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Nora Bonesteel's Christmas Past (Ballad, #10.5)

Sharyn McCrumb

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Dec 01, 2016 Werner rated it liked it

Shelves: general-fiction

Though I've only reviewed the second installment of the Ballad series, The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter, I've read the first seven novels, and greatly liked all of them except the first one, which I fortunately didn't start with. (IMO, McCrumb didn't really hit her stride with the series until the second book.) This novella is numbered as #10.5 of the series because of when it was published (after the tenth novel), but it's not really tied into the series order, and could be read out of sequence Though I've only reviewed the second installment of the Ballad series, The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter, I've read the first seven novels, and greatly liked all of them except the first one, which I fortunately didn't start with. (IMO, McCrumb didn't really hit her stride with the series until the second book.) This novella is numbered as #10.5 of the series because of when it was published (after the tenth novel), but it's not really tied into the series order, and could be read out of sequence without any problem. (But as I explain below, I personally wouldn't recommend beginning your reading of the series here.)

Like all the Ballad books, this one is set in the present-day Tennessee mountains, in and around the fictional county seat town of Hamelin. Three major characters well known to series fans appear here, in two separate and unrelated plot strands that alternate back and forth in the narrative. In one of these, on Christmas Eve, at the behest of a vindictive Senator, Sheriff Spencer Arrowood and his deputy Joe Le Donne are tasked with traveling into the fastnesses of Dark Hollow to serve an arrest warrant on the driver of a car involved in a minor fender-bender with the lawmaker's wife's vehicle. In the other, a retired couple from Florida, summer residents of one of the older homes in the hills around Hamelin who've decided to stay on for Christmas this year, call on the resources of aged mountain wise woman Nora Bonesteel --blessed, or cursed, with the Sight that runs in her family- to deal with an unusual problem.

I've always classified the Ballad series as general fiction, because the real main thrust of it is realistic depiction of the lives, relationships and problems (individual and societal) of true-to-life people in a modern Appalachian community. But because three of our main series characters work in a sheriff's office, plots often do involve detective work to solve crimes (McCrumb is also a very successful mystery writer). And the supernatural world often impinges on the natural one in real ways; in the world of the Ballad series, ghosts, the Sight, etc. aren't figments of the imagination. There's not much of a mystery element in this book. But the central premise of Nora's plot strand here is very real supernatural phenomena. A case could be made that what we have here is supernatural fiction. But if the defining characteristic of "general fiction" --what I sometimes call "everyday" fiction-- is straightforward depiction of normal, everyday modern life, the author brings you to accept the fact that, for instance, an occasional conversation with a ghost IS a normal, straightforward part of life for some of these characters, no more out of tune with everyday reality than a conversation with a grocery store clerk would be.

This book isn't nearly as substantial as the novels in this series. That's partly because the shorter length provides less scope for substance, but also because there are indications that the author's craftsmanship here was less painstaking than it is with the other books --as if this book wasn't taken as seriously, and was slapped together more hurriedly. For instance, the exact chronology of Nora's interactions with "snowbird" Shirley Haverty, in relation to the other plot strand, are vague; not all of the former takes place on Christmas Eve, but it's not really clear if any of it does. That's a flaw, in my estimation. In one place, the author loses track of who's speaking in a thread of dialogue. There's a fair amount of telling, rather than showing, because in some cases the author doesn't have time to show. McCrumb's knowledge of, and deep sympathy for, traditional mountain culture is usually a strength of the series, but here the shorter length makes the occasional info-dumps more noticeable. While one could begin an acquaintance with the series here, you don't get as full-orbed an introduction to the characters as you would in the novels. This book would appeal the most, I think, to readers who already know and like these characters.

That said, I still liked the read. For me, it was an enjoyable short visit with old friends. (Yes, my reading of it was spread over 12 days, but that's misleading; most of those days, I didn't have a chance to read. If I'd had, I'd have finished this much more quickly.) I liked the celebration of the more permanent and worthy values of an older, less commercialized, homogenized and plastic time, and the positive depiction of a willingness to help others who need it even if it means some personal inconvenience. The endings of both plot strands are well done. And as an added plus, there's no bad language here (probably due to its being published by Abingdon Press, a Methodist imprint --the novels, originally published by Scribner, do have some of that).

One general comment that could be made about the series is that, although the novels are apparently set at the time they're published (the second book, first published in 1992, for instance, refers to the first Gulf War), there's not much indication that the characters are aging. The first book was published in 1990, some 26 years ago. I don't have that one in front of me at the moment, but my impression is that Spencer was in his mid-to-late 30s then, and his co-workers Joe and Martha perhaps five years or so younger than he. (Though Joe served in the Vietnam War, and U.S. involvement in that conflict ended in 1973.) We know from The Rosewood Casket that Nora was of marriageable age when the U.S. entered World War II; by 2014, when this novella was published, she'd be at least in her 90s. That's not so problematic; she's already elderly when she's introduced in the second book, so we've never thought of her, except in the flashbacks, as young. But by now, Spencer and his deputies would certainly be at least in their early 60s. or pushing 60. There's never any indication that they've grown that old. Granted, this book may take place earlier in the series chronology; but none of the books I've read really acknowledge the passing of time. ...more

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