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Title details for The Curse of Crow Hollow by Billy Coffey - Available

The Curse of Crow Hollow

by Billy Coffey
Gabe Wicks
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available

With the "profound sense of Southern spirituality" he is known for (Publishers Weekly), Billy Coffey draws us into a town where good and evil—and myth and reality—intertwine in unexpected ways.

Everyone in Crow Hollow knows of Alvaretta Graves, the old widow who lives in the mountain. Many call her a witch; others whisper she's insane. Everyone agrees the vengeance Alvaretta swore at her husband's death hovers over them all. That vengeance awakens when teenagers stumble upon Alvaretta's cabin, incurring her curse. Now a sickness moves through the Hollow. Rumors swirl that Stu Graves has risen for revenge. And the people of Crow Hollow are left to confront not only the darkness that lives on the mountain, but the darkness that lives within themselves.

"Coffey spins a wicked tale . . . [The Curse of Crow Hollow] blends folklore, superstition, and subconscious dread in the vein of Shirley Jackson's 'The Lottery.'"

—Kirkus Reviews

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    August 4, 2015

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780718078737
      • File size: 328149 KB
      • Duration: 11:23:38

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Narrator Gabe Wicks evokes both old-fashioned Appalachian hospitality and barely concealed menace in this suspenseful story. The audiobook's unnamed narrator invites the listener to sit a spell as he slowly unfolds the story of what happens when four teenagers bring the wrath of a supposed witch down on their sleepy town. Wicks paces the story perfectly by maintaining an affable conversational tone while allowing dread to creep in as the people of the town grapple with the possibility of the supernatural and their own moral failings. Though he doesn't differentiate character voices, Wicks gives the listener a good sense of who is speaking. N.M. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine
    • Library Journal

      September 1, 2015

      In the town of Crow Hollow, nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains, four teens challenge the legendary curse of the "witch" Alvaretta Graves by seeking her mountainside cabin the night of their graduation party. The girls soon come down with a sickness the town is sure is the vengeance the old widow had sworn after her husband's death. But Crow Hollow holds many secrets, as does Alvaretta herself. When the tension builds and the residents decide to confront the witch, long-buried secrets are unearthed, leading to shocking surprises and twists. VERDICT Speaking directly to the reader, Coffey's (The Devil Walks in Mattingly) narrator conjures a sense of genteel Southern charm that belies the shadowy story about to be told. Mixing elements of a Bigfoot sighting and the Salem witch trials, this creepy tale will delight enthusiasts of Tosca Lee's Demon and other horror stories.

      Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Kirkus

      June 1, 2015
      Coffey (The Devil Walks in Mattingly, 2014, etc.) spins a wicked tale about Campbell's Mountain, where lurk "hungry things that existed only in madness and nightmares." "Curse ye," cries Alvaretta Graves, a crone whose "power lay in something beyond fists and iron." Four teens have confronted Alvaretta at her ramshackle mountain cabin above Crow Hollow, an isolated Virginia village. There's Cordelia Vest, daughter of Bucky Vest, local constable; Naomi Ramsay, whose father preaches at First Crow Hollow Church of the Holy Spirit on Fire; and Scarlett Bickford, the mayor's daughter. Scarlett lost Cordelia's mother's diamond bracelet. Alvaretta found it. But Alvaretta hates everyone in Crow Hollow, blaming them for her husband's death years past. Scarlett turns mute. Cordelia's face is paralyzed. Naomi develops uncontrollable palsy. Soon other village girls display similar symptoms. An omniscient narrator, all hillbilly twang, relates the tale to an anonymous passerby, giving him "a front row seat on the folly of man." Mass hysteria? Doc Sullivan thinks so, but Crow Hollow folk "know there's more to the world than what you can find in books." Then Medric Johnston, funeral home owner and the Hollow's lone African-American, is forced to disinter Stu Graves' coffin. What's there becomes a cancer eating the Hollow's soul. With its internal dichotomy between folk magic and psychological implosion-either interpretation palatable-Coffey's tale is peopled with nuanced characters: Chessie and Briar Hodge are churchgoing moonshiners; burnt-out John David, a pastor's son home from Middle Eastern wars; and Bucky, a Barney Fife-like figure whose love for Cordelia inspires courage as his town descends into anarchy. With hate confronting guilt and terror overwhelming rationality, Coffey's story blends folklore, superstition, and subconscious dread in the vein of Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery." A Southern Gothic morality tale edging into the supernatural.

      COPYRIGHT(2015) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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