Mother of Rain Author:Karen Spears Zacharias "Maizee Hurd was an easy target for hard times," according to Burdy Luttrell, the town healer. Burdy is a Melungeon woman with striking features and mysterious ways who owns the land the Hurds leased following their marriage on June 3, 1940. — Maizee moved upriver at the age of ten after tragedy struck, and she was sent off to be raised by a chil... more »dless aunt and her doctor husband. Shortly after Maizee's arrival in the rural mountain community of Christian Bend--carrying only a small suitcase, her mama's Bible, and her doll Hitty--the young girl began hearing voices.
It was the tender love of her husband Zeb and their shared passion for the Appalachian hills and rivers of East Tennessee that helped quiet the voices. But, as Zeb prepares for deployment, Maizee's life is rocked by the ripples of World War II. Despite the love that carried her through the birth of their son, Rain, and the boy's subsequent illness that rendered him deaf, Maizee can't silence the demons in her own head.
Advance Praise for Mother of Rain,
Mercer Univ. Press
Fall 2013 Okra Pick,
Southeast Independent Booksellers Association
Karen Spears Zacharias has carved a brilliant gem of a novel out of hard, uncompromising times and lives. Her remote mountain setting conceals misery, mystery, and madness -- but also love, which comes in many forms. Zacharias examines these intertwined lives with great compassion and daring; she is a wonderful writer.
-Lee Smith, author of Mrs. Darcy and the Blue-Eyed Stranger
Karen Spears Zacharias captures the humor, spirituality and language of Appalachia with stunning authenticity, through characters that leap off the page. With Mother of Rain, Zacharias has done her part to help preserve our mountain heritage for future generations.
-Amy Greene, author of Bloodroot
An evocative and haunting debut. The unforgettable story of Maizee Hurd is one of hardscrabble life in the mountains of East Tennessee -- a world filled with the mystery of the "old ways," where loss and tragedy are as commonplace as rain. With clarity and great compassion, Karen Spears Zacharias captures the fragility of the human heart. I could still hear the cadence of Appalachian voices long after I turned the last page.
-Todd Johnson, author of The Sweet By and By
The story of Maizee both shocks and endears the reader to Mother of Rain, the beautifully, eerie debut novel. Like a handcrafted wedding quilt, Zacharias's prose weaves the tangle of hardscrabble lives into old fashion Appalachia storytelling.
-Ann Hite, author of Ghost on Black Mountain
Mother of Rain is a captivating novel whose well-developed characters and well-constructed, intricate plot will win many readers. Especially the older women are memorably delineated. We could hardly mistake them if we met, nor fail to enjoy an opportunity to do so. Mother of Rain is nostalgic without being sentimental, and its characters both exemplify and transcend the local culture, to make a story that readers will want to read again.
-Michael B. Montgomery , Professor Emeritus of English,
University of South Carolina, author, Dictionary of Smoky Mountain English
With her debut novel, Mother of Rain, Karen Spears Zacharias perfectly captures the haunting beauty and customs of Depression era Appalachia. Mother of Rain is an unflinching and compelling story of troubled love and redemption in a mystical time and place. Maize is one of those magical characters that readers will be thinking about long after the last page has been turned.
-Michael Morris, author of Man in the Blue Moon
Mother of Rain is one of the best books that I have read in the last five years. Karen Spears Zacharias has a wonderful sense of place, a terrific way with dialogue, and firm grip on the emotional potential of good story-telling. I will be recommending the book to all of my colleagues and friends.
-Thom Chambliss, Executive Director, Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association« less