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The Woods at Barlow Bend
One shot fired deep in the pine forests of her youth was all it took to change Hattie's life forever. At the age of fourteen, Hattie learns that her mother, Addie, is dead, and her father, Hubbard, stands accused of Addie's murder, along with countless other shocking betrayals. Overnight, Hattie becomes mother to her three siblings while still very much a child herself.
The life she had dreamt of now seems impossible to achieve. How will Hattie break away from the father who prevents her from living the life she desperately wants? Will her heart ever be able to heal in the height of The Great Depression?
The life she had dreamt of now seems impossible to achieve. How will Hattie break away from the father who prevents her from living the life she desperately wants? Will her heart ever be able to heal in the height of The Great Depression?
206 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 19, 2014
109 people are currently reading
885 people want to read
About the author
Jodie Cain Smith
10 books39 followersJodie Cain Smith is the author of two Southern Gothic novels, The Woods at Barlow Bend (1st edition Deer Hawk Publications, Nov 2014; 2nd edition Kat Biggie Press, July 2021) and Bayou Cresting: The Wanting Women of Huet Pointe. More than any other character, Jodie enjoys creating ambitious women who often fly across the line to dangerous women.
When she is not creating southern fiction, Jodie can be found in the worlds of superheroes, Lego, and Mario Kart with her little boy and husband. Her Mario Kart driving needs work.
Jodie Cain Smith's short stories, feature articles, and columns have appeared in The Petigru Review, Chicken Soup for the Military Spouse's Soul, The Savannah Morning News, and the Fort Hood Sentinel.
To learn more about Jodie Cain Smith and her random thoughts on writing, books, and life, visit her website www.jodiecainsmith.com.
When she is not creating southern fiction, Jodie can be found in the worlds of superheroes, Lego, and Mario Kart with her little boy and husband. Her Mario Kart driving needs work.
Jodie Cain Smith's short stories, feature articles, and columns have appeared in The Petigru Review, Chicken Soup for the Military Spouse's Soul, The Savannah Morning News, and the Fort Hood Sentinel.
To learn more about Jodie Cain Smith and her random thoughts on writing, books, and life, visit her website www.jodiecainsmith.com.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 73 reviews
May 21, 2015
Everyone has a "story". The author wrote her grandmother's story of love, loss and tragedy. I remember when I heard my beloved grandmother's story...it broke my heart how much loss and heartbreak she went through in her life. But as her grandchild, I was oblivious to all of it only caring about the way she loved me. I never cease to be amazed by the resiliency of the human spirit and strength of will. I hope I never face what the author's grandmother or my grandmother did, but if I do I hope I can navigate it with as much grace and strength as they did.
May 28, 2015
This is one of those stories that grabbed me because it was based on true life. One of those unexpected family stories that no one knew about it until a granddaughter just happened to ask an open ended question for a homework assignment. The author gave the story depth and breathed life into the characters. I really enjoyed this but I'm still wondering as I'm sure Hattie wondered her whole life.
February 23, 2015
"This would make a great book." It's a common thought after hearing a bit of family history, but few of us take the trouble. Kudos to Ms. Smith for sharing her well-researched family saga.
June 12, 2022
I was introduced to this book through my Alabama family. Turns out the main character Hattie is my second counsin twice removed (my grandpa's 2nd cousin). I wish he was alive so that I could ask him what he knows, I know all the cousins were close. I devoured the book in 2 sittings! It is beautifully written and dives deeply into a story of love, betrayals, and strength. And its a true story!
May 29, 2015
Imagine asking your grandmother about her past and hearing a story of love, betrayal and murder. From what I understand this is the authors first book and my opinion great job! This is based on a true story and author has written the story perfectly. Recommend to all. The main character Hattie, is a true hero!
January 26, 2015
Spirited, Strong Character Story
Great read! Really enjoyed this book. So many different characters and personalities. Lots of ups and downs...just like any of our lives if we are truly living. Highly recommended.
Great read! Really enjoyed this book. So many different characters and personalities. Lots of ups and downs...just like any of our lives if we are truly living. Highly recommended.
May 22, 2015
Engaging story.
Well developed characters and story based on factual family history. Interesting to see how Hattie was able to develop such strength in the face oh such adversity. Some good lessons for us all.
Well developed characters and story based on factual family history. Interesting to see how Hattie was able to develop such strength in the face oh such adversity. Some good lessons for us all.
April 27, 2015
I will read anything Jodie Cain Smith writes. Fabulous book. Hattie is one tough cookie with a lot of responsibility. Well done.
June 20, 2015
Amazing!
This story took me back to my own childhood sitting at the table over coffee while my grandma told me about her own childhood. Definitely 5 stars in my book!!!
This story took me back to my own childhood sitting at the table over coffee while my grandma told me about her own childhood. Definitely 5 stars in my book!!!
July 29, 2024
Mysterious Death
The author tells her grandmother's story. When Hattie was a child, her parents went hunting, and a gun went off, killing her mother. Rumors flew around that Hattie's father killed his wife. He was arrested and consequently went to trial. Even though he was declared not guilty, the rumors never completely died away. Jodie shares about the challenges of her grandmother's life and how Hattie eventually eloped at sixteen to escape from her messed up father's home. I just skimmed this book to discover the main details of this story. It was interesting, but I wasn't in the mood for more of an in-depth read.
The author tells her grandmother's story. When Hattie was a child, her parents went hunting, and a gun went off, killing her mother. Rumors flew around that Hattie's father killed his wife. He was arrested and consequently went to trial. Even though he was declared not guilty, the rumors never completely died away. Jodie shares about the challenges of her grandmother's life and how Hattie eventually eloped at sixteen to escape from her messed up father's home. I just skimmed this book to discover the main details of this story. It was interesting, but I wasn't in the mood for more of an in-depth read.
January 30, 2025
This is an interesting piece of historical fiction. The author tells the story of her grandmother and how, at the age of 13, she loses her mother, her father is accused of murder, and Hattie becomes mother to her three younger siblings. Taking place in the South in the 1930's the story also gives the reader a better understanding of life in rural America during that era. Throughout the story it's difficult to tell if Hattie's father killed her mother or if it was a tragic accident. Her father shows himself to not being a likable character, but Hattie is able to survive all she is put through. Worth reading.
October 27, 2017
It was a quick read. Hattie was a complex character whose life as a child was cut very short. She was strong and weak at the same time. Only when life became totally unbearable, did she finally fight back. You never really know about her father, who had many sides to his personality. While I did finish it, it left me feeling unsatisfied.
July 15, 2018
Just wonderful
How I love this authors style,this book sang to my soul.I hope this is only the first and won't be the last book from this gifted lady.Please pick this book you will not be disappointed.
How I love this authors style,this book sang to my soul.I hope this is only the first and won't be the last book from this gifted lady.Please pick this book you will not be disappointed.
April 18, 2021
Great Story- Another Time, Another Place. All Real.
I Could Not Stop Reading! The storyline drew me in and Never stopped. Hattie is a survivor.She is the strength we all hope we have.
I Could Not Stop Reading! The storyline drew me in and Never stopped. Hattie is a survivor.She is the strength we all hope we have.
June 29, 2022
A tragic hunting accident claims Hattie's mother leaving her to care for her dad and three siblings at the age of 14. Her entire life is turned upside down especially when her father is arrested for his wife's murder.
January 1, 2026
A well presented read
If you like to delve into families and communities and the jumbled dynamics of beautifully and sometimes tragically flawed happenings of both then settle down with your coffee and a comfy chair and meet some unforgettable characters.
If you like to delve into families and communities and the jumbled dynamics of beautifully and sometimes tragically flawed happenings of both then settle down with your coffee and a comfy chair and meet some unforgettable characters.
February 1, 2018
A well-written intriguing story of uncertain justice. The body of the story was great. The early chapters were slow, and several chapters at the end could have been eliminated.
November 22, 2021
Great book!
Loved this book. The rich detail provided a look at the 1930’s. A very good coming of age story. I hope to read more from Jodie Cain Smith!
Loved this book. The rich detail provided a look at the 1930’s. A very good coming of age story. I hope to read more from Jodie Cain Smith!
August 11, 2022
Based on a true story and events in the author's grandmother's life. Well written story that looks at many aspects of two families lives. Hattie was a resilient character for sure.
March 9, 2017
Excellent glimpse into 1930s life in rural Alabama
I thought this book was very well researched though at times it read more like a family history book rather than a novel. The characters' motives were very well done so I can't imagine how difficult it was to write about ones' family, especially when certain members, like the father, we're definitely not the heroes of the story.
The main character, Hattie, didn't come alive for me until she went off to school. I can't pinpoint what the difference is, but that's when I began to get in to the story. Perhaps the author didn't want to take too many liberties with her Granny-as-a-child's personality
3.5 stars
I thought this book was very well researched though at times it read more like a family history book rather than a novel. The characters' motives were very well done so I can't imagine how difficult it was to write about ones' family, especially when certain members, like the father, we're definitely not the heroes of the story.
The main character, Hattie, didn't come alive for me until she went off to school. I can't pinpoint what the difference is, but that's when I began to get in to the story. Perhaps the author didn't want to take too many liberties with her Granny-as-a-child's personality
3.5 stars
February 27, 2015
Superlative Storytelling: a novel with staying power
A week after finishing Jodie Cain Smith’s novel, The Woods at Barlow Bend, I can’t stop thinking about her characters and the mystery that surrounds the death of the beautiful and lively Addie Andrews, supposedly from a freak hunting accident.
As I sit at the breakfast table drinking my coffee, my mind travels back to rural Alabama on the morning of January 31,1934. The dashing Hubbard Andrews carries his young wife’s body two miles through the woods at Barlow Bend. As he trudges along, trying to decide what to do next, he contemplates how he will tell his four children about their mother’s death. Even as he places Addie’s lifeless body on the backseat of her beloved 1930 Model T Ford ragtop, I’m already one step ahead of him, dreading that moment when his thirteen-year-old daughter Hattie, the oldest of the four kids, realizes the feisty and loving woman she looks up to, the woman who “shined in the center of our lives like the sun” is never coming home.
With the exception of the opening passages, written in third person and seen through Hubbard’s viewpoint, the rest of the story is narrated by young Hattie Andrews, a reliable protagonist I fell in love with the moment her voice took over the tale. Unlike her daddy, a weak and shiftless man headed on a downward spiral, Hattie has gumption, a term we don’t hear much these days. And because of that gumption, I rooted for her as she kept the family together, even after her daddy was accused of murder. Even though Addie is dead before the tale begins, she comes alive in the heart and mind of the reader as we see her through Hattie’s eyes.
In one of my favorite passages, which I highlighted to read over and over again, Hattie reflects on her momma:
“Sometimes, she needed to remind herself that adventures could be found right around any corner. ‘You just have to make the turn,’ she would say to me as we rode with the ragtop down…”
When you open up this novel, you will forget it’s 2015 and that you have a life outside of the story. You will forget that you’re reading from an electronic device or an old-fashioned paperback. Whether you’re in a skyscraper, a mountain cabin, or on a crowded bus or airliner, your mind will drift back in time to a place you’ve probably never been. But in a matter of seconds, after reading the author’s opening lines, the Alabama setting will be so familiar, you’ll wonder why you ever left.
How can that be, you say?
Because Jodie Cain Smith is such a skilled storyteller, her teenage narrator, Hattie, will wrap around your heart and settle in to stay.
Kathleen M Rodgers, author of the new novel, Johnnie Come Lately
A week after finishing Jodie Cain Smith’s novel, The Woods at Barlow Bend, I can’t stop thinking about her characters and the mystery that surrounds the death of the beautiful and lively Addie Andrews, supposedly from a freak hunting accident.
As I sit at the breakfast table drinking my coffee, my mind travels back to rural Alabama on the morning of January 31,1934. The dashing Hubbard Andrews carries his young wife’s body two miles through the woods at Barlow Bend. As he trudges along, trying to decide what to do next, he contemplates how he will tell his four children about their mother’s death. Even as he places Addie’s lifeless body on the backseat of her beloved 1930 Model T Ford ragtop, I’m already one step ahead of him, dreading that moment when his thirteen-year-old daughter Hattie, the oldest of the four kids, realizes the feisty and loving woman she looks up to, the woman who “shined in the center of our lives like the sun” is never coming home.
With the exception of the opening passages, written in third person and seen through Hubbard’s viewpoint, the rest of the story is narrated by young Hattie Andrews, a reliable protagonist I fell in love with the moment her voice took over the tale. Unlike her daddy, a weak and shiftless man headed on a downward spiral, Hattie has gumption, a term we don’t hear much these days. And because of that gumption, I rooted for her as she kept the family together, even after her daddy was accused of murder. Even though Addie is dead before the tale begins, she comes alive in the heart and mind of the reader as we see her through Hattie’s eyes.
In one of my favorite passages, which I highlighted to read over and over again, Hattie reflects on her momma:
“Sometimes, she needed to remind herself that adventures could be found right around any corner. ‘You just have to make the turn,’ she would say to me as we rode with the ragtop down…”
When you open up this novel, you will forget it’s 2015 and that you have a life outside of the story. You will forget that you’re reading from an electronic device or an old-fashioned paperback. Whether you’re in a skyscraper, a mountain cabin, or on a crowded bus or airliner, your mind will drift back in time to a place you’ve probably never been. But in a matter of seconds, after reading the author’s opening lines, the Alabama setting will be so familiar, you’ll wonder why you ever left.
How can that be, you say?
Because Jodie Cain Smith is such a skilled storyteller, her teenage narrator, Hattie, will wrap around your heart and settle in to stay.
Kathleen M Rodgers, author of the new novel, Johnnie Come Lately
June 18, 2015
I went into reading this novel as just that.... a novel. And then I happened across the photos of the real life people this story is based on & my mind was blown! What an incredible family history Ms. Smith has! I was immediately sucked into the life of mother Addie, father Hubbard, daughter Hattie, the novel's narrator, & her young siblings. The story centers around the Andrews family, who live in the South during The Great Depression. Their lives are shattered & forever changed when Addie is killed in a hunting accident. Her father is almost immediately suspected in her death & is put on trial, while Hattie must step into the role of mother & caregiver for her siblings. Following Hattie through her father's trial, the aftermath, & her future, I felt such empathy for this girl who at fourteen had to put aside her childhood & become an adult overnight. Her strength, courage, & resourcefulness carry her through & I found myself admiring her. Truly a moving story that had me turning pages through the night. I highly recommend reading The Woods at Barlow Bend and I will be reading it again myself!
December 30, 2015
The woods at Barlow bend
Hattie's life is forever changed one morning after her father and mother go squirrel hunting. Only her father comes home alive. Thus starts a trial that will prove her father's guilt or innocence. This book was hard to put down.I found myself liking Hattie and wanted to find out how she coped with her mother's death and fathers possible involvement. This unfortunately was a true story. Jodie told her grandmother's story in an exceptional way. I cheered for Hattie in the end. Happy that she found a new and better life for herself outside her father's ideas of what life should be like for her. On a side note, my family lives near Foley so it was interesting to read about a place so familiar to me. It made the story even easier to become familiar with since I do know the areas that Smith was referencing.
Hattie's life is forever changed one morning after her father and mother go squirrel hunting. Only her father comes home alive. Thus starts a trial that will prove her father's guilt or innocence. This book was hard to put down.I found myself liking Hattie and wanted to find out how she coped with her mother's death and fathers possible involvement. This unfortunately was a true story. Jodie told her grandmother's story in an exceptional way. I cheered for Hattie in the end. Happy that she found a new and better life for herself outside her father's ideas of what life should be like for her. On a side note, my family lives near Foley so it was interesting to read about a place so familiar to me. It made the story even easier to become familiar with since I do know the areas that Smith was referencing.
December 20, 2015
Memorable, inviting, haunting
Nobody should start this book unless they have a period of time set aside without interruptions. Once you start it's difficult to set down. I received Smith's first novel free of charge through Book Bub and it sat on my iPhone for months. One Sunday I thought I'd take a look at a couple of pages and before I realized it, I was halfway through - it's that hard to put down.
Yes, she had an enthralling story to tell, but with her engaging writing style this becomes one of the best books I've e we read. Kudos to Smith for gracing us with this memorable tale inspired by a generous grandma and a powerful, haunting tale!
Nobody should start this book unless they have a period of time set aside without interruptions. Once you start it's difficult to set down. I received Smith's first novel free of charge through Book Bub and it sat on my iPhone for months. One Sunday I thought I'd take a look at a couple of pages and before I realized it, I was halfway through - it's that hard to put down.
Yes, she had an enthralling story to tell, but with her engaging writing style this becomes one of the best books I've e we read. Kudos to Smith for gracing us with this memorable tale inspired by a generous grandma and a powerful, haunting tale!
Read
February 10, 2016One shot fired deep in the pine forests of her youth was all it took to change Hattie's life forever. At the age of fourteen, Hattie learns that her mother, Addie, is dead, and her father, Hubbard, stands accused of Addie's murder, along with countless other shocking betrayals. Overnight, Hattie becomes mother to her three siblings while still very much a child herself.
The life she had dreamt of now seems impossible to achieve. How will Hattie break away from the father who prevents her from living the life she desperately wants? Will her heart ever be able to heal in the height of The Great Depression?
The life she had dreamt of now seems impossible to achieve. How will Hattie break away from the father who prevents her from living the life she desperately wants? Will her heart ever be able to heal in the height of The Great Depression?
May 27, 2015
Hattie's mother is killed and her father is accused of murder. In this one instance what Hattie thought was a normal happy childhood turned into hearing things no child should ever hear. For a while before her father's trial Hattie had a chance of happiness but her father's selfishness brought her pain. The only good came in finding her husband who had his own pain. This true story of the writers grandmother is one of preserverance of tragedy over happiness. In the end, I believe Hattie was happy in all she accomplished. I would have liked to know what happened to her siblings though.
June 5, 2015
This is kinda a memoir, kinda a historic novel...
It was okay. The writing could have been polished. The fact that her parents are referred to as Momma and Daddy the entire time was a little odd for me...
I felt like the writing was very modern, I had to remind myself that it was set during the Great Depression, sounded like it could have been more recent. And even as she grew older, she sounded like the same thirteen year old child.
It was okay, so I'll be generous with three stars.
It was okay. The writing could have been polished. The fact that her parents are referred to as Momma and Daddy the entire time was a little odd for me...
I felt like the writing was very modern, I had to remind myself that it was set during the Great Depression, sounded like it could have been more recent. And even as she grew older, she sounded like the same thirteen year old child.
It was okay, so I'll be generous with three stars.
June 6, 2015
The book description sounded interesting. I think the book was well written and I was interested in knowing what was going to happen next. The read was more interesting because it was someone's story and based on real people beginning in the 1930s. The family pictures drove home the fact these were real people. I found it to be an enjoyable read but not a compelling read. I am a male and I think it's possible females may identify with the story more so than males.
December 27, 2015
I enjoyed reading the story about Addie's death and the subsequent murder trial. I feel that this part of the story (ignoring some editing issues) was pretty well done. Having it told from Hattie's point of view worked well. However, the rest of the story from the reading of the verdict on was not nearly as good. It felt very rushed and like it was just stuck onto the end. It either needed to have been a lot more detailed or to have been cut down to a 2 or 3 page epilogue.
May 18, 2015
Story of a Strong, Brave, Woman
Based on the true story of her grandmother, the author portrayed a difficult childhood that might have made a bitter, untrusting adulthood, but instead led to love, accomplishment and a good heritage for her descendants. I am glad I learned about Hattie.
Based on the true story of her grandmother, the author portrayed a difficult childhood that might have made a bitter, untrusting adulthood, but instead led to love, accomplishment and a good heritage for her descendants. I am glad I learned about Hattie.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 73 reviews