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Over the Plain Houses
Over the Plain Houses | Julia Franks
18 posts | 9 read | 59 to read
It's 1939, and the federal government has sent Virginia Furman,a USDA agent, into the North Carolina mountains to instruct families how to modernize their homes and farms. There she meets farm wife Irene Lambey, who is immediately drawn to the lady agent's self-possession. Already, cracks are emerging in Irenie's fragile marriage to Brodis, an ex-logger turned fundamentalist preacher: she has taken to night ramblings through the woods to escape her husband's bed, storing strange keepsakes in a mountain crevice. To Brodis, these are all the signs that Irenietiptoeing through the dark in her billowing white nightshirthas become a witch. On one surreal night when Irenie slips back into bed with a kind of supernatural stealth, Brodis senses that a certain evil has entered his life, linked to the lady agent, or perhaps to ancient, more sinister forces. Working in the stylistic terrain of Amy Greene and Bonnie Joe Campbell, this spellbinding debut by Julia Franks is the story of a woman intrigued by the possibility of change and escapestalked by a Bible-haunted man who fears his government and stakes his integrity upon an older way of life. As Brodis chases his demons, he brings about a final act of violence that shakes the entire valley. Over the Plain Houses bares the myths and mysteries that modernity can't quite dispel.
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quote
Bertha_Mason
Over the Plain Houses | Julia Franks

"A smokestack rose from the haze, and smaller stacks around it, like rough and blasted children."
Today in odd similes.

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Bertha_Mason
Over the Plain Houses | Julia Franks

"Her body felt dry and weightless, as if the physical presence of it were not hers to own, as if the woman standing stock against the door frame weren‘t a woman at all, but the dried up shell of one, like the husk the fisher spider abandoned after squeezing her new self out. There wasn‘t anything left in the husk to give it free will. A good wind and it would blow away."

blurb
Bertha_Mason
Over the Plain Houses | Julia Franks

Cool words I saw for the first time in this book:
-blousoning
-shivaree
-miffling
-sworping
-wingling
-murmur-fleshed
-chobbalobbed
-fittified
-mizzling
-laurely
-flaughtered
-scroudge
-mutched
-sprangled
-meandrous

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Bertha_Mason
Over the Plain Houses | Julia Franks

"Her mother‘s piano had two keys chipped to the wood, middle C and F, right in the center, like decayed front teeth."

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Bertha_Mason
Over the Plain Houses | Julia Franks

"He smiled now, and his smile was white and wide-spaced, and the way it landed square on her warmed her so much it alarmed her to consider her old life without it."

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Bertha_Mason
Over the Plain Houses | Julia Franks
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Bertha_Mason
Over the Plain Houses | Julia Franks

"Her hands splayed above and below the nail head, long-fingered and slender and traced with a blue-veined filigree that put him in mind of the tiny skeletons the plow turned up in the tousled earth, the white-laced surprise of them."

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Bertha_Mason
Over the Plain Houses | Julia Franks

"The question suspended itself above the congregation, an enormous glass balloon that would either float or crash, depending on what Brodis said next."

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ReadingEnvy
Over the Plain Houses | Julia Franks
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And I picked up this one from a local indie press that I've had my eye on for a while.

ReadingRover Oooh looks good! 6y
batsy I remember coming across this somewhere! Sounds good 6y
74 likes3 stack adds2 comments
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Liberty
Over the Plain Houses | Julia Franks
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📚📚📚📚📚

Marchpane Not me 😂😂😂 7y
TheBookAddict 😂😂😂👍🏽📚 7y
readinginthedark My sentiments exactly! Audiobooks while I do some online Christmas shopping, and then a paperback in bed until I pass out! 7y
See All 10 Comments
Posemn Apparently, not me tonight. 7y
StacksNShelves I'm up too! 😂 7y
Texreader This is me right now, 3:25 am. Doing hours of driving tomorrow so I'd love to get some sleep. But oh well... 7y
BamBamSushi Right?! I could get so much more reading done if I didn't have to sleep. 7y
kammartinez This is why I love tarsiers: they always look like they've had WAY too much caffeine XD. 7y
tpixie lol I was up reading too!! #sneakinginreadingtime 7y
162 likes2 stack adds10 comments
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Belles
Over the Plain Houses | Julia Franks
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A new one for today. We will see.

9 likes1 stack add
review
dogwoodflower66
Over the Plain Houses | Julia Franks
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Pickpick

Just finished this. It's amazing how different people can see the same relationship. I loved Irenie's strength and was fascinated by Brodis' unchristian "Christian" view of Irenie's actions. I also loved the New York Times article that told how much of this story is based on truth!

review
LWagoner
Over the Plain Houses | Julia Franks
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Pickpick

Loved this book! Franks was able to weave a powerful story out of Appalachian folklore, religious fanaticism, social and agricultural changes all set in the western North Carolina Mountains in 1939. The strong characters of Irenie and Brodis lead the reader on a journey thru discontent, discord and misunderstanding. I love books that I can visually "see" as I read. This story did not disappoint! I highly recommend this book!

6 likes1 stack add
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dogwoodflower66
Over the Plain Houses | Julia Franks
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I don't know how much time I'll have for reading this year, but a girl's gotta dream, right?! My TBR stack for #readathon @DeweysReadathon

6 likes1 stack add
quote
BrianSargent
Over the Plain Houses | Julia Franks

"It wasn't until much later that Brodis heard the devil in that sentence. I know. Her exact words."

Goosebumps. So many goosebumps.

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Liberty
Over the Plain Houses | Julia Franks
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Really wanted to get to this one before it came out, but I ran out of time. But today it gets its chance! I've heard marvelous things.

brendanmleonard Excited to read this - another of many cool @Litsy recommendations! 8y
stephanie_reads It sounds super interesting! 8y
sandra888 beautiful photo. 8y
Guillotine_Jane sorry for the unrelated comment, but is that the tattoo of a chair on your arm? I love it! 8y
shelly nice colorful flowers in the background ;) 8y
114 likes29 stack adds5 comments
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TheApesOfWrath
Over the Plain Houses | Julia Franks
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Appalachia, 1939, modernization aka WITCHCRAFT: "A spellbinding story of witchcraft and disobedience." -NPR. Sold!

brendanmleonard Had me at WITCHCRAFT. 8y
BookishFeminist Sign me up! 💯 8y
Liberty This is on my list for tomorrow. 😊 8y
19 likes8 stack adds3 comments
review
Ellen_C
Over the Plain Houses | Julia Franks
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Pickpick

A wonderful new author, published by an independent press, featuring Southern Gothic themes. Good stuff! http://cannonballread.com/2016/05/a-southern-gothic-treasure/

4 likes1 stack add