate the law for Frankie Silver herself. Though the weight of the evidence sifted makes this in some ways the most impressive of McCrumb's acclaimed Ballad series (The Rosewood Casket, 1996, etc.), the burden of numberless names, relations, pasts, and futures, which make the point about class justice a hundred times over, eventually sinks the modern-day narrative in conscientious local history. (Literary Guild selection; Mystery Guild main selection; author tour) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 2 pages
• Publisher: Wheeler Publishing (September 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568956568
• ISBN-13: 978-1568956565
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (77 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,306,405 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I am an award-winning Southern writer. I am probably best known for my
Appalachian "Ballad" novels, set in the North Carolina/Tennessee mountains. These books include New York Times Best Sellers She Walks These Hills and The Rosewood Casket, which deal with the issue of the vanishing wilderness, and The Ballad of Frankie Silver, the story of the first woman hanged for murder in the state of North Carolina; The Songcatcher, a genealogy in music; and Ghost Riders, an account of the Civil War in the Appalachians.

My newest novel St. Dale, the Canterbury Tales set in NASCAR, was published by Kensington Books of New York in 2005, and is currently a nominee for the Library of Virginia Literary Award in Fiction and a finalist for its People's Choice Award.

Honors include: the 2003 Award for Literature given by the
East Tennessee Historical Society; AWA Outstanding Contribution to
Appalachian Literature Award; Chaffin Award for Achievement in Southern
Literature; Plattner Award for Short Story; and AWA's Best Appalachian
Novel.

I was the first writer-in-residence at King College in Tennessee. In 2001 I
served as fiction writer-in-residence at the WICE Conference in Paris, and
in 2005 I was honored as the writer of the year at the annual literary
celebration at Emory and Henry College. (And I was the first Southern writer to take along a NASCAR driver to that literary seminar. Thank you, Ward Burton!)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Storytelling at its best, June 3, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Ballad of Frankie Silver (Paperback)

"Frankie Silver" was the first McCrumb book I read and, like so many other reviewers, I was hooked. While I believe that all of her ballad books deserve five-star ratings, I can see how some people, especially younger readers, might not like them. I will not write a "book report." Instead I will offer ideas about why her stories do not appeal to certain readers:

1) Her exquisite storytelling ability is historically accurate. If the times are set in the early 1830's, she is not going to write in a contemporary style. She captures the dialogue of the era based on written documents of the time. Therefore, her dialogue sounds stilted or dry at times.

2) Ms. McCrumb is a baby boomer. One complaint was that the stories were about people in an older generation. Well, to that I suggest our young reader return to Harry Potter and wait for puberty to pass. McCrumb is a middle-aged adult who writes for adults.

3)When history is viewed as dry and boring, (I fault public school education for teaching history as a dry and boring subject) McCrumb's ballad books will also seem dry and boring. When history is viewed as the true tale of humanity, there is much to learn from her books. Or, to quote George Santayana: "Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it." We do not know where we are going if we do not know where we have been.

4) McCrumb's ballad series have overall themes, in other words, a big picture. For example, in the "Ballad of Frankie Silver" the theme is the inequality of justice for poor people. She even explains the theme in the Author Notes at the end of the book. If one has trouble with big pictures, or synthesizing information, he or she will be disappointed with McCrumb's ballad series.

And finally, 5) McCrumb's ballad series is written for thinkers. In the age of fast-paced computer technology, her ballad series books are slow by comparison. They reflect the pace of the times in which she writes.

The above reasons probably explain why a lot of people don't like her ballad series books, but they are exactly why I love them. I especially respect the fact that McCrumb writes for herself. She is true to her own voice and heritage and writes with honesty. She does not seem to have a need to write for false mass appeal to make a buck. She keeps her integrity as a writer and still manages to be on the Best Seller list. In other words, she hasn't sold out. I don't believe many popular authors can make the same claim.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Interesting Blend of Truth and Fiction, July 15, 2001

By 

AllieKat - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ballad of Frankie Silver (Paperback)

The Ballad of Frankie Silver is two stories, one true and one fiction, woven together through mystery and similarity. The one story is the story of Sheriff Spencer Arrowood and someone whom he arrested long ago who is due to be executed. While he is stuck at home recuperating from a bullet wound, he starts thinking about the trial of Frankie Silver and starts researching the case. He believes that there is some similarity between the Frankie Silver case and the case of the man about to be executed. The second story goes back in time to the true story of Frankie Silver. It's told mostly from the point of view of a clerk of the court at the time of the Silver trial. What I found the most interesting was the way that Sharyn McCrumb took a true story, added her own imagination in the role of the court clerk and wove it into a more modern setting. The legalities of both of the cases were interesting and seemed to be well researched. I thought the book was captivating.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not her best but an excellent read, April 6, 2000

By 

Dave - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ballad of Frankie Silver (Paperback)

While I will admit that the Ballad of Frankie Silver is not on the level with her three stellar Appalachian-region novels, Hangman's Beautiful Daughter, She Walks These Hills, and the Rosewood Casket, I am at a loss with the numerous negative reviews this book has received.

Yes, the switching back and forth between three different time periods was problematic. Yes, the outcome was somewhat predictable, but lets not throw the proverbial bay out with the bathwater.

The characters in this book are three dimensional, the premise is gripping the the plot is suspensful.

I simply could not put the book down. And, in a way this book moves beyond the others in the ballad series in that this is an actual work of historic fiction. The principle charcters in the 19th century segement of the book were actually people. If you enjoyed the others books in the ballad series, you will enjoy this one. Indeed, I found the book a great way to spend a couple of evenings.