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Hang the Moon by Jeannette Walls

Historical fiction

Hang the Moon

by Jeannette Walls

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Quick take

This moving Prohibition-era family saga and its feisty heroine have all the grit and complexity of good moonshine.

Good to know

  • Illustrated icon, Well_Known

    Famous author

  • Illustrated icon, Family_Drama

    Family drama

  • Illustrated icon, Rural

    Rural

  • Illustrated icon, Literary

    Literary

Synopsis

Sallie Kincaid is the daughter of the biggest man in a small town, the charismatic Duke Kincaid. Born at the turn of the 20th century into a life of comfort and privilege, Sallie remembers little about her mother who died in a violent argument with the Duke. By the time she is just eight years old, the Duke has remarried and had a son, Eddie. While Sallie is her father’s daughter, sharp-witted and resourceful, Eddie is his mother’s son, timid and cerebral. When Sallie tries to teach young Eddie to be more like their father, her daredevil coaching leads to an accident, and Sallie is cast out.

Nine years later, she returns, determined to reclaim her place in the family. That’s a lot more complicated than Sallie expected, and she enters a world of conflict and lawlessness. Sallie confronts the secrets and scandals that hide in the shadows of the Big House, navigates the factions in the family and town, and finally comes into her own as a bold, sometimes reckless bootlegger.

Content warning

This book contains mentions of suicide.

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Get an early look from the first pages of Hang the Moon.

Hang the Moon

PROLOGUE

The fastest girl in the world. That’s what I’m going to be.

I decided this morning. It was the best kind of morning, sunny but not too hot, white clouds that looked like dumplings way up in the bright blue sky, birds chirping away at each other, and little yellow butterflies dancing around. I’d buttoned up my sailor suit and was buckling my shoes when the door opened. It was my daddy. The Duke. That’s what everyone calls him.

“I got a surprise for you, Whippersnapper,” he said. “A present.”

“A present? But it’s not my birthday.”

“I don’t need some special occasion to give my own daughter a present. If I say today is a present-giving day, it is. And mark my words, girl, this present is going to change your life.”

“What is it?”

“Why you little sneak. Are you trying to trick me into telling you?” The Duke was using his pretend-to-be-angry voice and that made me laugh. “Then it wouldn’t be a surprise.” He smiled. “Up in the carriage house. Come with me.”

If I live to be a hundred years old, I’ll never forget today. The Duke took my hand in his and the two of us walked down the hall, past the parlor where my stepmama, Jane, was playing scales on the piano with my half brother, Eddie. He loves that piano and didn’t even look my way. In the kitchen I told our cook, Old Ida, where we were going and she said she loves surprises and tugged one of my braids and then we went into the backyard.

When something good’s about to happen, that makes me feel like skipping—I don’t understand why so many people walk when they could skip instead—but this morning, I couldn’t bear to let go of the Duke’s hand, so I behaved myself for once in my life—like Jane is all the time telling me to.

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Why I love it

Get ready for Sallie Kincaid, a young woman so bold and brave, so agile and quick, she can outrun her own family secrets and circle back around years later to divulge them and set things right. She is the center of Hang the Moon, a Prohibition-Era saga set in the lush mountains of Virginia, and the latest masterwork from great American storyteller Jeannette Walls.

Sallie wants the things we all want: to love and be loved. She also insists on a life of purpose, to claim her life as surely as her father—Duke Kincaid, a local legend—who built the formidable family moonshine business. As a woman who fought for her place in the dangerous family enterprise of moonshine, many obstacles are placed in Sallie’s path, but she is determined to redeem her family name, shake it loose from scandals, and embrace her legacy on her own terms.

The wonder of this grand novel is Jeannette Walls’ singular and authentic style. She captures worlds that are often lost and the souls that are lost within them—fractured families, handsome beaus, wild hucksters, and more, all of them real and unforgettable. She writes women that lead us on the path to redemption and change us all for the better. Jeannette writes with beauty, truth and humor about the things that matter. By the time you read the last, glorious page of Hang the Moon, it will have become an American classic.

Member ratings (10,614)

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Historical fiction
View all
Lady Tan’s Circle of Women
The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern
The Women
Husbands & Lovers
Shelterwood
A Thousand Times Before
All We Were Promised
Spitting Gold
The Seventh Veil of Salome
The Mayor of Maxwell Street
The Great Divide
The Storm We Made
The Disappearance of Astrid Bricard
Lessons in Chemistry
The Frozen River
What We Kept to Ourselves
Take My Hand
The Last Russian Doll
The First Ladies
The House Is On Fire
River Sing Me Home
The Attic Child
Malibu Rising
The Book of Longings
Hester
The Final Revival of Opal & Nev
The Nightingale
Daisy Jones & The Six
The Lincoln Highway
The Secret Book of Flora Lea
Did You Hear About Kitty Karr?
The Circus Train
Peach Blossom Spring
Hang the Moon
Booth
The Good Left Undone
The Perishing
The Family
Things We Lost to the Water
The Spectacular
Still Life
Send for Me
The Magnolia Palace
The Bookbinder
China Room
This Tender Land
Atomic Love
All the Light We Cannot See
The Vanishing Half
Outlawed
The Four Winds
Independence
The Fountains of Silence
Libertie
Queen of Thieves
The Great Believers
The Clockmaker's Daughter
A Gentleman in Moscow
The Great Alone
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
The Heart’s Invisible Furies
Rules of Civility
Circling the Sun
The Moor's Account
Jacqueline in Paris
Don't Cry for Me
The Christie Affair
Bloomsbury Girls
The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle
Bronze Drum