The Moonshiner’s Daughter

By: Donna Everhart

Narrated by: Amy Melissa Bentley

Generations of Sassers have made moonshine in the Brushy Mountains of Wilkes County, North Carolina. Their history is recorded in a leather-bound journal that belongs to Jessie Sasser's daddy, but Jessie wants no part of it. As far as she's concerned, moonshine caused her mother's death a dozen years ago.

Her father refuses to speak about her mama, or about the day she died. But Jessie has a gnawing hunger for the truth - one that compels her to seek comfort in food. Yet all her self-destructive behavior seems to do is feed what her school's gruff but compassionate nurse describes as the "monster" inside Jessie.

Resenting her father's insistence that moonshining runs in her veins, Jessie makes a plan to destroy the stills, using their neighbors as scapegoats. Instead, her scheme escalates an old rivalry and reveals long-held grudges. As she endeavors to right wrongs old and new, Jessie's loyalties will bring her to unexpected revelations about her family, her strength - and a legacy that may provide her with the answers she has been longing for.

©2020 Donna Everhart (P)2019 Tantor

great story

I was a bit disappointed in the end, but still a truly great story.

Good book

This book is well written and the speaker is good - I would recommend as it is a good read

I fell in love with the Sasser family. So much sorrow but they never gave up.

I enjoyed the book and the story. Triumph through tragedy! The Sasser family endured so much but always looked on the bright side.

Hmm

This book flowed and was really good, but the ending left me shook. Why end it like that? Erghhhh

Legacy, Loyalty, and Moonshine

"Maybe what mattered was for me to feel like less of an outsider, more like I belonged, a part of something. The only way I’d ever know would be to try and do what I’d fought against long as I could remember."

This was the January read for my local book club. While I typically don't read much outside of romance, I'm so thankful I stepped out and read this. My roots in Appalachia run as deep as some of these hollers so this was an extra special read for me. I had to remind myself on more than one occasion that this wasn't written about my own family. If you're ever lucky enough to spend time in Appalachia, you'll fall in love with the people just like I did with the Sasser family.

This is a chilling story of deep rooted family rivalries and the lengths people go to in an effort to protect what's theirs. Jessie wants so desperately to not be a part of the one thing she was born to do. She literally and figuratively runs from her destiny only to be confronted with it head on. The tension among the family is palpable as they navigate the challenges associated with being moonshiners. The maternal role that Mrs. Brewer plays in Jessie & Merritt's life was so precious. It reminded me of my own grandmother looking after me.

The twists and turns were sharper than those same Shine Mountain roads. This made for an exciting read. While I wasn't sure what to expect, I'm so glad I read The Moonshiner's Daughter. Now I want to go dig up some of my own Appalachian family history!