" The Storycatcher " by Author Ann Hite

The agonizing  wait is over ! Tuesday September 10, 2013 Ann Hite's second novel
 " The Storycatcher" hits the shelf of your favorite book store.........

I fell head over heels for 16 year old Shelly Parker in the pages of Ann's first novel " Ghost On Black Mountain"
(which was not only a Townsend Prize Finalist but won  Ann Hite " Georgia Author of the Year 2012 for First Novel")

when Shelly said;

 " we was the only Negroes on the mountain and that made for a mighty lonely life. All I had was Faith Dobbins who made me her baby doll until I got old enough to be her maid"


" The Storycatcher " is Shelly Parkers story. 16 year old Shelly has the "gift of sight" and them dead haint's have been bothering her for as long as she can remember. Sometimes they want to warn her to protect her and sometimes they just aggravate the daylights out of her wanting her help. Shelly does her best to ignore them most of the time but when that Black Mountain haint Arleen Brown decides she wants revenge on her beloved Faith Dobbins sinister daddy by taking over Faith's body, Shelly knows she's in for a fight to save Faith!
So Ann Hite takes us from Black Mountain, NC to the swampy marshes of Coastal Georgia as Shelly and Arleen  join forces to untangle years of lies and murder spanning from the 1930s to the 1980s....

For those of us book lovers who be came Ann Hite "addicts" after reading her first novel
"The Ghost On Black Mountain"  it's like an early Christmas present ! NO ONE among today's authors can out write Ann Hite when it comes to Southern Gothic. A few pages into " The Ghost On Black Mountain" I was saying I think  Ann has channeled the spirits of William Faulkner and Flannery O'Conner to write this book. A few pages into "The Storycatcher " I was convinced she had !!!
Her writing is very literary, beautiful, lyrical, poetic and spellbinding and I am hooked on it !!

You do not have to have read " The Ghost On Black Mountain "to enjoy " The Storycatcher"
it is a stand alone novel but you will enjoy it so much better if you have the back story of Shelly Parker & Faith Dobbins.....

"Ghost On Black Mountain" by Ann Hite

This debut novel....will blow you away!
I recently got a real good laugh when I read this comment on FaceBook by a well known author:
"these days it seems anyone with a keyboard thinks they can review books"

I was born in the "land of writers"...Mississippi is a who's who of Southern Lit.........
William Faulkner, Eudora Welty,Willie Morris,Ellen Gilchrist,Barry Hannah, Elizabeth Spencer, Shelby Foote, Alice Walker, Walker Percy,Tennessee Williams, Richard Wright, Nevada Barr, Carolyn Haines, Charlaine Harris, Greg Iles, Melinda Haynes, John Grisham, Kathryn Stockett and Donna Tartt are just a fraction of the list.........

Having read everyone of these authors throughout my life along with countless others from the south yes,
I think I and my keyboard are qualified to review books.
Being qualified and doing are two different things my Mother would have said. I read lots of good books but I only review books that leave me feeling loss when they're over. Books I consider worthy of remembering not only the book but the author as well. When a true book lover reads a book she or he wants everyone to read, they've found a treasure !!!!!

I found treasure this week in this debut novel from Georgia author Ann Hite! I was so blown away by her prose, I lay the book down, went in search of Eric and said;
" this woman has channeled William Faulkner as her muse, she's a female Faulkner"
Throw in a dash of Ron Rash, Sharyn McCrumb, Flannery O'Conner and Sue Monk Kidd and you have.... ANN HITE !



"Ghost" is set in Black Mountain, NC, Asheville, NC and Darien, GA..............
Told though the strong voices of 6 women linked together forever by the love,betrayal and evil deeds of one handsome, dastardly mountain man Hobbs Prichard................



Nellie; " he looked so far off I was afraid he might never come back"

Josie; " it's a weakness trying to keep our daughters from making the same mistakes. But I didn't make one bit of difference, I didn't stop one thing"

Shelly; " we was the only Negroes on the mountain and that made for a mighty lonely life. All I had was Faith Dobbins who made me her baby doll until I got old enough to be her maid "


Rose; " she was prettier than me. If I had to compare myself to this girl, I was an elephant dressed up in ribbons and satin to disguise my tough hide"

Iona;" it would take me years before I came to understand that every thought that came out of my head had rolled downhill from something she tried to instill in me for better or worse"

Annie; " a mother has no business living with her daughter. I might tell some important secret when I start to lose my mind"


Hobbs Prichard's evil deeds cause spirits to roam Black Mountain and these women are the ones they haunt!!


Below is a trailer for the book set to Mississippi Delta Blues which I have no doubt pleases Faulkner............ :)