by Ann Hite
Ann Hite, 2012 Georgia Author of the Year returns us to Black Mountain with her latest novel, The Storycatcher. Shelly Parker finds herself being stalked by the ghost of a woman who disappeared generations before and eventually learns that a storycatcher spirit is trying to unravel a series of events to right wrongs both current and decades old. From Sapelo Island, Georgia to Black Mountain, North Carolina the story intertwines the lives of six women bound by violent men in life, and some in death.
Through the author’s unique multi-narrator style, we meet Ada Lee Tine, a descendant of Sapelo Island slaves, Maude Tuggle, the sensible scientific-minded healer who doesn’t believe in ghosts, Armetta Lolly, the post-Civil War missing woman, Faith Dobbins, daughter of the demented pastor, Arlene Brown, a young woman who died in childbirth and Shelly Parker, who we first met in Ghost on Black Mountain as the maid servant who communicated with the ghosts of the mountain.
This is the perfect season for a slightly spooky read and the author’s true Southern voice is apparent throughout, bringing the rich history of the North Carolina mountains and the Georgia coast to life. Reading Ghost on Black Mountain is not necessary to this story, but highly recommended. There is also a novella, Lowcountry Spirit, on the early characters from Sapelo Island.