The Hum and the Shiver

Publishers Weekly

Bronwyn Hyatt is a young Iraq War veteran invalided out of the Army after she's wounded in the kind of close combat situation that earns men Purple Hearts. Reporters are shocked to find that "The Bronwynator" and her smalltown Tennessee neighbors, while polite, want no publicity. What the reporters don't know is that Bronwyn and her extended family are Tufa, an insular rural group who devote themselves to music, work magic, and fly on the wind. Bledsoe turns standard urban fantasy tropes on their head by reimagining modern elves as a tiny, isolated ethnic group unsure of their own origins, like the Lemkos of Poland or the Melungeons of the southern Appalachians. The plot is a bit thin, but the slowly unfolding mystery of the Tufa is a fascinating and absorbing masterpiece of world-building. (Oct.)

From the Publisher

Praise for The Hum and the Shiver

“Haunting . . . A rustic version of ‘urban fantasy,’ with its suggestion that there’s mystery just around the corner, hidden behind even the dullest small-town facade.”—Wall Street Journal

“With a deep love for the mountains embedded in his language, Bledsoe crafts a deceptively simple story of family and community, laced throughout with the music and beliefs of a magical reality. Elegantly told.”—Library Journal, starred review

“This powerful, character-driven drama, set forth in superbly lucid prose, occurs against an utterly convincing backdrop and owns complications enough to keep everyone compulsively turning the pages. A sheer delight.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

“Bledsoe’s rich, nearly poetic prose . . . captured me at page one and didn’t let me go to the end. If you are a fan of urban fantasy, this is a book you need to add to your list today. There are secrets ancient and wild waiting for you to discover, and I enjoyed every minute.”–Seattle Post-Intelligencer

“Bledsoe turns standard urban fantasy tropes on their head. . . . The slowly unfolding mystery of the Tufa is a fascinating and absorbing masterpiece of world-building.”—Publishers Weekly

 

Library Journal

Long before settlers arrived in the Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee, the Tufa, dark-haired people with deep superstitions and a magical power over music, had already claimed the land. Wounded in body and spirit, Private Bronwyn Hyatt returns home from Iraq to her mountain community of Needsville to recover and embrace once more her ancient Tufa heritage. But the trauma of war has stripped her of the songs she once knew, and omens point to an impending death in her family. With a deep love for the mountains embedded in his language, the author of the Eddie LaCrosse fantasy detective series (Burn Me Deadly) crafts a deceptively simple story of family and community, laced throughout with the music and beliefs of a magical reality. VERDICT Elegantly told, this series opener calls to mind the Silver John tales of the late Manly Wade Wellman and should attract a wide readership beyond genre fans.

Kirkus Reviews

Distinctive variation on the elves-among-us theme, from the author ofDark Jenny(2011, etc.).

In Cloud County, in the mountains of east Tennessee, dwell the Tufa, a dark-haired, dark-skinned folk already in residence when the firstEuropeans arrived. Consummate musicians, with songs passed from generation to generation, they are also rumored to have unearthly powers. Private Bronwyn Hyatt, "the Bronwynator," a war hero and First Daughter of the Tufa, was shipped back from Iraq with a smashed leg and shoulder, although she knows these will rapidly heal. Unfortunately her injuries have cost her the ability to play or sing. An eerie "haint," the ghost of a fellow-soldier, followed her home from the war with a particular message to impart, while horrid omens of death swirl around her mother, Chloe—who must pass to Bronwyn a particular song before she dies. Then again, arrogant, brutal ex-boyfriend Dwayne Gitterman, a Tufa who rejected his roots and partly was the cause of her fleeing to join the army, is, most unwelcomingly, still hanging around. For some reason she's powerfully attracted to young non-Tufa preacher Craig Chess, who vainly attempts to induce the politely indifferent Tufa to visit his church. Reporter Don Swayback, having lost all interest in his job but tasked with interviewing Bronwyn, learns he's part Tufa. Lurking on the back roads to snare the innocent and unwary is thuggish state trooper Robert Pafford. And what of Rockhouse Hicks, a supremely nasty old man who seems to do nothing except hang around outside the post office? This powerful, character-driven drama, set forth in superbly lucid prose, occurs against an utterly convincing backdrop and owns complications enough to keep everybody compulsively turning the pages.

A sheer delight.