The Saints of Swallow Hill: A Fascinating Depression Era Historical Novel

Set during the Great Depression, this historical fiction novel unfolds in the turpentine camps and pine forests of the American South, weaving a compelling tale of friendship, survival, and resilience.

The story follows Rae Lynn Cobb, who, after a tragic accident involving her husband on their small turpentine farm in North Carolina, must take drastic measures to avoid imprisonment. Disguised as a man named "Ray," she flees to the isolated and harsh turpentine camp of Swallow Hill in Georgia.

Swallow Hill is far from a safe refuge, plagued by squalor and cruelty. Rae Lynn works hard to survive under the watchful eye of Crow, a woods rider who monitors the laborers, while finding some protection in the form of Delwood Reese, a fellow worker seeking his own redemption. As Rae Lynn's bonds with Delwood and Cornelia, the abused wife of the camp’s commissary owner, grow stronger, she begins to dream of escaping the camp and starting anew. To do so, she must confront her painful past and embrace the possibility of a brighter future.