The Songcatcher

The Songcatcher
by Sharyn McCrumb

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Book Summary Information

Author: Sharyn McCrumb
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2002-04-01
ISBN: 0451202503
Number of pages: 416
Publisher: Signet

Book Reviews of The Songcatcher

Book Review: Mysticism, Song, Mountain Lore, and Ancestral History
Summary: 4 Stars

The Songcatcher is historical fiction based on Sharyn McCrumb's genealogy tied together by a Celtic/Gaelic ballad passed down through the generations. The mystery is really the hunt for the ballad about The Rowan Stave:

Upon the hill above the kirk at moon rise she did stand, To tend her sheep that Samhain eve, with rowan staff in hand. And where she's been and what she's seen, no living soul may know, and when she's come back home, she will be changed-oh!

The Songcatcher takes the reader from the 18th century through 19th, 20th and 21st centuries, in no specific order. Although some find the story disjointed, with too many characters and storylines, I really enjoyed meeting the ancestors of the present-day people who begin and end the novel. McCrumb's descriptions of the 18th century sailors at sea were so vivid you could taste the salt air. Knowing that these people were the predecessors of the 21st century folk gave the story continuity.

A recurring theme in The Songcatcher and McCrumb's other Appalachian books is mysticism, folklore, and superstition. A special white pebble becomes an amulet that protects Malcolm McCourry against the midwife's prediction that, "The Sea will take him." Nora Bonesteel, a 21st century Appalachian resident, has "The Sight." When someone dies, Nora already has the cake to take to the bereaved family baking in the oven. She also sees ghosts and talks to them.

The combination of mysticism, song, ancestral history, mountain lore makes The Songcatcher an enjoyable tale well-worth reading.

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Summary of The Songcatcher

Capturing the enduring beauty of the Appalachian mountains where she sets her novels, Sharyn McCrumb returns with a beautifully written, historically accurate tale of a song's passage through history-from the 1700s to the present, from the shores of Scotland to western North Carolina...where a folksinger longs to rediscover its haunting tune.

"Quite charming." (Los Angeles Times)

"Once again McCrumb has earned her place among the ranks of America's top storytellers. (Tampa Tribune)

"Intriguing...suspenseful." (Orlando Sentinel)

"McCrumb writes with quiet fire and maybe a little mountain magic." (New York Times Book Review)

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