YA realistic fiction from the 80s (maybe 70s?) rural setting, protagonist in a barn. Protagonist doesn't get along with younger sibling. Spoiler.

[Cara]

Spoilers follow (sorry, the only details I remember ARE spoilers):





I read this in middle school (between 1995-1997) but I'm pretty sure the book was a few years old even at that point. My memories are extremely hazy, but I remember a major plot point being a barn that was infested with either brown recluses or black widows and for some reason (I think to help a younger sibling?) the protagonist rushes into the barn, gets bitten dozens of times and nearly dies. If memory serves, this was the major, climactic moment of the book, because the character and the younger sibling didn't get along. I would put it in the "depressing coming-of-age stories about teens living in rural places" genre. I don't think it was set in Appalachia, but it was definitely a rural setting (hence the barn). And I'm PRETTY sure the author was a woman.

Books I know it isn't: Charlotte's Web, The Black Widow Spider Mystery
Genres I know it isn't: Fantasy (it was very grounded in "realism")

[Alexis]

Just checking that it's not The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy? Plot doesn't fit your description, but you admit your memory is hazy. Black widow spiders and siblings play an important role in that book.

[Cara]

Alexis wrote: "Just checking that it's not The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy? Plot doesn't fit your description, but you admit your memory is hazy. Black widow spiders and siblings play..."

Oh wow, I remember when the movie adaptation of that came out. Unfortunately, I can guarantee my parents wouldn't have let me get my hands on that book at age 12, no matter how precocious a reader I was! It was also definitely a YA/children's novel.

[Rainbowheart]

This sounds super familiar to me.

Was it historical fiction or set in the modern day?

[Cara]

Rainbowheart wrote: "This sounds super familiar to me.

Was it historical fiction or set in the modern day?"

I think it was set in the modern day in the context of the book? But I genuinely don't remember when the book was published, it could have been published as early as the 70s (I did read a lot of 70s and 80s fiction as a kid, and it does blur together after a while...)