The Witch of Tin Mountain
This novel with a LGBTQ theme is told through the perspective of three women of the Ozark Mountains who are bound together by family ties and unspeakable evil.
Anneliese is burned to death as a witch in 1831. It is she who writes in the Grimoire, a book passed down through generations of women. The book is part diary, part recipes, and part spells and curses. Fifty years later, in 1881, Deirdre has become a young woman in the village of Tin Mountain. She adds to the book. Then in 1931, Gracelynn finds the Grimoire and reads the history of Anneliese. She asks Deirdre about Anneliese and the book, but Deirdre is strangely reluctant to talk about the past. Eventually, Gracelynn realizes that a demon in the form of a traveling preacher comes back to their village every fifty years searching for something. When Gracelynn figures out that the demon comes back in search of a child, she is determined to save her village once and for all.
The narrative is well paced, and the characters are crafted with such unique stories that it is impossible to confuse them. The antagonist, the demon, goes by three different names and is incredibly real. So real, that images from the novel lingered for days in my mind. A word of caution to the reader that there are scenes or references to sexual assault, violence, sex, incest, abortion, murder, and demonology. I would list the genre as historical horror.
