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Ghost on Black Mountain

by Ann Hite (Goodreads Author)

4.16 of 5 stars 4.16 · rating details · 491 ratings · 127 reviews

ONCE A PERSON LEAVES THE MOUNTAIN, THEY NEVER COME BACK, NOT REALLY. THEY’RE LOST FOREVER.

Nellie Clay married Hobbs Pritchard without even noticing he was a spell conjured into a man, a walking, talking ghost story. But her mama knew. She saw it in her tea leaves: death. Folks told Nellie to get off the mountain while she could, to go back home before it was too late. Hob

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Paperback, 341 pages

Published September 13th 2011 by Gallery Books

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92nd out of 265 books — 1,353 voters

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Community Reviews

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Nov 20, 2011 Nancy rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is absolutely the best book I read this year. I could not put it down! It's the story of Nellie Pritchard and 4 other women whose lives are all connected by one man. They each take a turn telling their story as it relates to Hobbs Pritchard. It's a different kind of ghost story and I am happy to learn that the author is working on more books involving some of the same characters. Combine Alice Hoffman with Sue Monk Kidd and you've got Ghost on Black Mountain. I LOVED THIS!

FROM AMAZON:
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Jun 23, 2011 Laura rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to Laura by: publisher arc

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Oct 22, 2012 Tona rated it 5 of 5 stars

Thank You for picking me in the giveaway...I loved this book. I started it a 4:30 a.m. and finished it at 12 p.m.

I loved that the story was told from each character. Each section brought you farther and farther into the story. I loved that the story came full circle to the very end. Most stories leave off with you not knowing what happened after the theme was completed. I loved the character of Nellie. I think that she made such a strong and real character.

Nellie married the man of her dreams(...more

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Jan 10, 2013 Beth rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: see review

Told through the eyes of five women, this book really captures the folklore, people, and traditions of Appalachia. Nellie was an innocent, yet headstrong girl when she married Hobbs Pritchard. She had no idea what kind of person he really was, or how badly he was hated on Black Mountain. The decision she is forced to make in order to survive affects the lives of many people and will come back to haunt her in unexpected ways. The ghosts in this story add so much to the atmosphere. Ghost stories a...more

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Feb 26, 2012 McGuffy Morris rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

Much more than a ghost story, this is actually several stories interwoven throughout the history of Black Mountain. This novel is written in parts. It is told through the voices of integral characters of the story. Each voice is true to character, time, tradition and place.
We meet many of the people of Black Mountain as we learn of its secrets and history. Within the shadows of Black Mountain are many roads with unexpected twists and turns.

The book begins with Nellie, a young woman who goes aga...more Much more than a ghost story, this is actually several stories interwoven throughout the history of Black Mountain. This novel is written in parts. It is told through the voices of integral characters of the story. Each voice is true to character, time, tradition and place.
We meet many of the people of Black Mountain as we learn of its secrets and history. Within the shadows of Black Mountain are many roads with unexpected twists and turns.

The book begins with Nellie, a young woman who goes against her mother to marry. Hobbs is an abusive man. As Nellie learns the secrets and depth of his abusive nature, she comes to terms with not only his past, but her future. Through Nellie we also meet many residents of Black Mountain.

Josie, Nellie's mother, is the second voice telling the story. She gives her viewpoint, as a mother watching her daughter make life-altering mistakes. She tells of things that happen after Nellie leaves home for Black Mountain.

The third voice of Black Mountain is that of Shelly, born and bred there. She is an unwilling helper to Nellie, knowing more than she wants to of Black Mountain and its dark secrets. She and her family know the truth of Hobbs and his evil ways.

Part four is told by Hobbs longtime lover, Rose. She is an outsider who comes to the mountain looking for Hobbs and answers. She believes in Hobbs, knowing nothing of his deeds. She gets more than what she came for, also becoming part of Black Mountain and its secrets.

The voices that tell parts five and six are tightly woven, as mother and daughter Iona and Annie shed light on Black Mountain and its dark secretive history. Also outsiders, they are drawn to Black Mountain by circumstance. They bring the parts of the book together, completing the circle of voices and questions long unanswered.

The twists and turns of choices, consequences, and secrets run throughout this novel. Only in the end is there understanding and forgiveness, much like real life.

Ann Hite is an extraordinary storyteller. The Ghost on Black Mountain is quite a story!
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Feb 21, 2012 Desiree reilly rated it 5 of 5 stars

got this book form a hop and then i can say i read it one day . This book is great and written well, you go form the hill in
the south of Carolina. The story has the map of the hills and the people who live on the mountain and that a great way to
tell the story. Here is Hobbs Pritchard who is rich and then let every one know you mess with me and my stuff you will die.

Well he had 5 house on the mountain and he expected the people who live there to pay rent and abide by his rules or else some thing...more

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Nov 01, 2011 Paula rated it 5 of 5 stars

This was the perfect October read! Ghost on Black Mountain by author Ann Hite is everything the cover says it is; haunting, eerie, dark and unnerving. Told in the voices of five different women who all have different portions of the story to tell, the author did an excellent job of binding the story together in those separate voices. The story is set in rural depression-era North Carolina, we first meet Nellie, a young girl who, while serving meals in a soup kitche n, meets and falls head over h...more This was the perfect October read! Ghost on Black Mountain by author Ann Hite is everything the cover says it is; haunting, eerie, dark and unnerving. Told in the voices of five different women who all have different portions of the story to tell, the author did an excellent job of binding the story together in those separate voices. The story is set in rural depression-era North Carolina, we first meet Nellie, a young girl who, while serving meals in a soup kitche n, meets and falls head over heals for Hobbs Pritchard, a man eight years her senior. Nellie's mama immediately see's that Hobbs is a bad man and what she see's in her tea leaves confirms this fear. Ignoring her mama's warnings, Nellie runs off and marries Hobbs anyway. He immediately moves her to his empty, (or is it?) family home on Black Mountain.

One of my favorite quotes from this early time in the story:
'In the first days of sweet romance, if Hobbs had asked me to jump off a cliff, I would have with a smile on my face. Mama always said, "Nellie, don't love a man too much. A woman should save some feelings back to care for herself."

Nellie soon finds that the people of the mountain both hate and fear Hobbs Pritchard, but she still thinks that her husband must be mis-understood. Soon into the marriage, Hobbs cruel side starts showing itself to Nellie. According to Hobbs, his young wife is dumb, lazy and a horrible cook when in reality, Nellie is none of those things. Right away Nellie starts to see a few of Black Mountains ghosts. There is the woman who seems to live right in Nellie and Hobbs home and the man in the round glasses that is summoning her from outside. Shelley, the young girl who is hired to help Nellie clean the long neglected house, is scared but likes Nellie and slowly starts to give her some hints of Hobbs bad reputation. They say he killed a man here on the mountain and there are stories of the untimely death of his stepmother, along with a few other very disconcerting stories. As Hobbs cruelty to Nellie increases, she trys to find ways to leave, but Hobbs will never let her go. Will the ghosts of Black Mountain aid her? You'll have to read to find out.

I loved this book. It is the authors debut and I will definately be waiting for her next one to be realeased!
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Oct 19, 2011 Majanka rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: ghosts, horror, paranormal, drama, historical-fiction

Read the review on my website.

Ghost on Black Mountain is a powerful, eerie and haunting tale of real-life ghosts sometimes tormenting and sometimes aiding the inhabitants of Black Mountain, a gloomy and according to some, cursed place. Black Mountain got most of its rather creepy reputation from one of its most dangerous residents, Hobbs Pritchard. Who Hobbs Pritchard really is, a straight-out bad man, or a fellow struggling with himself and his own emotions, is revealed gradually through-out t...more

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Sep 19, 2011 Kari Anderson rated it 5 of 5 stars

Nellie meets the man of her dreams in Hobbs Pritchard. Her mama wants her to take it slow, but Nellie is afraid that if she doesn’t marry Hobbs when he asks, no one else will want her. But when she gets to Hobbs’ home on Black Mountain, everything changes. The stories about Hobbs are too unbelievable to be true, even though she sees the ghosts of Hobbs’ past. And soon, Nellie knows if she doesn’t take her life in her own hands, she’ll be a ghost of Black Mountain as well. What she doesn’t know i...more Nellie meets the man of her dreams in Hobbs Pritchard. Her mama wants her to take it slow, but Nellie is afraid that if she doesn’t marry Hobbs when he asks, no one else will want her. But when she gets to Hobbs’ home on Black Mountain, everything changes. The stories about Hobbs are too unbelievable to be true, even though she sees the ghosts of Hobbs’ past. And soon, Nellie knows if she doesn’t take her life in her own hands, she’ll be a ghost of Black Mountain as well. What she doesn’t know is that by keeping her decision a secret, she’ll transform the lives of many and those ghosts may never let her be peaceful.

Ghost on Black Mountain is told through the lives of five women. I normally love when books do this because I really appreciate an author that can write in so many different voices and weave their stories together. During this book, I didn’t feel this way. I loved Nellie’s story from the beginning and didn’t want to hear from anyone else. But I passed judgement too soon. By the time I got done with the book, I understood why the different voices were needed and it worked beautifully.

Sometimes when you go to choose a book, you don’t know what it is, but something draws you to a book and you just have to read it. That’s how this book was with me. When I started looking up titles from the August Simon & Schuster Galley Grab letter. I am a fan of ghost stories and when I saw this cover and read the summary, I had to read it. And boy am I glad that I did.

In no way, shape, or form is that a romantic love story beneath the ghostly exterior. It is everything of a tragic, terrifying story of the ghosts that haunt your past and how your decisions can make a ghost of yourself. But this story, in all of it’s tragedy is beautiful and one I want to read over and over again.

There’s a lot of books that when you finish them, you have to sit and think, “What is the big picture?”. With this one, I knew before the book was even through and it’s one that I’ll keep with me, with this book in the back of my mind. There are some decisions in your life that you will have to make. They won’t necessarily be the most legal in Nellie’s case or most moral, for that matter, but they’re the ones you have to make to survive. But after you make those decisions, they stay with you. In Nellie’s case, for decades, she kept those decisions with her. They were her ghosts. And they came back to haunt her because the people that should have known about her ghosts were kept in the dark. There are some stories that may hurt to tell, but they’re ones you have to let people in on. If someone loves you, they will accept you, no matter your story.

I give Ghost on Black Mountain 5 bookmarks. And as always when I read a book I love, I look for more books by the author that I may also love. When I started searching for more Ann Hite books, I hit gold. There is a PDF file of stories from Black Mountain online. I started reading them, in the middle of writing this review, and got so sidetracked I forgot I was writing. Woops. I can’t wait to learn more about Black Mountain so I am cutting this review short
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Sep 18, 2011 Lorri rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book was good from the get go! Starting out with Nellie working in a soup kitchen with her mother and being interested in Hobbs when he tells her she is pretty and asking her why she is working there. He goes to the soup kitchen a few times and asks Nellie to marry him, telling her he has money. She says yes since he is the first guy that has ever paid any attention to her. Her mother warns her not to marry him, that he is no good, but she does it anyway. Hobbs takes her up the mountain to...more

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Sep 14, 2011 April rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: gothic-suspense-horror-w-paranormal

GHOST ON BLACK MOUNTAIN by Ann Hite is an interesting dark gothic suspense/horror with paranormal elements set in Black Mountain,North Carolina. It is her first novel and was inspired by stories told and handed down from her family through generations of story telling.lt is written with depths,details,twists,turns,a few ghost and from the perceptive of five different Southern women,Nellie Pritchard,Josie Clay,Shelly Parker,Annie Harbor, and Rose Gardner,each with their own revelation that reshap...more

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Aug 12, 2011 SenoraG rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, arc, ebook, galley-grab, highly-recommended, fiction

Have you ever read a book that stays in your mind even after you close the cover and move on to your next read? Ghost on Black Mountain is that kind of book. The story is told in the voices of five very different women who all have a connection to the same man, Hobbs Pritchard. Some love him, most hate him. He is a monster of a man and one of these women killed him. His ghost haunts Black Mountain and stories about him are told to children to scare them and get them to behave.

This was an absolut...more

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Jun 12, 2011 Carol Kean rated it 5 of 5 stars

Move over, Faulkner; eat your heart out, Edgar Allan Poe, and make way for a new American classic! Ann Hite's debut novel "Ghost on Black Mountain" has enough Gothic horror and suspense to keep us reading until the candle burns out in the dark of night, and enough meaning to keep scholars arguing for years to come. Hite's seamless and economical prose may make for easy reading, but look again. This novel is loaded. Bold, brilliant and beautiful, it has all the richness and depth of 19th C litera...more Move over, Faulkner; eat your heart out, Edgar Allan Poe, and make way for a new American classic! Ann Hite's debut novel "Ghost on Black Mountain" has enough Gothic horror and suspense to keep us reading until the candle burns out in the dark of night, and enough meaning to keep scholars arguing for years to come. Hite's seamless and economical prose may make for easy reading, but look again. This novel is loaded. Bold, brilliant and beautiful, it has all the richness and depth of 19th C literature without the tedious, wordy prose.

The story sounds deceptively simple--a charismatic stranger comes to town and sweeps innocent young Nellie off her feet, but instead of happily ever-after, Mama sees death in the tea leaves. Nellie, like all young girls who know their own heart, blows off the warning. "Mama was just desperate to keep me home. There wasn't nothing bad going to happen. I didn't much believe in tea leaves anyway."

I marvel at Ann Hite's confidence and authority in establishing Nellie's voice. Could she pull it off in all six sections of the novel with their various points of view? Yes. Yes, yes yes! All the women of Black Mountain are so convincing, you can't help but nod an "amen" even if they're telling you ghost stories. Mostly, they're busy telling Nellie the same thing her Mama did: anyone who'd marry Hobbes Pritchard is either crazy in the head or so young she has no sense.

"If you want to know how Nellie Pritchard got herself into the mess she did," Mama tells us in Part Two, "you got to know parts of my story." Mothers will shake their heads in sympathy every time Josie Clay talks about parenting. "The good Lord knew I did my best to send (Nellie) in the right direction just like my mama did me and her mama did her. It's a weakness trying to keep our daughters from making the same mistakes." In section six Annie Harbor, both a mother and a daughter, reminds us: "Mamas can't protect their daughters. Not really. They're helpless to watch and wait."

Josie Clay knows the story by heart because it's universal. She didn't need a college degree to gain Goethe's insight that "Love is an ideal thing, marriage a real thing; a confusion of the real with the ideal never goes unpunished." Josie's own mama warned her that "if I married, I wasn't going to see anything but struggles. Did I listen? Shoot, no." One look at Owen Clay and "I fell in love with him. As if I knew what love was. In front of me stood what I wanted more than anything, and I figured if he had any wrongs, I could iron them right out like a wrinkled shirt dress. Lord, that's the worst thing a woman can do, love a man so much she can't see reason." And so her daughter Nellie's story opens doors that women like Josie have held tightly shut for hundreds of years.

While women's issues are a strong part of this novel, the American Gothic elements will rivet a wider audience. An atmosphere of mystery and suspense pervade Nellie's world. Hobbes isolates her in a large, dusty old house that's been in his family for years. Instead of welcoming young Mrs. Pritchard, locals shun her or warn her to run for her life. Hobbes Pritchard is evil, and they have no qualms about saying so to his well-meaning wife. Everyone on the mountain, living or dead, warns Nellie to leave, but young love is so stubborn, it can take a gradual series of escalating abuse before a bride moves out of denial into awareness, then horror and remorse. Certain locals who talk to Nellie look and sound human but turn out to be ghosts. And all of them have an axe to grind with Hobbes. Hurry, they whisper, but before Nellie will dare to leave Hobbes, she has to uncover his secrets. Local legends, spooky voices and artifacts in the attic charge Nellie's world with supernatural terror and real-life danger.

Hite's strong, enigmatic women characters make us want more, and she delivers. Her next novel shines the spotlight on Shelly Parker, the ghost-whisperer of Black Mountain who downplays her own intelligence and talent because a good black servant girl knows her place. If there's one flaw in this novel, it's that Shelly's section is far too short. More Shelly! We want more of her stoic wisdom mixed with fearlessness and compassion. She is a survivor. "Nellie Pritchard was the first white person to treat me like a regular girl," she tells us. On hearing "Nellie, call me Nellie," not Mrs. Pritchard, Shelly with a hand on her hip says, "No, ma'am, it ain't proper." At 14 she is far more savvy and mature than her 18-year-old employer. Their dialogue is piercingly funny, especially when Nellie earns her trust and Shelly has the audacity to tell it like it is.

The relationship between Nelly and the servant girl brings to mind Kathryn Stockett's best selling novel The Help. Both Hite and Stockett expose the hypocrisy of an era, deftly weaving history and social issues into the fascinating and complex relationships of maids and mistresses, husbands and wives, neighbors and members of the community.
Ann Hite is such a keen observer of human nature, even her ghosts are believable. While science has yet to prove the spirit outlives the body, documented testimonials from people across time and continents bear witness to the same type of ghost sitings Hite describes. The ghost may look and act like a living human. Frequently, the living will describe a personage they've never seen or heard of before, and the description matches an actual person who died. Science has no explanation for that, but the good folk on Black Mountain do. Death is not the end. And the sins of our fathers can have repercussions that last and last across the generations.

With beautiful prose, memorable characters and haunting themes, Ann Hite is a bright new star in the literary firmament. She is as certain to impress scholars with her multi-layered exploration of women's issues and the dark side of human nature as she is to win the hearts of the reading public for generations to come.
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Sep 08, 2012 Angela rated it 5 of 5 stars

The summary on the back of this book doesn't do the story justice at all! This was an amazing book with terrific characters, plot lines, and writing. There is no simple summary for this book, which is why the back of the book summary is probably so vague. In a nutshell, Nellie is a young and foolish girl who thinks she knows better than her Mama and her Mama's tea leaves that predict darkness and bad things. Nellie is head over heals in love with Hobbs Pritchard and will do anything to be with h...more The summary on the back of this book doesn't do the story justice at all! This was an amazing book with terrific characters, plot lines, and writing. There is no simple summary for this book, which is why the back of the book summary is probably so vague. In a nutshell, Nellie is a young and foolish girl who thinks she knows better than her Mama and her Mama's tea leaves that predict darkness and bad things. Nellie is head over heals in love with Hobbs Pritchard and will do anything to be with him forever. He is sweet and dotes on her and makes her feel loved and extremely special like no one else ever has. This is why Nellie marries Hobbs, against her Mama's wishes, and moves with him up to Black Mountain where he lives with what little family he has left. Nellie soon finds out that the Hobbs that was showing himself to her in her hometown and the Hobbs that is true when up in Black Mountain are two very different men. She soon learns why her Mama and her tea leaves predicted trouble and darkness. Nellie finds kindness only in Jack, Hobbs's step brother, but even Jack can't help her when it comes to Hobbs's dark side and abuse both physically and verbally. Nellie soon finds that she looks forward to when Hobbs is gone "on business" down the mountain, but she has no friends and is lonely. She tries to make friends, but because of who her husband is, people steer clear of her, afraid of what Hobbs will say or do if they try to be friendly to Nellie. Hobbs controls Black Mountain by striking fear into those that live there. Soon Nellie takes drastic actions to rid herself of Hobbs and his controlling and abusive behavior. This leads to a tangled web of lies, mystery, deception, and whole new starts. Can Nellie really run from her life on Black Mountain? Who are the ghosts she continues to see that seem to be warning her about something? What could they be warning her about? Just how bad of a situation has Nellie gotten herself into by marrying Hobbs?

In my opinion what could make a better book than mystery, hoodoo, ghosts, and murder?! I found myself so enthralled into this book I was up until all hours of the morning reading it to get to the end of the mystery. This book has so many twists and turns it makes you wonder where the truth really does twist in. I had moments of "aaahhhh" in this book where everything just seemed to slide together. I loved this book. I also must admit to having to turn on more than just my reading light when I read it at night. The ghosts and mystery of it all was so creepy at times I thought I heard things in my own room! It was amazing! The story moved along over many years, but not once did I feel it moved too fast or too slow, nor did it ever confuse me. It was an all around great story and very well thought out and written. I think a follow up book or two could very easily be a thought for this author. Not because there were loose ends, but because there were so many great characters that could be worthy of their own, more detailed story. Like Shelly or Iona as they grow up. This is a great mystery, southern fiction, and ghost story all mixed into one. I can't give this book enough praise without giving away too much of the plot or piece of the plot. This is a must read book!

5/5 Stars!!
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Jun 20, 2012 Sophia Musgrave rated it 4 of 5 stars

Slightly disturbing, not your typical ghost story. This book has many levels, fascinating characters, and the setting is so important to the story. It reminds of Steinbeck, but with more supernatural things. I love how the author makes a community that just accepts that "haints" are common and and that everyone accepts that they not only exist but can influence others' natures. It is a fascinating account of what happens when good people are pushed past the edge of reason, when a woman is so use...more

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Sep 08, 2011 Paul Pessolano rated it 4 of 5 stars

“Ghost on Black Mountain” by Ann Hite, published by Gallery Books.

Category - Fiction/Literature

Ghost is incorrect; there are Ghosts on Black Mountain.

If you are in the mood for a good ghost story that is full of mystery and romance you will definitely want to read this book.

Hobbs Pritchard is the scourge of Black Mountain, not only is not liked by anyone on the mountain but he is feared by all. Although he has never been accused of murder, he has been thought to have murdered one or more people...more

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Aug 09, 2011 Kathleen Rodgers rated it 5 of 5 stars

I'd Give It Six Stars If I Could!

From the moment I started reading “Ghost On Black Mountain,” Nellie Pritchard walked into my heart and took up residence. And she didn’t come alone. Others followed.

Along with four other women who narrate this page-turning tale, young Nellie must learn the hard way that sometimes our choices in life will haunt us forever. All five women are intricately connected to one man, Hobbs Pritchard, the menace of Black Mountain. A mean-spirited moonshiner who runs this De...more

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Aug 20, 2011 Nicki Markus rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book is a wonderful blend of literary fiction and gothic suspense that will appeal to readers of Faulkner and of Poe.

This novel grabbed my attention from the opening pages and I found myself drawn into the story of Nellie, Hobbs and the other inhabitants of Black Mountain.

I loved the format of this piece as we hear the story from the perspective of five different women, who are all involved with Hobbs' story at one point or another. This format means that the timeline is not always linear,...more

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Nov 08, 2012 John Tucker rated it 5 of 5 stars

A good ol' fashioned ghost story written through the words and eyes of six different, but unforgettable women in the North Carolina mountains. I was hooked with the first chapter and continued reading until the last page. Nellie Clay is a sweet woman in a loveless marriage. When she finds out through a servant that a ghost is haunting her house she decided to make contact. Soon, she encounters another ghost in the wodds outside her property and finds out the two spirits have a connection. The se...more

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May 03, 2012 Diana rated it 4 of 5 stars

Set in the 1930's, the main character is a good looking awful man. Hobbs Pritchard, age 25, marries 17 year old Nelly Clay. Her mother is so upset about the pairing that she doesn't attend the wedding. Then Nellie moves to Black Mountain in rural North Carolina. It only takes until page 50 before innocent, trusting Nellie wonders why she ever married this man. The sheriff says that he can not mess with what happens between a man and a woman...it isn't his business. (like beatings)
This story is...more

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Sep 12, 2011 Nancy rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a little bit of many genres. The story is told out of chronological order which is interesting in that it gives information on the characters in a more artistic way. I found that I understood Nellie better after reading Josie's story but I liked that Nellie came first. She was closest to Hobbs, being his wife. Then the characters took their turns, giving more of a complex picture of Hobbs and his ways. Interesting that they didn't all see Hobbs the same way.

The last part of the book is a...more

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Aug 31, 2011 Brittany Rehage rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is a book I will be thinking about for a long time. It's the kind of book that makes you stay up until 2am reading it because you just have to know what happens on the next page. There wasn't a place where I could stop reading and not think about it.

The web that surrounds Hobbs Pritchard draws you in slowly and before you know it, he's managed to ensnare you, just like he does his ladies in the book. The different perspectives each woman gives of the same man shows just how complicated a p...more

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Oct 20, 2011 Jessica(WonderlandReviews) rated it 3 of 5 stars

I was told that before I started reading this, that this was the type of book any debuting author dreams of. It is the type of book that you can't wait to read and once you get the chance to, it is all you are thinking about. It is the type of book you can't put down, you just plan on reading on chapter and before you know it hours have passed and that one chapter has turned into seven.

I know because of this, the book is currently circulating around our work place, passing from eager hand to the...more

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Mar 11, 2012 Erica rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Oct 17, 2011 Jesse rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: first_reads, novels, favorites

*First Reads Contest Winner*

I honestly didn't know if I would be in the target demographic for this book when I signed up for the contest. But I've spent some time in those mountains and I was intrigued. And hey, ghosts.

Luckily, I was thouroughly engrossed from the moment I picked it up until I finished. It is an insanely rich, character drived story, and thankfully devoid of fluff. The language is simple but powerful, reminding me more of Hemingway than Faulkner. (I'm reminded of Hemingway's fa...more

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Nov 18, 2011 Diane S. rated it 4 of 5 stars

Nellie was 17 when she met Hobbs Pritchard and despite that her mamma (who reads tea leaves) said no good would come of it, she marries him and sets off to live on Black Mountain. Despite the beautiful trees,flowers and waterfall, things are not as they appear on the mountain There are haints, secrets and a lot of hate, especially for her husband. After a terror filled night and a horrible act, Nellie leaves the mountain and is not seen again for a long time. This is a very dark, haunting story...more

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Sep 30, 2011 sarah corbett morgan rated it 4 of 5 stars

I finished reading this book last night with a mixture of sadness and joy, and perhaps those two emotions sum up the book as a whole. The storytelling in Ghost is superb and pulled me along at a quick clip--I think they call those Page Turners-- because I wanted to know what would happen next. Simultaneously, I was overcome by how fast I was gobbling up a wonderfully crafted book, so I would slow down to savor each turn of phrase, each character development, each new twist in the story. (Josie's...more

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Sep 16, 2011 Charlotte rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: advanced-readers-copy, nook

http://charlotteswebofbooks.blogspot....

Ghost on Black Mountain is a tale told by five women over many years. Five women bound by one common thread. Hobbs Pritchard and a dark murder that took place on Black Mountain. Ghost on Black Mountain is a Gothic tale if ever there was one. It is a suspenseful, dark glimpse of what life was like in the mountains of North Carolina not all that long ago. I am really surprised at how much I enjoyed Ghost on Black Mountain, but Nellie's story, and her strengt...more

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Jan 10, 2013 Mara rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction, fantasy

I really loved the first third of this ghost story set in Depression-Era North Carolina and was on the edge of my seat waiting to find out what would happen to the foolish young heroine who marries a charming but snake-like man despite her mother's warnings. Unfortunately I felt like the book's emotional climax came at the end of that first third and the rest of the book didn't quite live up to what had gone before. The multiple narrators, rather than shedding meaningful light on the long-term c...more

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May 06, 2013 Denise Ellis rated it 5 of 5 stars

A really good story of more than one ghostly encounter that would really be good for fireside telling! I enjoyed it very much!!!!

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Coffee Talk: Ghost on Black Mountain by Ann Hite	71	31	Mar 19, 2013 06:00am
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Historical Fiction

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Paranormal > Ghosts

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Mystery

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Fantasy > Paranormal

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Gothic

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Fantasy

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American > Southern

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Horror

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Gothic > Southern Gothic

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Thriller > Mystery Thriller

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About Ann Hite

Ann Hite the author of Ghost On Black Mountain, Townsend Prize shortlisted, winner of best first novel Georgia Author of the Year 2012, new novel The Storycatcher will be released by Gallery Books Sept 10, 2013. Her novella, Lowcountry Spirit will be released by Pocket Star August 13, 2013. Ann lives in Atlanta with her family where she writes ghost stories and tends her butterfly garden in the su...more

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