Light to the Hills
A Novel
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Light to the Hills
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Narrated by:
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Shannon McManus
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By:
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Bonnie Blaylock
About this listen
A richly rewarding novel about family bonds, the power of words, and the resilience of mothers and daughters in 1930s Appalachia.
The folks in the Kentucky Appalachians are scraping by. Coal mining and hardscrabble know-how are a way of life for these isolated people. But when Amanda Rye, a young widowed mother and traveling packhorse librarian, comes through a mountain community hit hard by the nation’s economic collapse, she brings with her hope, courage, and apple pie. Along the way, Amanda takes a shine to the MacInteer family, especially to the gentle Rai; her quick-study daughter, Sass; and Finn, the eldest son who’s easy to warm to. They remind Amanda of her childhood and her parents with whom she longs to be reconciled.
Her connection with the MacInteers deepens, and Amanda shares with them a dangerous secret from her past. When that secret catches up with Amanda in the present, she, Rai, Sass, and Finn find their lives intersecting—and threatened—in the most unexpected ways. Now they must come together as the truth lights a path toward survival, mountain justice, forgiveness, and hope.
©2022 Bonnie Blaylock (P)2022 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.Listeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
“This moving tale of family bonds and the resilience of mothers and daughters is filled with rich period details, regional dialect, and fascinating local customs and foods…Readers of Kim Michele Richardson, Ann H. Gabhart, and Kim Vogel Sawyer will also enjoy this engaging historical novel.”—Booklist
“A gorgeously written and well-layered novel that immediately transports us to the Appalachian Mountains of the 1930s. The ways, superstitions, folklore, and justice of the mountain people are woven deeply into the story. Rich in color, tradition, and character, this mountain saga will hold you spellbound.”—Historical Novels Review
“A bright and vibrant debut. Light to the Hills is a touching meditation on motherhood and the importance of community, especially during difficult times. Bonnie Blaylock will be one to watch in the realm of historical fiction.”—Olivia Hawker, bestselling author of One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow
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-
This Is Where It Ends
- By: Cindy K. Sproles
- Narrated by: Barbara McCulloh
- Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 44
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 41
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 41
When Minerva Jane Jenkins was just 14 years old, she married a man who moved her to the mountains. He carried with him a small box, which he told her was filled with gold. And when he died 50 years later, he made her promise to keep his secret. She is to tell no one about the box or the treasure it contains. Now 94, Minerva is nearing the end of what has sometimes been a lonely life. But she's kept that secret. Even so, rumors of hidden gold have a way of spreading, and Minerva is visited by a reporter, Del Rankin, who wants to know more of her story.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Engaging story
- By Melissas Bookshelf on 07-13-23
By: Cindy K. Sproles
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Mercy's Rain
- An Appalachian Novel
- By: Cindy Sproles
- Narrated by: Amber Dekkers
- Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 46
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 46
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 46
Mercy Roller knows her name is a lie: there has never been any mercy in her life. Raised by a twisted and abusive father who called himself the Pastor, she was abandoned by the church community that should have stood together to protect her from his evil. Her mother, consumed by her own fear and hate, won't stand her ground to save Mercy either.
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1 out of 5 stars
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XXX
- By Sue Elizabeth on 06-05-25
By: Cindy Sproles
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The Secrets We Left Behind
- By: Soraya M. Lane
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Knowelden
- Length: 9 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 952
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 858
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 857
Occupied France, 1940. When the staff at a field hospital draw straws to find out who will join the evacuation from Dunkirk, Nurse Cate is left behind. But when the Nazis arrive to claim prisoners of war, she takes her chance and flees into the night, taking one patient with her. Fifty miles away, the surrendering soldiers of the Royal Norfolk Regiment are shot dead by the advancing Germans. Beneath the pile of bodies two men survive, crawling to the safety of a nearby farmhouse, where sisters Elise and Adelaide risk their lives to take them in.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great
- By Auntie JoJo 607 on 12-04-21
By: Soraya M. Lane
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This Place of Wonder
- A Novel
- By: Barbara O'Neal
- Narrated by: Coleen Marlo, Amy Landon, Alaska Jackson
- Length: 9 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,597
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,465
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,460
When famed chef Augustus Beauvais dies, he leaves behind a celebrated reputation—and four women grappling with loss, anger, pain, and the question of how the world will turn without him...
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1 out of 5 stars
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Wish I would have waited to purchase
- By Admirer of great books; critic of bad books. on 07-25-22
By: Barbara O'Neal
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October in the Earth
- A Novel
- By: Olivia Hawker
- Narrated by: Jackie Zebrowski
- Length: 12 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 433
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 395
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 395
Del Wensley, wife of the most celebrated preacher in Harlan County, tries to mind her place. Until her husband’s infidelity pushes an already strained marriage to a breaking point. Clinging to her last hope for self-respect, Del turns her back on the rigid life she’s known. A coal train is rolling through the valley. With her eyes wide open to the unfamiliar, and to the freedom she craves, Del takes to the rails.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Remarkable and Well-Done
- By Kentucky Bohemian on 01-07-24
By: Olivia Hawker
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So Long, Chester Wheeler
- A Novel
- By: Catherine Ryan Hyde
- Narrated by: Michael Crouch
- Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,022
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 911
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 904
Lewis Madigan is young, gay, out of work, and getting antsy when he’s roped into providing end-of-life care for his insufferable homophobic neighbor, Chester Wheeler. Lewis doesn’t need the aggravation, just the money. The only requirements: run errands, be on call, and put up with a miserable old churl no one else in Buffalo can bear. After exchanging barbs, bickering, baiting, and pushing buttons, Chester hits Lewis with the big ask. Lewis can’t say no to a dying wish.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Catherine Ryan Hyde is a phenomenal writer
- By Ken Lewis on 02-05-23
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Appalachian Song
- By: Michelle Shocklee
- Narrated by: Caroline Hewitt
- Length: 9 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 309
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 284
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 284
Bertie Jenkins has spent forty years serving as a midwife for her community in the Great Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee. Out of all the mothers she’s tended, none affects her more than the young teenager who shows up on her doorstep, injured, afraid, and expecting, one warm June day in 1943. As Bertie and her four sisters tenderly nurture Songbird back to health, the bond between the childless midwife and the motherless teen grows strong. But soon Songbird is forced to make a heartbreaking decision that will tear this little family apart.
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5 out of 5 stars
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You Just Have to Read This Story!
- By Phyllis R on 11-14-23
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Someplace Like Home
- A Novel
- By: Bobi Conn
- Narrated by: Shannon McManus
- Length: 8 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 11
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 11
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 11
Jenny Caudill grows up in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in a home that feels more like a trap. Shy, ignored by boys, and wearing her sisters’ hand-me-downs, Jenny spends her time lost in the promises of romantic pop songs and daydreaming in the back seat of her daddy’s junked Bel Air. There’s got to be more to life.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Poor choices lead to difficult life.
- By Little old lady from Iowa on 12-10-24
By: Bobi Conn
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The Fire and the Ore
- A Novel
- By: Olivia Hawker
- Narrated by: Marli Watson, Billie Fulford-Brown
- Length: 13 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 305
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 273
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 273
1857. Three women—once strangers—come together in unpredictable Utah Territory. Hopeful, desperate, and willful, they’ll allow nothing on Earth or in Heaven to stand in their way. Following the call of their newfound Mormon faith, Tamar Loader and her family weather a brutal pilgrimage from England to Utah, where Tamar is united with her destined husband, Thomas Ricks. Clinging to a promise for the future, she abides an unexpected surprise: Thomas is already wedded to one woman—Tabitha, a local healer—and betrothed to still another.
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3 out of 5 stars
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As an Audiobook-Did not like
- By Sparky on 01-10-23
By: Olivia Hawker
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GodPretty in the Tobacco Field
- By: Kim Michele Richardson
- Narrated by: Katie Schorr
- Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,620
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,332
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,321
Nameless, Kentucky, in 1969 is a hardscrabble community where jobs are few and poverty is a simple fact - just like the hot Appalachian breeze or the pests that can wipe out a tobacco field in days. RubyLyn Bishop is luckier than some. Her God-fearing uncle, Gunnar, has a short fuse and high expectations, but he's given her a good home ever since she was orphaned at the age of five. Yet now, a month shy of her 16th birthday, RubyLyn itches for more.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Beautifully and powerfully written!
- By SD on 04-13-18
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The Foxfire Book of Appalachian Women
- Stories of Landscape and Community in the Mountain South
- By: Kami Ahrens
- Narrated by: Reyna Star
- Length: 12 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 10
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 8
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Story5 out of 5 stars 8
The Foxfire Magazine, a literary journal first published in 1967 in Rabun Gap, Georgia, was founded on the belief that stories and meaning could be found in Appalachian spaces, not only in classics such as Shakespeare. Filled with poetry and prose from local students and authors, the magazine also featured interviews with relatives and neighbors. These oral histories conducted by students from the Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School quickly became the star of the magazine. Now, pulled from the vast Foxfire archive, come twenty-one oral histories from southern Appalachian women.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Great stories. Needs better narration
- By Piscespeace31 on 01-02-25
By: Kami Ahrens
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All We Thought We Knew
- By: Michelle Shocklee
- Narrated by: Caroline Hewitt
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 51
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 49
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 49
1969. When Mattie Taylor’s twin brother was killed in Vietnam, she lost her best friend and the only person who really understood her. Now, news that her mother is dying sends Mattie back home, despite blaming her father for Mark’s death. Mama’s last wish is that Mattie would read some old letters stored in a trunk, from people Mattie doesn’t even know. Mama insists they hold the answers Mattie is looking for.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Author’s Ability to connect us to the people and times, and to God’s love.
- By Michael Steedley on 10-26-24
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The Midwife of Hope River
- A Novel of an American Midwife
- By: Patricia Harman
- Narrated by: Anne Wittman
- Length: 12 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 433
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 380
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 380
Midwife Patience Murphy has a gift: a talent for escorting mothers through the challenges of bringing children into the world. Working in the hardscrabble conditions of Appalachia during the Depression, Patience takes the jobs that no one else wants, helping those most in need - and least likely to pay. She knows a successful midwifery practice must be built on a foundation of openness and trust - but the secrets Patience is keeping are far too intimate and fragile for her to ever let anyone in.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Coal Mines, The Depression, and Lots of Babies
- By Debbie on 03-06-19
By: Patricia Harman
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Whistling Woman
- By: Caitlyn Hunter, Christy Tillery French, C. C. Tillery
- Narrated by: Carol Herman
- Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 96
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 85
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Story4 out of 5 stars 83
In the waning years of the 19th century, Bessie Daniels grows up in the small town of Hot Springs in western North Carolina. Secure in the love of her father, resistant to her mother's desire that she be a proper Southern belle, Bessie is determined to forge her own way in life. Or, as her Cherokee great-grandmother Elisi puts it, to be a whistling woman. Life, however, has a few surprises in store for Bessie....
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5 out of 5 stars
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Stunning Southern Historical Fiction...Damn Bess!
- By Debbie on 01-06-15
By: Caitlyn Hunter, and others
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What Momma Left Behind
- By: Cindy K. Sproles
- Narrated by: Erica Sullivan
- Length: 7 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 112
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 104
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 104
Worie Dressar is 17 years old when influenza and typhoid ravage her Appalachian Mountain community in 1877, leaving behind a growing number of orphaned children with no way to care for themselves. Worie’s mother has been secretly feeding several of these little ones on Sourwood Mountain. But when tragedy strikes, Worie is left to figure out why and how she was caring for them.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Good to the end!
- By Paula E. on 07-03-20
By: Cindy K. Sproles
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The Ragged Edge of Night
- By: Olivia Hawker
- Narrated by: Nick Sandys, Olivia Hawker
- Length: 11 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 4,031
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3,576
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 3,569
Germany, 1942. Franciscan friar Anton Starzmann is stripped of his place in the world when his school is seized by the Nazis. He relocates to a small German hamlet to wed Elisabeth Herter, a widow who seeks a marriage - in name only - to a man who can help raise her three children. Anton seeks something too - atonement for failing to protect his young students from the wrath of the Nazis. But neither he nor Elisabeth expects their lives to be shaken once again by the inescapable rumble of war.
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5 out of 5 stars
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The Ragged Edge of Night must be made into a movie
- By M. King on 10-04-18
By: Olivia Hawker
Wonderful!
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Loved it.
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Very enjoyable book!!
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beautiful
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Great story
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Awesome
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Or child labor laws… lol. The family, and this mountain librarian tells us a wonderful tale of what things were actually like back then.. It’s an excellent book to read and listen to! I whisper-synced it on audio and the narrator does a great job!
Great Book!
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Great writing!
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One of the best stories I’ve ever heard
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Sweet story with well rounded characters
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