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Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Anne Waters at 

Anne Waters recommends a novel set in the hills of western North Carolina, which she hopes will travel far beyond the region.

It's "Gods of Howl Mountain," by Taylor Brown.

Waters fell in love with Brown's writing in his first novel, "Fallen Land." "It's a Civil War novel — which I avoid like the plague — but I'm here to tell you it is an absolutely rip-roaring wonderful book."

With "Gods of Howl Mountain," Waters says Brown has hit his stride again.

The novel unfolds in the 1950s, tracing the story of Rory Docherty, who lost his leg in the Korean War and returns home to Appalachia to make a living as a bootlegger.

He moves in with his grandmother, Maybelline, who is "a folk healer, but through her past, she's really a survivor." The story of Maybelline's life, and what happened to her daughter — Rory's mother — is an undercurrent that runs through the novel. 

Brown's descriptions of Rory's bad deeds, running whiskey and drag racing in the mountains, have a folkloric feel to them, Waters said. 

"It's in the tradition of Ron Rash and another less well-known writer, Wiley Cash. They're all marvelous storytellers."

"At the crux of the novel is just this great atmospheric story, that kind of sucks you into the world, and you're rooting for the good guys, and you can just smell and breathe the bad guys. It's just a lot of fun."

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Tracy Mumford

Author

Anne Water recommends a "great, atmospheric story that sucks you into the world" of Appalachia.

'You're rooting for the good guys, and you can just smell and breathe the bad guys'

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