Reviving the Hawthorn Sisters

by Emily Carpenter

  She had never been able to predict when the miracles were going to occur. Because the gift—or the fire, or whatever the thing was—hadn’t come from her. It had come from the outside, out of nowhere in fact, striking her like a bolt of summer lightning when she least expected it.

  It was as if she were overtaken, suffocated in light and heat and a brief, intense knowing. She was completely wrung out when it was over. But just as in the dark as ever. She couldn’t parse these experiences. All she could do was ready herself for when—if—it happened again. And that’s what she needed to tell Eve. In case the girl had the same gift. In case she still had some belief left in her.

  In the smoky dark, Dove bid good night to the constellations, rose heavily, and walked back into her house. She’d only left on a few lamps, so the rooms had a twilight glow. She decided to leave them as is. Maybe it would be easier to talk to Eve in the shadows.

  She’d left a window open in her bedroom, and the room felt as cool as the terrace. She picked up the receiver from the nightstand, then put it down again. She removed her hairpins and lay on the bed, hands clasped across her chest. She was scared, she realized. To finally admit all the murky lies. To admit, at last, to a truth she didn’t fully understand and couldn’t fully explain.

  She closed her eyes to rest. Maybe the lightning would visit her one last time.

  She was still pondering this when she felt a hand on her arm. She opened her eyes to see her dear old friend Bruna, sitting on the edge of the bed. She was the plump, pretty girl with dimpled cheeks Dove remembered so well, and Dove’s heart swelled with joy.

  “Aren’t you going to telephone the girl?” Bruna demanded matter-of-factly.

  Dove blinked, not expecting the scolding. “She doesn’t like me much.”

  “You haven’t allowed her to like you or not. That’s not her fault.”

  “Bruna, my dear Bruna.” Dove’s eyes filled. “I’m sorry I couldn’t save you.”

  “That wasn’t your job. It was mine. But I was too afraid. Afraid of so many things.”

  Dove was quiet, enjoying the feel of Bruna touching her hair. No one had touched her in such a long time.

  “Just call the girl,” Bruna instructed. “Tell her the truth. That’s all you need to do. That’s all you’ve ever needed to do.”

  Dove nodded. That was what she wanted, after all. Not only for Eve, but for Diane and Danny too. She wanted them to know the truth, no matter how difficult or confusing it might be, so each of them could choose their own path and follow it with a courageous heart.

  She must’ve drifted because when Bruna spoke again it seemed like hours later. “I have to go now, Ruth.”

  “No,” Dove said. “Please don’t.”

  “I came with a message and now it’s delivered.”

  So she had, Dove thought. The lightning had indeed hit once again, just like Dove had hoped. Her old friend. A miracle.

  “I love you, Bruna,” Dove said. “I always have.”

  But Bruna had stopped stroking her hair. She already felt farther away. “Someone’s here,” she whispered and then disappeared.

  Dove sat up, awakened by a dream she couldn’t remember. She looked at the clock, but she’d left her glasses outside and couldn’t see the time. She could see the shadow man who sat motionless in the slipper chair beside her dressing table. He watched her with eyes that glittered.

  “You,” she said.

  Acknowledgments

  Thanks to all my readers, for making it possible to continue the story of the original Honeysuckle Girl. Without your support, I don’t get to do what I love, and I’m grateful for you every day.

  Thanks to my agent, Amy Cloughley, and the rest of the team at Kimberley Cameron and Associates, as well as Mary Alice Kier and Anna Cottle at Cine/Lit Representation. Lake Union is a fantastic place to publish a book, and I’ve been lucky enough to work with Alicia Clancy on my past three books. Laura Chasen is a dream developmental editor and Sabrina Dax makes publicity a breeze.

  Thanks to M. J. Pullen for telling me whose story this actually was, to Chris Negron and Shannon Kirk for early reads, and M. J. Pullen, Kimberly Brock, and Katherine Scott Crawford, who helped come up with the title. Thanks to Julia Dahl for her brilliant editorial input and for understanding what I was trying to do. Charlene Kurkjian, Brittany Koch, and the Lake Union team guided me in properly representing Eve’s hemiplegia. Any aspect of the condition I missed is purely an oversight on my part.

  As always, a shout-out to my hometown Erratica crew, colleagues, and friends: Becky Albertalli, George Weinstein, Chris Negron, and M. J. Pullen. Also one for the Tall Poppy Writers, who encourage me to get out of my introverted writer shell and don’t get mad when I post controversial memes.

  Finally, thanks to Rick, Noah, Alex, and Everett for your support and love.

  A Conversation with Emily Carpenter

  What inspired you to return to the world of Burying the Honeysuckle Girls—and what made you decide to write Dove’s story?

  I’ve missed the Honeysuckle Girls the minute I finished writing that book five years ago. Those women really stuck with me. After my previous book, Until the Day I Die, which was truly an adventure-thriller, I was hankering to get back to my Southern gothic roots where I started. I wanted to tell spooky stories about generations of families discovering secrets and hints of the supernatural. From the beginning, I always felt Dove in particular had a fascinating story—and I knew in my gut that she had probably lied to everybody in her life about the details of that story. I couldn’t wait to dig up those lies. It was such an adventure.

  Did you know Dove’s backstory when you were writing the original book?

  Not at all. I only knew she’d been born at the asylum in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and had somehow escaped when she was a teen. What I did know was that she had secrets. And that she’d had to have been an extraordinarily tough person to survive alone on the streets during the Depression. But that was it.

  What was your inspiration for the Hawthorn Sisters?

  I drew a lot from the real-life tent evangelism and healing ministries of John G. Lake, Aimee Semple McPherson, and Billy Sunday, all of whom were extremely successful during the early to mid-1900s. Those folks raked in a lot of money, became huge celebrities, and had some fascinating scandals swirling around them.

  All your books blend family drama, secrets, and suspense with a distinct streak of Southern gothic. Does living in the South affect how you write? What do you think is unique about the Southern gothic books being written now?

  There’s a sort of thickness of history down here; it’s hard to push your way through it sometimes. Living in Georgia and Alabama, you can’t escape the sins of the South’s past—the specter of slavery always hovers. And you can still find a strain of that longing for the “old days” from a certain subset of people. But romanticizing the South’s violent past isn’t what I do. Even though I don’t take these very important issues head-on in every book, I don’t ignore them. I’m more interested in looking in a clear-eyed way at how things have changed in the small towns and big cities of the South. And I’m fascinated with the direction of the new Southern gothic tradition of literature. As a white woman especially, I’m always interested in how white society still clings in certain ways to a past that isn’t real, that’s a mirage their ancestors created for them.

  Half of Reviving the Hawthorn Sisters takes place in 1934. How did you go about researching that period of time?

  Years ago I wrote a screenplay set in the thirties in north Georgia, so when I wrote Honeysuckle Girls, I already had all that homework in my back pocket. For Hawthorn Sisters, there were some particulars that I wanted to understand better, so I watched movies and read books produced or published in 1934. I found this wonderful book of photographs of children in the Great Depression. The pictures were absolutely stunning, heartbreaking, and communicated more clearly than any dry, stuffy reference book could.

  Are there any othe
r characters from this book whom you might be interested in writing about in a future book?

  I’m completely in love with Dell Davidson, Ruth’s childhood best friend from her early days at the hospital and later, her love interest. I think exploring his outlaw career, and who he crossed paths with, would be so much fun. I wonder too, if there might not be more to the end of his story.

  You explore issues of inheritance in Honeysuckle Girls—the possibility of a curse—and in Hawthorn Sisters. Ruth inherits the coin, Jason inherits the rest of Steadfast’s fortune, and Eve seems to have inherited Dove’s knack for attracting people and maybe even her “gift.” What do you think you’ve inherited from your ancestors?

  As far as I know, I’m the first writer in my family, but not the only one. Both my sister and brother write as well. My maternal grandmother was a really talented artist. I have portraits she painted of my mother and me hanging in my house. I do think I inherited a measure of discipline and dedication to pursuing a goal from my ancestors. I also think I inherited an interest in family histories and the history of the South. And, from my father, a love of architecture and old houses.

  This novel explores the sacrifices a person may decide to make for love. What part of that theme do you hope will resonate with readers?

  The idea that we can never really judge the decisions a person makes, or who they love, because we don’t know the intricacies of their lives and relationships and circumstances. People do what they do because they must; I’ve learned this lesson more and more the older I get.

  Is Dove’s gift real?

  I leave that for the reader to decide, but I happen to believe. I think. Mostly.

  What are you working on now?

  I’m strangely superstitious about talking about my ideas before they’ve taken shape, so I’ll just say I’ve got a million ideas bouncing around in my head. A couple of supernatural suspense stories, and another historical novel—“not quite true, but could’ve been true”—set in the 1950s. And an un-ghost story. How’s that for answering without answering?

  About the Author

  Photo © 2018 Ashley Taylor

  Emily Carpenter is the bestselling author of four thrillers: Until the Day I Die, Every Single Secret, The Weight of Lies, and Burying the Honeysuckle Girls. A graduate of Auburn University, Emily has worked as an actor, producer, screenwriter, and behind-the-scenes soap opera assistant for CBS television. Raised in Birmingham, Alabama, she moved to New York City before returning to the South, where she now lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with her family. Visit Emily at www.emilycarpenterauthor.com.