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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 to Lori Fisher from 

Have you ever fallen totally in love with a character in a novel?

For Lori Fisher, that character is Birdie Rocas, from the novel 
"If the Creek Don't Rise," by Leah Weiss.

Birdie is a medicine woman of sorts, who lives in the North Carolina mountains, in Appalachia. She walks around with a crow named Samuel in her hair.

"She was my absolute favorite character," Fisher said. 

But the whole novel is packed with unforgettable characters: "I read it a year and a half ago, and it's one of those books — the characters have just stayed with me. ... Some of them are just so lovable and some of them are pretty mean and nasty."

The novel unfolds in the small and isolated community of Baines Creek, where a young woman named Sadie Blue finds herself regretting the path of her life.

Weiss' writing brings the people and the places alive. "When she describes the characters, you can clearly picture them in your mind. The writing is so good because even the scenery or certain locations or someone's reaction to someone else's comments, she describes everything so purely, you can see it in your mind very clearly."

"The women she has in the book are all very strong," Fisher said. "I just love the book."

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The Thread® - Books and Literary News

Ask a bookseller

Tracy Mumford

Author

Bookseller Lori Fisher loves the characters in this novel so much, she even dressed up as one for Halloween.

The power of an unforgettable character

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