Cold Rock River by J.L. Miles

'Adie, you did real fine,' Mama said. 'Now stick by your guns.'

'I best not do that, Mama,' I said. 'I might shoot him.' (from Cold Rock River, page 230)

Passages like these help me remember why I love Southern novels, and Cold Rock River easily ranks among my favorites.

When I finished Cold Rock River, two words immediately came to mind: pain and hope. J.L. Miles does a superb job describing the many tragedies that plague Adie Jenkins and her family, and she's able to balance these horrible things with a sense that everything will be all right in the end--even when the end is nowhere in sight.

Adie's family is forever changed when her youngest sister, Annie, drowns in Cold Rock River. Annie was just three years old, and Adie wasn't much older. Adie carries the guilt with her into her teens, as she was the one watching Annie at the time. By letting Adie tell the story in the first person, Miles pushes you in the midst of a family struggling but happy one day, one child short and in shambles the next. The book opens with Adie recalling a memory of Annie as a one-year-old choking on a jelly bean Adie gave her and their father's desperate attempt to save her. Miles immediately grabs the reader with writing that makes you feel as though you're sitting on the porch on a hot summer night and actually hearing Adie's words.

The book jumps forward 12 years. It's 1963 in Cold Rock, Georgia, and Adie is 17 and pregnant. Her older sister, Rebecca, already has a few kids with different fathers; her other sister, Clarissa, dealt with her grief over Annie's death by eating herself fat; her mother has grown cold toward her husband; and her father has turned to the bottle. Adie is thrown out of the house to deal with her situation as a grown up, and she marries the baby's father, Buck Jenkins, and moves in with his mother and his brain-damaged brother. Despite Buck's roving eye, she is determined to make the marriage work. They move to Hog Gap, and Adie meets Murphy, a local chicken farmer and landowner who is immediately attracted to her and allows her and Buck to move into the dilapidated cabin on his property that once belonged to his mammy, Willa Mae.

Adie is forced to care for her daughter, Grace Annie, on her own, and the friendship forged with Willa Mae and Murphy carries Adie through many tough times. On the night of Grace Annie's birth, Willa Mae reads to Adie from an old journal written during the time of the Civil War by a slave named Tempe Jordan. Adie is drawn to Tempe's story, which is filled with hardships Adie could never understand. Tempe's children are sold by her master, and she vows that when she is free, she will find them. Miles seamlessly moves from Adie's story to Tempe's journal, despite the obviously different voices. Tempe's story is just as compelling as Adie's, and Miles knows how you leave you hanging. Here's an example from Tempe's journal (possible spoiler, so feel free to skip the excerpt):

And one night Massah tells him dat, they's a full moon. And Grady goes out by the dogs like he done all the times before, only this time he comes back in. He gots a club in his hand be thicker than that one he beat them dogs with. That be the bloodiest night I ever sees. Lordy, Lordy--only one them mens be's alive come morning. (page 140)

Miles then switches back to Adie's story, and I just about died! The suspense was killing me, and you can bet I burned through the pages to find out what happened next.

Miles throws in twists and turns throughout the book that kept me on the edge of my seat. Would Buck ever change? How does Adie feel about Murphy? Does Tempe find her children? Why does Willa Mae have Tempe's journal? What happened to Willa Mae's children, and what's the deal between Murphy and Willa Mae? But the characters in Cold Rock River are where Miles truly shines. For a young girl without any education, Adie is wise beyond her years, and she is stronger than most people would be in her shoes. Tempe's voice comes through the loudest, and despite all that she endured under slavery, her spirit, her determination, and her love for her children never died. Though Adie and Tempe steal the show, Willa Mae and Murphy are not to be forgotten. Miles presents them as so warm, tender, and genuinely good that I wanted to move into Adie's cabin myself just to be near them. (There's something about the Southern, small-town atmosphere that's always attracted me. It could be the fact that I've spent much of my life living near big cities and need some peace and quiet.)

Cold Rock River has everything I look for in a novel. A good story with multiple subplots and connections that are not revealed until the end, compelling characters, and a setting that comes to life. It even touches on the struggles of veterans returning from Vietnam, and anyone who knows me well knows I'm always looking for books with war themes. This is one of the few books that I see myself re-reading at some point in the future. And I don't say that lightly, as there are so many books I haven't read yet and so little time to read.

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Watch the Cold Rock River trailer and read the prologue here.

J.L. Miles' Pump Up Your Book Promotion tour will stop here again on Monday, Nov. 17. Ms. Miles was kind enough to answer some questions about Cold Rock River, her writing, and the numerous recipes in the back of the book. I hope you'll come back to read her responses!

Disclosure:  I received a free copy of Cold Rock River from the publisher for review purposes.