Ghost Riders [Hardcover]

Sharyn Mccrumb (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 2003

The latest ballad novel from Sharyn McCrumb tells the true story of the Civil War in the Appalachians, where neighbors became enemies, and the half-life of violence keeps soldiers' ghosts abroad in the modern wilderness. For frontier lawyer Zeb Vance, the war was an odyssey that leads to the Governor's mansion. Malinda Blalock, who followed her young husband into battle, becomes a Union bushwhacker, making war against confederate sympathizers in the mountains.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Dutton / Penguin; 1ST edition (2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0641615698
• ISBN-13: 978-0641615696
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,963,944 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

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars War and Remembrance, July 20, 2003

By 

"dragongirl724" (Bristol, TN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ghost Riders (Hardcover)

Sharyn McCrumb's "Ghost Riders" is an account of the Civil War that is usually left out of the movies and the epic sagas of the war. This is the war in the southern mountains, where the conflict was personal, the atrocities were shocking, and the resentments lasted for generations.
Using the device of magic realism in a style reminiscent of Garcia Marquez or of Nichols' "Milagro Beanfield War", McCrumb symbolizes the unresolved issues of the war with supernatural "Ghost Riders", restless spirits of dead soldiers who still ride the hills to remind the living that "wars are easier to start than they are to stop." The true stories of moutain governor Zeb Vance and woman soldier Malinda Blalock bring the past to life in memorable fashion, and with a fascinating twist: usually in war novels, the women tell of the sacrifices made by civilians on the home front, while the male characters describe what it was like to be shot at and suffer hardships in the wilderness. In "Ghost Riders" it is the other way around! Union bushwhacker Malinda is out hiding in caves and seeing combat, while Zeb is in the governor's mansion, enduring the privations of the war at home.
"Ghost Riders" is an enthralling story, but its message and the evocative writing are the elements that make it not just a war story but a literary achievement.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Another McCrumb success!, September 16, 2003

By 

Dr Cathy Goodwin (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ghost Riders (Hardcover)

With each book in the Appalachian folk series, McCrumb has moved closer and closer to history and has integrated more and more characters with the Sight, as well as the object of their Sightings. In my opinion, Rosewood Casket was a flawless balance, with each character rendered three-dimensionally and the supernatural touches deft and light. Frankie Silver and Songcatcher were close.

I wouldn't miss anything by McCrumb, but here I get the feeling she was pushing herself to a new level and at the same time covering some of the same ground. Because she sets the scene in the same place as earlier novels, we meet the old familiar characters, such as Nora Bonesteel and Spencer Arrowood. In Ghost Riders they make cameo appearances, almost dropping in to say hello to their old friends, the readers.

And the Ghost Riders are not at all subtle. They're seen by those who have the Sight and by those who are close to dying. I didn't get a sense that they were dangerous or even particularly scary. Nora Bonesteel's visions were tame compared to what went before.

And, for the first time in McCrumb's books, the historical scenes become more vivid than the present. We get a sense of the complexity of the Civil War and the ironies of who fought where.

McCrumb delivers another success -- well worth picking up and reading, though not quite as deep, and definitely not as lyrical as some of its predecessors. And I am already awaiting the author's next book...will she continue with the ballads or give us another chapter of the McPhersons?
Either way, I'm ready!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More mountain magic, August 25, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Ghost Riders (Hardcover)

Sharyn McCrumb's latest Ballad novel, "Ghost Riders," introduces several Civil War-era spirits who aren't quite ready to give up the fight. The story links historical unrest of the region with the lives of modern-day mountain settlers. As usual with McCrumb's work, the book contains a great deal of well-researched local mountain history delivered in a strong and interesting narrative.
The book incorporates real historical figures such as former North Carolina Gov. Zebulon Vance and the discorporate spirits of the "ghost riders" of the title. The Civil War comes alive in both not only its inglorious past but in its modern reenactment by thousands of hobbyist historians.
McCrumb's ancestors settled in the Smoky Mountains in the 1790s and her great-grandfathers were among the region's early circuit preachers. McCrumb still has that "preachering" in her blood, though her sermons are delivered with wit, charm, and great doses of delight.
Though her themes are broad in scope, the reader happily travels several different trails and time lines to end up in one location. From the slopes of Grandfather Mountain to the summer home of a misplaced Floridian, McCrumb paints a true picture of an Appalachian mountain region that has never had a single identity but rather harbores a large collection of individual identities.
Unlike many writers who find a winning groove, McCrumb has consistently improved as a writer over her career and continues to challenge herself with intense research and complex plots. Also unlike some writers who manage to "improve," she doesn't outwrite the patience of her readers, remembering from her Appalachian roots that first and foremost a storyteller is obligated to tell a story. "Ghost Riders" may be the best book yet among her litany of successes.