Daughters of Green Mountain Gap

by Teri M. Brown

An Appalachian granny woman. A daughter on a crusade. A granddaughter caught between the two.

Maggie McCoury, a generational healer woman, relies on family traditions, folklore, and beliefs gleaned from a local Cherokee tribe. Her daughter, Carrie Ann, believes her university training holds the answers. As they clash over the use of roots, herbs, and a dash of mountain magic versus the medicine available in the town’s apothecary, Josie Mae doesn’t know whom to follow. But what happens when neither family traditions nor science can save the ones you love most?

Daughters of Green Mountain Gap weaves a compelling tale of Maggie, Carrie Ann, and Josie Mae, three generations of remarkable North Carolina women living at the turn of the twentieth century, shedding light on racism, fear of change, loss of traditions, and the intricate dynamics within a family. Author Teri M. Brown skillfully navigates the complexities of their lives, revealing that some questions are not as easy to answer as one might think.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction

324 pages, Paperback

Published January 23, 2024

About the author

Born in Athens, Greece as an Air Force brat, Teri M Brown came into this world with an imagination full of stories to tell. She now calls the North Carolina coast home, and the peaceful nature of the sea has been a great source of inspiration for her creativity.

Not letting 2020 get the best of her, Teri chose to go on an adventure that changed her outlook on life. She and her husband, Bruce, rode a tandem bicycle across the United States from Astoria, Oregon to
Washington DC, successfully raising money for Toys for Tots. She learned she is stronger than she realized and capable of anything she sets her mind to.

Teri is a wife, mother, grandmother, and author who loves word games, reading, bumming on the beach, taking photos, singing in the shower, hunting for bargains, ballroom dancing, playing bridge, and
mentoring others.

You can join her newsletter list and get her exclusive list The 10 Historical Fiction Novels That You’ve Never Heard of That Will Bring You to Tears: https://deft-pioneer-4478.ck.page/d5f...

Reviews

[Carol (Reading Ladies) · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 Stars

Daughters of Green Mountain Gap is a compelling and heartfelt story of generational differences and medicine at the turn of the twentieth century.

Green Mountain Gap is the story of three women:

* Maggie (a generational healer known as a “granny woman”) is beloved by the small rural community and relies on traditions, folklore, and the Cherokee for her medical knowledge.
* Carrie (her daughter) has a university medical degree and is a trained nurse. Carrie is outspoken in her criticism of her mother’s reliance on herbs, roots, and mountain magic to heal her patients; Carrie puts her faith in modern medicine.
* Josie (Carrie’s daughter and Maggie’s granddaughter) doesn’t know who to believe and is caught in the middle. She has an interest in medicine and can see benefits to both methods.

Can Josie combine the two methods? Can she negotiate peace and understanding between her grandmother and mother?

The family dynamics and medical opinions here are interesting and engaging. It caused me to consider sides. Carrie is not the most likable character, so that influenced me a bit. I wonder if Josie was introduced to show us that we can embrace modern science but we don’t have to throw out traditional medicine. Can the two be combined in a holistic approach? As a companion read, you might enjoy Lady Tan’s Circle of Women which explores the role of widwife and traditional Chinese medicine in the 1400s.

I was eager to read Teri Brown’s new release because I loved An Enemy Like Me. Daughters of Green Mountain Gap is also thoughtfully and beautifully written. Brown establishes a strong sense of place through vivid descriptions and creates a relatable and unique cast of characters. She puts me in the routine of day-to-day life and in the middle of the conflict. The author creates a great deal of tension as the residents and healers face life-and-death situations.

Thought-provoking themes include mother/daughter conflict, saving lives, cultural differences, racism and prejudice, traditional vs. modern medicine, risk-taking, faith, survival, healing, heartache, forgiveness, and reconciliation.

Sensitive readers need to be aware of difficult medical situations, depression, death of children, and suicide. It is not a light read.

If you appreciate complicated family drama, medical content, substantial themes, and a page-turning plot, you might enjoy this memorable and well-written story that is a perfect blend of historical fiction and women’s fiction. Please know that a suicide occurs.

I’m pleased to participate in the Launch Tour for Daughters of Green Mountain Gap. Thanks @atmospherepress and the author for a complimentary e ARC of #DaughtersOfGreenMountainGap upon my request. All opinions are my own.

For more reviews visit my blog www.ReadingLadies.com where this review was first published.

[Elaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Daughters of Green Mountain Gap ⛰️
Teri m Brown.

This book releases January 23rd 2024.

This story is so well written its like going back in time to a magical time.

A appalachian Story. A granny that knows her stuff. A Story That takes us to another time and place. A place we're we learn things that can and will save a life.

Josie Mae, and granny were my absolute favorites in this story. This story takes us back to 1893 a time in the mountains we're living off the land. Was what people knew. A time when everyone helped everyone.

Back, to a time when folks caught the fever.
Times were different back then.

This Book is absolutely one of my favorites I have read this year. The Characters feel like family. Just a wonderful story.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Totally engaging with one hateful character.

[Stephanie Affinito · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love books that can whisk me off to another place, another time, another way of living. And I especially love books that teach me a thing or two along the way. This book does both.
Daughters of Green Mountain Gap by Teri M. Brown is a beautiful story of family, friendship, heartache and healing. It follows the lives of three generation of women living in the Appalachian Mountains at the turn of the twentieth century. Maggie, her daughter Carrie Ann and her granddaughter Josie Mae are all called to heal others, but they do so in very different ways. Maggie is a granny woman who believes in the power of Cherokee traditions and nature to heal what ails us. Her daughter believes that modern science and medicine alone holds the key to health. And Josie Mae is caught in the middle, trying to decide what she believes as the women she loves the most disagree. But this book goes much deeper than a clash of beliefs among mothers and daughters. It explores themes such as racism, loss, fear and a lifelong love of learning. It captures the reader from the very start and invites them to explore their own beliefs, relationships and understandings about life. My mind is reeling with possibilities: for my own healing, for my own relationships and for my newfound ability to see those with conflicting views from my own with a broader lens because of this book. This remarkable book needs to be on your TBR. But bring tissues. I warned you. =)

[Tyler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Teri M. Brown’s new novel Daughters of Green Mountain Gap tells the story of three women all devoted to healing but in different ways. Maggie, the family matriarch, is a traditional healer, known as a “granny woman.” Living in the backwoods of North Carolina, she uses herbs and wise women’s methods to help her neighbors, along with knowledge she has learned from the local Cherokee. Her daughter, Carrie Ann, is a nurse, trained at a college, who looks down on her mother’s methods, which she considers little more than magical wishing at best and dangerous at worst when lives are threatened and people choose her mother’s methods over modern medicine. The novel is set in the early 1890s, a time when modern medicine was starting to replace what today are known as homeopathic remedies. Caught between the two women is Josie Mae, Carrie Ann’s daughter, who has largely been raised by her grandmother while her mother focused on her medical studies. Josie Mae feels closer to her grandmother and is torn between her desire for her mother’s love and approval and her belief in her grandmother’s methods.

The novel is full of conflict between the three women. The chapters alternate between each character’s perspective, creating a rich tapestry of viewpoints that ultimately weave together into a new level of understanding between them.

At the root of discord is not so much the debate on the proper way to treat an illness, but the fact that Maggie was unable to save her husband when he died of cancer. Carrie Ann has never forgiven her mother for her father’s death and not taking him to a hospital or doctor—though neither were none nearby in those days. When others in the community die whom Maggie tries to help, the tension only increases between mother and daughter until even Maggie begins to question her methods.
But beyond the discord, a deeper message fills the novel. Questions are raised about why bad things happen to good people, why death takes some and leaves others to bear the weight of grief, and the role of faith and intuition in the ability to heal.

Teri M. Brown already showed herself a master of depicting internal conflict in her previous novel, An Enemy Like Me, in which a German-American must decide whether to fight for his adopted country against his ancestral fatherland. As well-written as that novel was, Daughters of Green Mountain Gap feels even more mature and stronger in the development of its characters. Its plot is tighter because of the shorter timeframe it covers. The answers to the moral questions it raises are even harder to find, and the ending even more visionary and cathartic.

Daughters of Green Mountain Gap accomplishes what literature’s true purpose is—to depict the human experience in its most meaningful and complicated ways. It will make readers pause to rethink how they relate to others, teaching them to be less judgmental, more forgiving, and more open to trusting that a force greater than us will set everything right in the end. With this novel, Teri M. Brown shows she has become a true force among writers of modern-day fiction.

[Reader Views · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Daughters of Green Mountain Gap” by Teri M. Brown is a poignant story that spans centuries. Maggie, Carrie Ann, and Josie Mae are the daughters of Green Mountain Gap. Maggie is a granny woman who has spent her life working to heal others from illness and disease. Her daughter Carrie Ann is a nurse who wants to heal others too but is using her formal education to do so. Josie Mae is Carrie’s daughter and stuck in the middle.

Maggie is raising Josie Mae because Josie’s father has died, and Carrie is working with the local doctor in town as a nurse. Maggie aims to teach her all the skills and knowledge she has gained from the Cherokee people. Josie Mae is excited, but her mother Carrie Ann is completely against it. Carrie Ann believes her mother is foolish and puts her patients in danger. The struggle reaches its peak when Maggie’s friend Esther and her family come down with the fever. Maggie, Carrie Ann, and Josie Mae are all forever changed by the events that unfold once the fever has broken.

“Daughters of Green Mountain Gap” explores the tug of war that happens between generations. It offers the solution that there is a place and purpose for the old and the new. There can be an intertwining of knowledge and wisdom we receive from our ancestors as well as our descendants. I related to this concept as I am an Appalachian girl who has spent her life exploring how my granny survived and sought to reconcile that knowledge with what the 21st century has taught me.

Brown’s story also touches on the reality of how life was for women living in the hills and hollers in the last half of the 19th century. Life could be lonely, and surviving was more important than thriving. Maggie had lost her husband to sickness and then her own daughter had lost a husband. Maggie had chosen to embrace her surroundings while Carrie Ann dreamed of something better. What they have in common is their desire to help others in their community, although their tactics are different.

Brown’s characters come to life as she describes their feelings, actions, and the culture they live in. The story is written at a comfortable pace creating a plot that makes you feel like you are there. The characters are well thought out and developed. Readers will feel like they know Maggie, Carrie Ann, and Josie Mae personally.

Teri M. Brown’s “Daughters of Green Mountain Gap” is a vivid, colorful, and thought-provoking work. It brings to light the struggles of mothers and daughters in a world that is forever changing. I applaud the author for doing her homework. Readers looking for a story that invokes emotion and thought will want to read Teri M. Brown’s “Daughters of Green Mountain Gap.”

[Scott Pearson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Primum non nocere, reads a key line of the Hippocratic Oath: “First do no harm.” For millennia, healthcare workers have tried to remember this ethical principle, yet human nature still often takes over. As is too common with religious differences, it’s far easier to squabble than to collaborate.

In our modern world, science supersedes belief, no? And enlightened, western religion supersedes mystical religions of the land, right? In the past 40-or-so years, many have come to question such an inevitable march to secularism, and the academic establishment has come to appreciate the value of old traditions. Further, healthcare workers have come to recognize that healing, though able to be studied by science, has many characteristics of an art-form. Studies show that placebos work better than no treatment, so belief plays a certain role. Indeed, often the best healers – of any profession – are those who are themselves healed.

These abstract ideas plague our best minds at university philosophy departments, divinity schools, and medical centers. Yet in this book, Teri Brown brings them down to earth in a multi-generational story in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, mostly in the 1890s. By varying between three points of view for three generations of women-healers (as is customary in her tales), she teaches how healing can also occur within families – indeed, often is necessary within families.

The grandmother Maggie, though white, learned her herbal healing arts from the Cherokee, a refined indigenous people in the region. She combined their spirituality with her own Christian tradition and tended to people in her mountain town. Her daughter Carrie Ann witnessed her mother’s shortcomings and chose instead to voyage to Boston to learn the “enlightened” science of nursing. However, to study, she left her daughter Josie Mae to be raised by Maggie, and Josie feels caught between these two matriarchs, each representing a distinct healing tradition. Such a feeling of confusion increases when Carrie Ann returns to staff a local clinic near her original home.

As happens in life, drama and challenges ensue, all centered around healing others and the healing necessary in this family. Brown captures readers’ interest in how competing ideologies might coexist in an intimate family. Though set primarily in the 1890s, these problems are very modern. Newspapers chronicle daily how America’s pluralist society struggles with competing viewpoints. Like the McCourys, we must learn to work together, lest our animosities turn into destruction. Especially those in healing professions, like myself in biomedical research, can learn how to avoid ideological traps. These traps, though well intentioned, can stymie progress and healing. Healing and being healed are some of the most human of all activities, and Brown encourages us to dive deeply into their rivers.

[susan funk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actually a 4.5. Finally a good read after a slump!!

[Dana Coates · Rating 5 out of 5]

All in one God

I had some difficuty with the first few chapters. Slow to me. Then the interest soard. I enjoy healing with herbs teas. Conventual medication healing has its place with tradition. I appreciated the way healing with belief in God and within self was presented. Hereitage and love of fam!lies need for families.

[Books for Humanity Global · Rating 5 out of 5]

Medicine, Myth, and Matriarchy in Appalachia
Daughters of Green Mountain Gap is not just about life in the North Carolina mountains; it’s about survival in a world that constantly pits tradition against progress. It’s a story of women who heal and women who question. It’s also a story about what happens when history isn’t passed down but fought over.

We’re often told history is written by the victors, but what if it’s actually written by the men who went to medical school while the real healers—granny women, midwives, and herbalists—were relegated to the footnotes?

The Silent Science of Granny Women
In today’s evidence-based world, we trust peer-reviewed journals over whispered knowledge. But Maggie, one of the novel’s central figures, belongs to an older lineage: the Appalachian “granny women,” healers who relied on plants, prayers, and pure instinct.

At one point, a university-trained doctor marvels at Maggie’s ability to calm a laboring woman and turn a baby in distress​. He has degrees, instruments, and tinctures—but she has the knowledge passed down through generations. Which begs the question: Do we dismiss knowledge just because it was never written down?

In the late 19th century, the American Medical Association actively campaigned against midwives and herbalists, branding them as unscientific, despite the fact that, in many communities, they had better success rates than doctors with forceps​. The novel subtly forces us to reconsider who holds the real power in medicine.

The Bloodline vs. the Boundaries
Carrie Ann, Maggie’s daughter, embodies the other side of the battle: progress, structure, and science. A nurse trained in more “modern” methods, she wants to leave the holler’s traditions behind. Yet, ironically, she finds herself drawn back to the very skills she rejected​.

Her struggle reminds us of a truth few people acknowledge: rejecting where you come from doesn’t always mean escaping it. How many of us have sworn off something—our family’s beliefs, our hometown’s culture—only to find it resurfacing in unexpected ways?

There’s an old saying, “What one generation tolerates, the next will embrace.” Carrie Ann tolerates her mother’s methods, but her daughter, Josie Mae, embraces them​. She doesn’t just accept the idea of being a healer; she seeks out Cherokee traditions, studying a language her mother forbids her to learn​. This isn’t just rebellion—it’s reclamation.

The Lingering Ghost of Erasure
Beyond personal struggles, Daughters of Green Mountain Gap asks a broader question: What happens when history is turned into entertainment? Josie Mae observes how Cherokee ceremonies, once sacred, have been watered down for tourists​. What’s left of a culture when it becomes a commodity?

This is a book that doesn’t just tell a story—it asks us to look at our own assumptions. Do we think of folk medicine as charming but obsolete? Do we assume those with formal education must know better? And most importantly: Do we recognize that progress, when careless, often bulldozes the very wisdom it claims to improve?

Final Thoughts: A Tale for the Head and the Heart
On the surface, Daughters of Green Mountain Gap is a well-researched historical novel, rich with vivid descriptions and deeply personal stakes. But underneath, it is a challenge—a challenge to remember, to reconsider, and to listen more carefully to the quiet voices of the past. Because sometimes, a whisper carries more truth than a shout.

This book is a winner of the Book of the Week Award. (Reference that will go live on or after 18 February 2025: https://booksforhumanityglobal.com/20...)

[Tomi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh no! I forgot to post my review here as well!

Teri M. Brown did an absolutely fantastic job with Daughters of Green Mountain Gap as she yet again introduces us to three strong, resilient, and well-rounded women that are easy to relate to. Alongside the family dynamics the characters navigate, Teri also explores themes such as fear of change, the struggle to preserve traditions, and the delicate balance between science and faith.

A five-star novel that is well worth reading this year!

You can check my full review on my blog: raveaboutbooks.com.

[Patty Bacon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent story about healing - all methodologies.

Excellent enjoyable read for the lover of historical fiction! And life in the Green Mountains around the turn of the 20th Century.

[Chelsie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just loved this story and Maggie's character. Maggie has always been known to be a healer and the one to go to when sickness or ailments arise. When her daughter Carrie goes off to medical school, Maggie cannot be more proud and is looking forward to Carrie bringing her knowledge back to their town. But Carrie has always thought her mothers methods are often times outrageous and is very outspoken about her feelings and thoughts on using the science she learned at an actual school to help cure the townsfolk's. A love interest has decided to move to town to become the local doctor, but he is finding that it is fascinating to learn from Maggie's knowledge of healing and nature and understands using both methods. So when Josie Mae starts to show interest in Maggie's medical ways and knowledge that drives an even bigger wedge between her and her mother. How dare her own daughter think that her grandmother has healing powers by resorting to nature and Indian ways to continue medical care of others. Maggie, Carrie, and Josie Mae have to work together when lives are at risk and death seems to be all around them. Is there a right or wrong way to treating ailments when often there can be various cures? This story will stay with me for a long time and I would love to read about Carrie's time in school as well as see how Josie Mae progresses. Thank you to the author for the complementary ebook. This review is of my own opinion and accord.

[Patty W Warren · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Daughters of Green Mountain Gap” follows three generations of Appalachian women as they care for their hometown of Burnsville, NC. Teri M Brown, the author, researched this story well. She portrays authentic medicinal cures which they use to treat their friends and neighbors. The characters spoke to me, a good sign of a great book.

As Maggie ages from a young bride to the matriarch, she suffers great loss. Her daughter, Carrie, grows up and pursues her own dreams. Maggie also helps raise her granddaughter, Josie.

Through their struggles and her grandmother’s loving care, Josie learns much. Maggie finally takes her to meet the Cherokee medicine man who taught Maggie so much and Josie begins to study.

Through love & loss, they fight, learn and support each other. When a crisis hits, close to home, each of these strong women must decide what they will do to save someone they love.

As usual, Teri’s strong writing and well-researched words make for a great read. It evident why she’s developing such a strong reader base. This book will keep you reading as quick as you can to reach the end. I give it 5 Strong Stars!

[Janet · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book! Highly recommend!

[Joseph Babson]

A Story of Healing and Wisdom

I couldn't put this novel down! I truly enjoyed its moving depiction of family relationships across generations. The Granny woman with her herbs and rituals of healing inspires us all to look to the God of Nature as the source of all good things. The way she reconciles her Christian faith with Cherokee medicinal wisdom is similar to how most of us today seek the answers of medical science in tandem with prayer. The tension between mother and daughter is palpable in this story, but their combined love for a child leads to healing of the heart as well as healing of the body. The beauty of the Appalachian mountains also seeps through the pages. The rocky land can be harsh and unforgiving at times, but it also holds peace and nobility. The people who survived the weather and harvests and trials of the mountain frontier have developed traditions worth remembering. Sometimes hate and intolerance are there at times as well, but love and faith does win.

[Margie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a wonderful historical fiction story set in the mountains of NC. It is told through the voices of three women, mother, daughter, and granddaughter. The mother is old fashioned and believes in natural healing remedies, many of them she learned from the Cherokee. Carrie Ann is aghast at her mother’s notion and studies to be a nurse. She works with a local doctor and believes modern medicine is better. The granddaughter Josie, who grew up living with her grandmother, likes her grandmothers ways, but also wants to learn more about modern medicine. This is a great story about mothers and daughters, Native American culture, and medical treatments in this era. Well written and researched. I have read other books by this author, but this one is her best yet. It was impressive that she was able to capture the voices of the characters living in Appalachia in the 1890s in a way that seemed so genuine.

[Tyler James · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a pleasure reading Daughters of Green Mountain Gap. My mom gave it to me and had great things to say about it, so I was excited to dive in. It was fascinating to experience a different time, especially with the "battle" between the Granny Woman's traditional healing methods and the modern medicine of the time. I liked seeing the contrast between the two, and how both were seen as valid in different ways. It was also really interesting to follow three generations of healers, each with their own approach to helping others. I also enjoyed hearing about the Cherokee culture woven throughout the story—it added such richness to the narrative. Overall, a great read with a unique perspective on healing, family, and culture.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, I enjoyed this book and the theme of the gifts of both herbal remedies and traditional medicine practices. Perhaps integrative is the best approach that is also a central theme carried by one of the main characters. I felt fairly annoyed with the daughter's negative attitude towards her mother who had such herbal wisdom. I found her to be so disrespectful. Some parts were downright depressing. But, there were tough times in this time period in the late 1700's. An interesting healthcare topic to ponder.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve fallen in love with Teri M. Brown’s marvelous historical fiction. I had high hopes for Daughters of Green Mountain Gap. Did it deliver? You know it did!

Daughters of Green Mountain Gap follows the stories of three generations of McCoury women: Maggie, her daughter Carrie Ann, and her granddaughter Josie Mae. Maggie is a granny woman, a healer. The story opens with Maggie walking away from her old life, banishing herself to a life alone where she thinks she can atone for her failings and do no more harm. We then flash back to different points in the past to see events unfold.

Maggie becomes a granny woman in the tradition of women in her family. She adds her own unique twist to her skills by learning from the medicine man of a Cherokee tribe in the same area. Her association with the Indians doesn’t always sit well with the people of Green Mountain Gap, but they value and respect Maggie and her skills as a healer.

Carrie Ann, Maggie’s daughter, absolutely does not respect her mother’s healing abilities and belittles her reliance on generations of folk learning and wisdom. She bucks her mother at every opportunity possible, and sometimes she’s simply horrible to Maggie as only a young woman who thinks she knows it all can be. She thinks Maggie wasted time getting help for her father, and if she’d only gotten him to a proper doctor sooner, he wouldn’t have died.

Carrie Ann is interested in healing, though, just not the way her mother does it. She leaves her daughter, Josie Mae, in Maggie’s care when she heads off to the big city to learn “real” medicine. So Josie Mae grows up largely under her grandmother’s tutelage, and she soaks up the granny woman learning eagerly, as the young so often do. But as she grows older, she struggles to know which path she should take: that of the granny woman, or that of the science-based medical professional.

I think I’ve said it before in my other reviews, but I’ll say it again in case y’all missed it: If you want a historical fiction read that is thoroughly researched, that will draw you right into the time and place the author writes about and make you feel like you are THERE, you need to read Teri M. Brown’s books. I felt like I was walking the hills of Green Mountain Gap with Maggie and Josie, like I was learning the Cherokee healing lore. I felt the winter cold as I scrolled through pages. Brown gives the reader an immersive experience with the details and descriptions of her stories.

We hear a lot about strong female characters these days, and it seems like a lot of TV shows and movies are very fond of the idea of the “girl boss.” You know, the one who can do anything a man can do, But Better. Here, Brown gives us wonderfully capable and complicated women as her main characters. They are all strong in their unique ways, in ways that only women can be. They aren’t acting like they have anything to prove to the world (okay, maybe Carrie Ann is, because she wants to prove that she’s Right and Maggie is Wrong). They aren’t trying to compete with or one-up men, even when they work with and learn from them. They’re handling the hard business of healing, of relationship, of love, of life and death, and all three of them are marvelous.

The story deals with some chewy topics, one of them being racism. As I mentioned, not everyone takes kindly to Maggie associating with and learning from the Cherokee. Carrie Ann is very outspoken in her disapproval of Maggie’s seeking alternative knowledge, and there is at least one instance where it looks like things may come to blows with someone thinking Maggie needs “rescuing” from her Cherokee friend. But people in the town still came to Maggie for her wisdom, even when Carrie Ann returned with an actual doctor in tow. I loved that Brown showed the flip side of the racism coin with the doctor’s acceptance of and interest in Maggie’s healing methods, both granny woman traditions and the things she learned from the Cherokee. I also found it fascinating that Brown made the connection between Cherokee medicine and healing practices and Maggie’s Christian faith. As she tries to explain to Carrie Ann, they may call him by different names, but she and the Cherokee are both calling out to the same God for healing. Maggie didn’t see a conflict with using rituals the Cherokee shared with her as long as her faith and her focus was on her God while she performed those actions.

We see the McCoury women wrestle with the clash between old ways and new, difficult family dynamics, loss of a loved one, and serious illness. It takes a crisis to bring things to a head, and much hangs in the balance. Can Maggie lay down the load of guilt she carries for the ones she couldn’t save? Can Carrie see that she doesn’t know everything and sometimes faith plays just as much of a role in healing as medical science? Will Josie Mae be able to reconcile past and present to forge her own path? Grab the book and find out.

If you enjoy a story with well-crafted characters that you will love and cheer for and cry for, I highly recommend Daughters of Green Mountain Gap. Only January, and this is in the running for my best books of 2024. Teri M. Brown is one of my must-read authors and one of the best historical fiction writers I’ve had the pleasure to read. Get to know the McCoury women. Their story will stick with you long after the final page has turned.

[Kim Sloan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Take me to the River

I absolutely loved this book. As a nurse, I felt the conflicts and healing personally. Losing patients regardless how hard we work can take a toll and ready of loss in this book made it difficult to read through tears. Granny is my hero but even more, Josie Mae is also a hero. On the other hand, Carrie Ann can be a hero also. Such a great story of the power of healing of the soul! Take me to the River!

[Terri · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Great Story

Daughters of Green Mountain Gap is excellent. Maggie is a Granny Healer in Green Mountain Gap. Her daughter is a skeptical professional nurse. Maggie’s grandchild is caught in the middle of these very different women. Excellent story!

[Kathleen White · Rating 5 out of 5]

What I thought about the book

It was a great book. I finished it in one day. I have read most of her books and they all good.

[Jerry lewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good bppk

Reading this this book will lift your soul. Create a believing spirit within. All thing are possible with little believe and hope

[Nancy Merrill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lacks a good story

Not much plot. The story was mostly about how mother and daughter did not see eye to eye t medical practices.

[Cynthia · Rating 5 out of 5]

The intertwining of the generations was beautifully done. The integration of herbal medicine was done with accuracy. Highly recommend if you love all things Mountain and medicine magick.

[Elizabeth Solazzo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great plot with three different viewpoint. I especially enjoyed the description of the Smoky Mountains.

[Suzy Bernard · Rating 5 out of 5]

powerful

The power of love believing in one another as well as God. Love shared by family through knowledge made them believe in one another and not break that bond.

[Nancy F Daves · Rating 4 out of 5]

Family dtynamics

Very entertaining. Family love is in the bloodline even was gen was can't express it. Everyone feels it at some time.

[Feathered Quill Book Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Author Teri M. Brown has given readers an amazing, multi-generational, family story that should not be missed. It is a story that will take readers to another time and place as they watch the McCoury ladies fight with each other as they also fight to survive in the Appalachians while facing many issues, such as racism, unexplainable illnesses, local customs, and family disagreements.

Daughters of Green Mountain Gap follows the lives of three very interesting and very strong female characters. There is Maggie McCoury, the local healer who relies on herbs and flowers and a strong belief in Cherokee medicine. She is known as the town’s granny woman. There is Maggie’s daughter, Carrie Ann, who does not believe in her mother’s method of healing and so she went to school to become a nurse. All Carrie Ann wants is to change the town's view from her mother’s herbs and chanting to one of science. And finally, there is Josie Mae, Carrie Ann’s daughter, who loves her mother but has been raised by her grandmother and believes that Maggie’s way of healing is the right one and she wants to be just like her.

As the reader watches, these three ladies attempt to help the townspeople while they fight amongst themselves about what is really right and wrong. Although the people surrounding them do not like the Indians, nor do they believe in any of their customs and rituals, they do believe in Maggie and prefer calling on her for help even after Carrie Ann comes back as a nurse and brings a real doctor with her for the town. This causes much pain and fighting between Carrie Ann and her mother as Daniel, the new doctor in town, envelops many of Maggie’s beliefs and goes against his own nurse in her opinions, siding with her mother on many occasions. The fights between Carrie Ann and her own daughter are just as severe as Josie Mae believes in her grandmother and, while she also studies the science of medicine that her mother uses, Josie Mae accepts that many times her grandmother is the one on the right side. This in turn leads to bad feelings between this mother and daughter as Josie focuses on the Indian traditions more than her mother’s scientific ways.

Daughters of Green Mountain Gap is a fantastic story that covers such an interesting period of time in our history and shows, in an honest and very well-written way, the huge chasm there is between science and true faith when attempting to help people. Teri M. Brown is a great writer and the pages of this book will just fly by for the reader. With such descriptive writing, the reader can really feel as if they are there in this Appalachian mountain town or in the Cherokee village where Maggie travels once a year to continue learning from the tribe.

The thing that makes this story so mesmerizing, however, are the three ladies of the McCoury family. Each of these women holds so strongly to their beliefs and the family dynamics come across as very authentic. It is apparent to the reader that, even when these women are fighting for their own principles against each other, there is a love between them that comes through on the pages.

Everything about the characters makes you care about them for who they are and what they believe.
Daughters of Green Mountain Gap is an outstanding book and I would highly recommend it to all. I was extremely impressed with every aspect of the writing and firmly believe that Ms. Brown has an incredible hit on her hands with this story. I cannot wait to see what she does next as I have become a huge fan.

Quill says: This is a book that is filled with amazing family dynamics covering three generations of women and every bit of it is written perfectly. Daughters of Green Mountain Gap is one that should be on everyone’s must-read list!