Whisper Hollow, by Chris Cander
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Whisper Hollow, by Chris Cander
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Set in a small coal-mining town, a debut novel full of secrets, love, betrayal, and suspicious accidents, where Catholicism casts a long shadow and two courageous women make choices that will challenge our own moral convictions One morning in Verra, a town nestled into the hillsides of West Virginia, the young Myrthen Bergmann is playing tug-of-war with her twin, when her sister is killed. Unable to accept her own guilt, Myrthen excludes herself from all forms of friendship and affection and begins a twisted, haunted life dedicated to God. Meanwhile, her neighbor Alta Krol longs to be an artist even as her days are taken up caring for her widowed father and siblings. Everything changes when Myrthen marries the man Alta loves. Fourteen years later, we meet Lidia, a teenage girl in the same town, and her precocious son, Gabriel. When Gabriel starts telling eerily prescient stories that hint at Verra’s long-buried secrets, it’s not long before the townspeople begin to suspect that the boy harbors evil spirits—an irresistible state of affairs for Myrthen and her obsession with salvation.
Whisper Hollow, by Chris Cander- Amazon Sales Rank: #730066 in Books
- Brand: Cander, Chris
- Published on: 2015-03-17
- Released on: 2015-03-17
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.21" h x 1.03" w x 5.49" l, .81 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 400 pages
Review From Kirkus Reviews (STARRED REVIEW)“Cander divinely delves into multiple points of view, crafting a collage of vibrant, layered characters while charting six decades of poignant, precise moments. A distinctive novel that sublimely measures the distressed though determined heartbeat of a small mountain community.”From Publishers Weekly“[Whisper Hollow] is inextricably rooted in West Virginia coal country—the rough locale that determines and intertwines [Cander’s] characters’ fates…Cander closely tracks how Myrthen’s and Alta’s romantic decisions unknowingly complicate each other’s lives in the lead-up to a tragic incident that bisects the novel…[and] admirably captures the lack of choice that men and women have in rural West Virginia.”From Booklist“Cander superbly envisions the town, its residents’ dynamics, and the early twentieth-century immigrant experience…[and] rewards the reader with…well-developed, believable characters whose mental fortitude and capacity to love linger in the reader’s mind long after the last page.”~Charles Baxter, author of There’s Something I Want You to Do: Stories“Like D. H. Lawrence’s Sons and Lovers, Chris Cander’s beautiful novel, Whisper Hollow, is about love that finds its object, and love that misses its mark and becomes destructive, in a community of coal miners. The story’s locale is one where love (for God, or others) is blocked or displaced until that moment when it can finally express itself, in a setting where work itself may be deadly and time may always run out. Chris Cander’s understanding of men and women is profound, and the scenes in this wonderful book will stay with you like a visionary experience.”~Ann-Marie MacDonald, author of Adult Onset“With memorable characters and a haunting setting, Chris Cander weaves a compelling tale of the transformative power of love in the face of buried truths that threaten literally to explode.” ~Jamie Ford, author of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet“Sometimes fiction is so good, so authentic, and the storyteller so convincing, that it just feels true. Whisper Hollow is one of those books. I’m blown away, honestly. Chris Cander has created characters with immortal souls.”~Peter Geye, author of The Lighthouse Road“The men in Chris Cander’s Whisper Hollow toil underground, in the dark and dangerous coal mines of West Virginia. But her women mine territory twice as dark and twice as dangerous, they mine the human heart. Love and loss, devotion and longing, hope and despair, Cander renders all of this and more through the lives of three women spanning more than fifty years. Here is a novel so full of life—of its beauty and cruelty—that I emerged from it like one of those men walking from mines she so wonderfully evokes, like a man walking from the darkness into the light.”~Marie Manilla, author of The Patron Saint of Ugly “Whisper Hollow is a haunting novel about the malleability of memory, about secrets and trickery, and about saints who are sinners and sinners who are saints. Cander paints a colorful portrait of a multi-ethnic, multi-generational West Virginia coal camp: a heaven of opportunity to some, a hell of stunted choices to others.”
About the Author Chris Cander is a novelist, children's book author, freelance writer, and teacher for Houston-based Writers in the Schools. Her novel 11 Stories was included in Kirkus's Best Indie General Fiction of 2013. Find more of her work at chriscander.com
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Myrthen looked down, seeing only what the lightning allowed—her mother, rocking her limp twin. She looked like she did when Ruth couldn’t fall easily asleep. Outside, the thunder gnashed and roared. Ruth was scared of thunder. Yes, she didn’t like the thunder or the rain or the dark. Mama was comforting her because she was scared, and she should go down and get her doll and give it to Ruth because it would make her feel better, wouldn’t it Ruth? It was so dark outside, shepherds take warning, it was probably almost bedtime and she wasn’t hungry so she must have eaten and it was probably time to go to sleep. “Mama, I’ll get our bed ready,” Myrthen called quietly down to her mother, who was still rocking, rocking with knees bleeding into the spill of blood where Ruth had fallen. Ruth looked so tired, they were both so very very tired, and Myrthen thought she should go and get their bed ready before it was past their bedtime and she heard the door begin to open—Papa’s home—and she didn’t want to be caught up late, it was so dark and Ruth was already fast asleep, so she ran, quickly, quietly to their room and pulled back the covers and climbed inside, and moved all the way to the wall so that Ruth would have enough room when her mother brought her sleeping body in. She closed her eyes and promised God that when her mother finished her doll that night after the canning was done, she would give it and all the buttons to Ruthie.
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Most helpful customer reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful. Small town secrets By knittingmom Whisper Hollow by Chris Cander is a beautifully executed, yet mournful and complex book based on the secrets buried deep in the small coal-mining town of Verra, West Virginia. Cander has woven together two separate stories spaced approximately fourteen years apart, which intertwine to create a stunning novel. The story unfold with the death of Myrthen Bergmann’s twin, unable to deal with the death of her twin sister, Myrthen spirals down a rabbit whole of twisted spiritual beliefs, excluding herself from society. Along the same time Myrthren’s neighbor Alta Krol is busy caring for her widowed father and siblings, whilst longing to become an artist, and then Myrthen does the unexpected, altering lives forever. The next section begins fourteen years later with teenage Lidia and her son Gabriel, who suddenly starts discussing prescient stories about Verra’s long buried secrets, and superstition and the need for redemption are soon to follow. Whisper Hollow is a beautifully complex story, brilliantly written, atmospheric, and a difficult book to review without revealing spoilers. Cander has crafted characters that are extremely relatable and each section the reader is drawn into the story lines and this reader found the book impossible to set down. Prior to Reading Whisper Hollow I read the synopsis and was worried it would be a religious book or preachy, I am glad I set those concerns aside, as they were unfounded, and instead I discovered a fantastic mystery suspense and a new author. I would recommend Whisper Hollow to all who enjoy well-written suspense thrillers and mysteries surrounding small towns and especially to those in book discussion groups.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful. "It Was All Part of God's Plan ..." ... By delicateflower152 A haunting, sometimes disturbing novel that spans six decades, "Whisper Hollow" highlights the impact of self-recrimination, of obsession, and of isolation. It is also a novel addressing the immigrant experience and the multi-ethnic composition of the coalminers' workforce as those individuals and their descendants assimilate into society. Chris Chander has given readers a thought provoking, engaging novel and compelling characters, some of whom are sympathetic while others can be mean-spirited and hypocritical.Set in Verra, a town in the coal-mining region of West Virginia, "Whisper Hollow" begins in 1916 as German immigrant Rachel Engel Bergmann and her twin daughters Ruth and Myrthen go about their daily routine. A tragic accident near the day of the twin's sixth birthday results in Ruth's death. Its impact on Myrthen and the silence of her mother who blames Myrthen for the death of her favorite twin, will affect the remainder of Myrthen's life and the lives of others.Yet Myrthen takes "comfort" in her faith "...Even if my mother and father forsake me, the Lord will take me in ..." Through the following years, Myrthen's fanatic obsession with religion, the frantic seeking after a calling and a vocation will affect not only her husband, John Esposito, but also Alta Krol Pulaski and her family. Ironically when seeking assistance in furthering her desire to become a nun, she tells a cousin "...Sometimes there is evil inside people that you can't see ..." Even the younger generation, Lidia and Danny Pollack, along with their son Gabriel, will feel the effect of Myrthen's obsession and fanatic beliefs.Characterization is quite strong; personalities develop throughout the story and individuals mature and grow in their understanding of others. Tension builds as Myrthen sinks more and more deeply into a self-imposed separation from normal social interaction. Her final act fills the reader with apprehension as it moves toward the consequences that will affect others. Chris Chander has realistically portrayed the experience of immigrant coal miners, of their families, their attitudes toward the church and the morals of themselves and others, as well as the hopes and fears of and the dangers each one faced. Balancing the mining-town setting with the larger environment and world events, Chris Chander sets the tone for "Whisper Hollow" and this haunting story. If you value excellent writing and character development, you may enjoy "Whisper Hollow".
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful. The Secret Keepers By E.M. Bristol Almost everyone in "Whisper Hollow" by Chris Cander is hiding something. Either that, or they tend to suspect that something is not on the level with their family and friends. They also tend to be nursing private dreams, which they suspect are impossible to ever fully realize, as it would mean leaving Whisper Hollow. The book's setting is a West Virginian coal mining town, whose residents rarely wind up venturing out into the wider world, and the story of its people is chronicled from 1916 to 1969, from the arrival of German immigrants, the grandparents of Myrthen (a main character) to the Vietnam-era. The tragedy that sets off the chain of events comes when Myrthen's twin dies as a young child in a freak accident - or is it? After that, Myrthen loses interest in worldly matters, and eventually, due to the influence of a Church leader becomes devoted to the possibility of being a Carmelite nun once she reaches the designated age, hoping to reclaim some sort of sisterhood. However, her personality will prove unsuitable, and despite her best efforts, she will be constantly thwarted in her goal. Meanwhile, a young woman named Alta, who has aspirations as an artist but who is restricted by having to care for her father and siblings, is growing up, and then dealing with a marriage to a pleasant, but rather dull man, with whom she has a son. Alta eventually seeks diversion with a more understanding man, but her happiness is destined to be short-lived. The two woman's worlds will become intertwined when Myrthen's excessive religious fervor results in a town-wide disaster. The story then jumps ahead in time to fifties, where a teen named Lidia will - you guessed it - unwillingly become the keeper of an ugly secret, and when she has a family of her own, her child, who the townspeople believe possesses second sight, will wind up colliding with Myrthen and bringing long buried truths to light as a result.When I was reading this, I was reminded of the movie "October Sky," based on a memoir by Homer Hickham, which took place in the same era and a similar setting, and coincidentally, the author mentions him as an influence in the afterword. The author may not have grown up in a mining town as she mentions, but she has done an excellent job bringing her setting and its characters to life. The characters are far from perfect - and if you prefer books where someone does not get away (literally or otherwise) with inflicting great harm on innocent others, the end of this book may leave you unsatisfied, but overall, it is an absorbing read.
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