The Storycatcher by Ann Hite

 

From Goodreads

Shelly Parker never much liked Faith Dobbins, the uppity way that girl bossed her around. But they had more in common than she knew. Shelly tried to ignore the haints that warned her Faith’s tyrannical father, Pastor Dobbins, was a devil in disguise. But when Faith started acting strange, Shelly couldn’t avoid the past—not anymore.

Critically acclaimed, award-winning author Ann Hite beckons readers back to the Depression-era South, from the saltwater marshes of Georgia’s coast to the whispering winds of North Carolina’s mystical Black Mountain, in a mesmerizing gothic tale about the dark family secrets that come back to haunt us.


My review

Thanks to NetGalley for the chance to read this story in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars.

If I'm honest I did enjoy this story on the whole but at times I did struggle. It's told in multiple female voices and each section is introduced by the name of the person narrating the story but it does get somewhat confusing. All the narrators are necessary though in order to reveal the

build up the background of the story. Gothic and a little dark in nature it's set in North Carolina in the 1800's and 1930's.

It's a dual time frame story full of secrets and haints. The story centres mainly around Shelly Parker a young servant, Faith Dobbins and Pastor Dobbins. Pastor Dobbins is an evil man, he can't be trusted he's supposed to be a man of the cloth but he's far from it as his past and secrets about him are revealed we learn what a truly despicable man he is. Be sure that the deeds you do will often come back to haunt you in more ways than one.

The story is well written and engages the reader well, it will keep you reading and as you get deeper into the story things begin to become clearer.