The Sweet and Bitter Taste of Moonshine

by Andrew Ross

Author Andrew Ross spins a poignant and magical tale with The Sweet and Bitter Taste of Moonshine , his rich and multilayered novel of the American South that has humanity’s classic, most-often-asked existential questions at its core. Ross paints a deftly rendered portrait of this beautiful and deeply historied landscape with this utterly palpable backdrop as the novel’s setting.
Ambrose Wells, a young man with virtually no loved ones, has a dead-end job he despises assessing property for tax purposes for the state. He is given the assignment to travel to Wellspring Island, a mysterious piece of land owned by Mr. Peyton Grimball—the enigmatic local hermit—in the middle of St. Helena Sound. Ambrose reluctantly drives to his childhood home, Edisto Island, a place he has often avoided in adulthood due to its inherently painful reminders of his past.
While there, Ambrose meets a cast of remarkably fascinating characters who serve to help him connect the dots that could shed light on the murky details of his past—both his childhood and family history. During his time spent on Edisto, Ambrose is put to the test, and he is forced to make a return to his sad but comfortable existence, or drink from the proverbial fountain of youth? His choice could lead him to the discovery of a life filled with new meaning—a life where, for the first time, Ambrose is able to experience true joy.

268 pages, Paperback

First published August 5, 2016

About the author

Andrew Ross was born in Toronto, Canada, but grew up in Cohasset, Massachusetts, and graduated from the University of Richmond in Virginia in 2002. After completing medical school in Norfolk, Virginia, he went on to complete a residency in emergency medicine in Charleston, South Carolina. He now currently lives in Savannah with his wife, Maggie, and their daughters Josephine and Eleanor, and their son Benjamin, where he works as an emergency physician. A love of all things literary—especially history, biographies, and the classics—helped shape his interest in writing. Outside of literature, he enjoys traveling, mountaineering, skiing, scotch, and soccer.

Reviews

[Frieda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting. I'm not 100% how to judge this book. It started pretty slow for more than half of its pages but you need then for the hectic ending. It was enjoyable and left me wondering what did he do next?

[Nancy Schober]

Everthing that happens in this book only happens in the last last quarter of the book. .so yeah, there were some plot pacing problems. I think the author might have done better to just throw away his thesaurus and use words that actually would occur in real conversation. I found it jarring than an educated and cultured lady would call her female parent "mamma". There were some nuggets of goodness though like in the sometimes rich description of scenery and characters.