Shiner: A Novel

Product Description
NAMED A BEST BOOK OF 2020 BY NPR“Amy Jo Burns writes a version of Appalachia that is one step removed from magic – all strychnine and moonshine and powerful wonder.”—NPR “[A] wrenching testament, told in language as incandescent as smoldering coal. . . This is not a despairing book, but a hopeful one, of Appalachian women taking back their life stories.” —New York Times Book ReviewOn a lush mountaintop trapped in time, two women vow to protect each other at all costs-and one young girl must defy her father to survive.
An hour from the closest West Virginia mining town, fifteen-year-old Wren Bird lives in a cloistered mountain cabin with her parents. They have no car, no mailbox, and no visitors-except for her mother's lifelong best friend. Every Sunday, Wren's father delivers winding sermons in an abandoned gas station, where he takes up serpents and praises the Lord for his blighted white eye, proof of his divinity and key to the hold he has over the community, over Wren and her mother.
But over the course of one summer, a miracle performed by Wren's father quickly turns to tragedy. As the order of her world begins to shatter, Wren must uncover the truth of her father's mysterious legend and her mother's harrowing history and complex bond with her best friend. And with that newfound knowledge, Wren can imagine a different future for herself than she has been told to expect.
Rich with epic love and epic loss, and diving deep into a world that is often forgotten but still part of America,
Shiner reveals the hidden story behind two generations' worth of Appalachian heartbreak and resolve. Amy Jo Burns brings us a smoldering, taut debut novel about modern female myth-making in a land of men-and one young girl who must ultimately open her eyes.
Review
Praise for Shiner:
“Amy Jo Burns writes a version of Appalachia that is one step removed from magic – all strychnine and moonshine and powerful wonder.”
—NPR
“[A] fierce novel about Appalachia [where] the handlers are worse than the snakes...
Shiner takes that setting and its tensions — faith versus reality, peril and those who self-righteously toy with it — and gives it a smart, stylish update."
—The Los Angeles Times
"This emotional, lyrical novel about a 15-year-old named Wren and the surprising family secrets she uncovers is filled with hope, love, and strength."—
Hello Giggles"Beautifully written...crackles on the page."—
The Skimm
“Burns describes moonshine country, the razorback mountains and ravines…in exquisite detail.”—
Literary Hub
“In short, Burns masterfully builds a web of tension by drawing together the frayed threads of these characters’ lives: the coal mine’s destruction of the land, the opioid epidemic, the limited access to medicine, and the lack of freedom women experience.”—
Ploughshares
"If you don’t want to frame every single page after finishing this book, I’ll be shocked. It’s just that beautiful."—
The Book Slut
"Shiner is a powerful story about finding moments of light in the dark . . . Everyone in
Shiner is keeping secrets, sharp and dizzying like moonshine." —
Shelf Awareness“[Burns'] evocative, poetic prose contrasts with the gritty world of snake handlers, moonshiners and opioids. At times reminiscent of books by Bonnie Jo Campbell and Ron Rash,
Shiner is a powerful novel of generations linked by trauma, and of the hope and resilience needed to break a cycle of misery.” —
BookPage
“A compelling fever-dream of a novel crafted out of moonshine and jagged miracles,
Shiner is simply perfect. I loved every moment spent in the world Amy Jo Burns so thoroughly evokes; I already know I will return to it again and again. Do not miss this exceptional debut.”
—Joshilyn Jackson,
New York Times-bestselling author of
Never Have I Ever
"In spare yet lyrical prose, Amy Jo Burns brings to life a brutal landscape and its dangerous, alluring inhabitants. A haunting glimpse into a strange, mystical world with its own l